Page 16 - Islands Business February 2023

Education Education

THE ‘CONSCIENCE’ OF THE PACIFIC

CALLS FOR USP TO RETURN TO GLORY DAYS

Photos: USP

By Samantha Magick and Sera Tikotikovatu-Sefeti mocracy. And universities are places where new ideas, new
thoughts, are developed, given better space, and that’s what
Fiji Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Economy, Profes- the new government will do.
sor Biman Prasad, says he expects the University of the South “USP has a long history of being the conscience of the
Pacific to exercise its academic freedom and role as a regional Pacific. And we want the University of the South Pacific to
leader now that relations have been restored with the incom- return to those glory days of being the conscience of the
ing Fiji government. Pacific, conscience about democracy, conscience about human
Professor Prasad made these comments after attending a rights, conscience about good governance, conscience about
thanksgiving service to welcome back Vice Chancellor, Profes- good policy, and also conscience with respect to the freedom
sor Pal Ahluwalia to the USP’s Laucala campus this month, two of individuals to engage in activities that help develop not
years after he was deported from Fiji. only themselves, but develop institutions and the country as a
Prasad, who is a former USP academic, told Islands Business whole.”
that the government expects the university to play its teach- The Fiji government this month paid the first FJ$10 million
ing, research, consultancy and community roles, and to be tranche it owes in contributions to USP. Prasad says the terms
more visible in engaging with the region’s governments. “We and timing of payments for the remaining FJ$73 million it
are a government that believes in absolute academic free- understands it still owes, is a matter for negotiation.
dom. We expect the staff and students to work with the gov- “Whatever is due to the university will be paid, and the an-
ernment, criticise the government, when it is necessary, look nual grants will be restored in the next budget.”
at our policies, and we as a government are going to engage Meanwhile at the thanksgiving service, Professor Ahluwalia
very, very deeply and closely with the universities in Fiji.” told regional leaders and diplomats, academics and students,
He asserts previous Fiji governments expected universities “After 107 weeks of exile, I never thought I would see the
and academics to bow down to the wishes of the govern- day where I would absolutely thank the staff and be able to
ment. “They expected academic students to be passive. They see them face-to-face. I love Zoom, but I love this so much
expected them to talk good about them. We’re not a govern- better.”
ment which is going to engage in that kind of behaviour. And In February 2021, the then-Fiji government deported
we have said very, very clearly, that we believe in academic Ahluwalia and his partner, Sandra Price, saying they had
freedom, we believe in media freedom, we believe in de- repeatedly breached Section 13 of the Immigration Act, which

16 Islands Business, February 2023