June 21, 2026

Death of Beloved Hawaii Resident Sri Shim: Tulsi's Guru Organized Online Attacks

Author

Rebecca Saltzburg

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Thousands of these documents and emails from the covert Science of Identity political operation have been independently examined by the Washington Post. The content on this website is attributed solely to the site's author.
When a beloved Kailua waterman was killed by a boat driven by one of Chris Butler's disciples, Tulsi Gabbard's political team, including her longtime operative Sunil Khemaney, went to work, not to seek accountability, but to defend the driver, lean on the press, and recast scrutiny of a man's death as anti-Hindu "bigotry."

Sri Shim was 59, a Kailua waterman remembered by friends for his heart and his love of the ocean. On January 9, 2016, he was free-diving with his stepson off Lanikai Beach when both were struck by the propeller of a passing boat. His stepson survived. Sri Shim did not.

What followed was not accountability. It was a campaign, run by the same political team that managed Tulsi Gabbard's public image, including her longtime operative Sunil Khemaney, and directed by Gabbard's guru, Chris Butler.

Tragic death off Lanikai beach

According to reporting by the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now, the boat that struck and killed Sri Shim was driven by Sai Hansen, a longtime disciple of Chris Butler. Hansen was cited for operating the vessel without a license, and police opened a negligent-homicide investigation; longtime beach users said the operator had been warned for years about speeding in the area. The Shim family later filed a lawsuit. 1

Butler ordered his followers to defend the driver online

Within weeks of the death, Chris Butler, in a recorded talk, scolded his disciples for not flooding the internet to defend Hansen and the group, and demanded they get online.

"Why aren't you or other people going online and saying things that are positive… Why do my disciples hide under the rock? Why is it that we sit back and allow ourselves to be targets…" Chris Butler, SIF transcript, "Social Media Defending," February 5, 2016 2

The "Stop the Hate" campaign

Tulsi Gabbard's longtime political operative Sunil Khemaney drafted a "Stop the Hate" blog, published online at dreamingofaloha.com, that reframed scrutiny of the fatal accident as religious persecution of the community Hansen belonged to.

"A terrible boating accident in Lanikai is being used by some people in Hawaii as an excuse to unleash bigotry upon… a minority within our community." Sunil Khemaney, SIF "Stop the Hate" blog, February 2016 3

Leaning on the press

The network also pressured the journalists covering the death. A Butler associate, Mike Hinchey of Green Island Films, wrote directly to Hawaii News Now executives, invoking a fundraiser and "your continued support," to complain that the station's reporting on the fatal accident was "fomenting hatred, fear, and division in our community." 4

A man died. They ran a PR campaign.

Strip away the language of aloha and the charge of bigotry, and what remains is simple. A husband and waterman was killed. The driver belonged to Chris Butler's group. And instead of letting the investigation and the courts do their work, Tulsi Gabbard's political team mobilized to defend the driver, smear the coverage, and reframe a family's search for answers as an attack on Hindus.

The people of Hawaii deserve the truth about how Sri Shim died, not a guru's PR machine working to bury it.

Sources

  1. Sri Shim, 59, of Kailua, killed January 9, 2016 while free-diving off Lanikai; struck by a boat propeller. Driver Sai Hansen cited for operating a vessel without a license; police opened a negligent-homicide investigation; the Shim family filed suit. Honolulu Star-Advertiser, "Kailua boat driver receives citation after fatal collision with diver" (Feb. 5, 2016): staradvertiser.com ; Hawaii News Now, "Negligent homicide investigation underway": hawaiinewsnow.com. Hansen's longtime membership in Butler's Science of Identity community is documented in the SIF archive (note 4).
  2. Chris Butler, Science of Identity transcript, "Social Media Defending," February 5, 2016. [SIF Forensic Database.]
  3. "Stop the Hate" blog authored by Sunil Khemaney (cc Allison Hoen), February 2016, published online at dreamingofaloha.com (recasting the fatal boating accident as anti-Hindu "bigotry"). [SIF Forensic Database.]
  4. Letter to Hawaii News Now from Mike Hinchey (Green Island Films), February 16, 2016 ("I have known Sai Hansen for over 30 years"; complaint about coverage of the fatal accident). [SIF Forensic Database.]
Patriots Fight Corruption. Quotes attributed to Chris Butler and his operatives are the network's own words, drawn from its forensic archive. Facts about the death of Sri Shim are from the public record, with sources noted above.

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