Comments

Well said, Biman. It's hard to stay reasonable and focused when faced with such grossly partisan and immoral behaviour on the part of the government and some on USP Council. But, you managed it. USP, its students, staff, alumni, and especially, its mission mean so much to us both. USP deserves consistent, competent, visionary and moral leadership. Not too much to ask, surely.

Definitely interesting.

As Tess knows from her time as Deputy Director the Pacific Institute of Public Policy, PiPP raised both this issue and that of USP almost exactly 11 years ago and this was part of the reason for its demise. Once again we are witnessing the abject failure of antipodean statecraft. The main beneficiary from this split is China who no longer has to worry about Micronesian States aligned to the US and who recognize Taiwan. A few half-wits in Canberra will see leadership from the Cooks as a partial win until the US essentially consolidates the Micronesians in order to protect its turf and then turns its wrath on yet another failure by Australia and New Zealand in their backyard. pacificpolicy.org/2010/12/island-dreaming/

In the concern for the recent expulsion of USP's VC, it needs to be remembered that the clause in his contract used for justification, is in all expatriates' employment conditions at USP. Further, given that Australia, New Zealand and other countries are involved in the governance of USP, that clause is obviously acceptable to not only SP goverments which have members on USP's Council, but also the donor countries with a presence at that table. Because of this clause and others in employment contracts at USP, the idea of academic freedom is highly qualified at all times. I was employed at USP between 1999-2001, and for some of that time Vice President of the Academic Staff Association. Not only was I involved in getting international union support for USP and others in Fiji during the Speight-led takeover of parliament, but also in the Staff Association's opposition to the USP VC's shutdown of the Student newspaper Wansolwara. Showing exemplary bravery and initiative, student journalists kept collecting information and publishing it at a time when less courageous and better paid journalists and academics were silent or even supportive of the rebellion. Fortunately, David Robie assisted in having their stories published internationally so the VC's censorship was partly thwarted. It was pointed out on numerous occasions to both David and myself that as expats we were breaking our employment conditions and could be deported or worse. Fortunately, attentions were focused elsewhere and we little fish were too unimportant in the scheme of things to get the boot. Neverthless as long as such a clause in employment contracts exists, there will be VCs and others able legally to be expelled from Fiji and other countries without any day in court or even a hearing.

Need for an urgent PIFS Leaders meeting to resolve the saga and save the Forum and Pacific regionalism.

Thanks Denis, that's a very valid point, or reminder, I suppose! The big difference is that PNG has now agreed to an IMF program. Without that, I don't think Australia would have gone in. The World Bank program is still there, in the background. It did go offtrack (as I mentioned in my blog) and it will be interesting to see what happens to it. So, a messy situation, but the approach to the IMF (something the previous PM was never willing to contemplate) has made all the difference. As to why our loan is in US$, I'm really not sure. Perhaps the PNG government asked for it. I suppose a lot of their exports are in US$, so it would make sense for them to do so. Regards, Stephen.

Hi Maho, I appreciate your timely advise on this critical matter! Census is an important exercise and is as old as human history. It is a pity the last census was deemed a failure, though there are some positivity in the recently conducted DHS which is good. You proposition to ensure a good census is conducted maybe good for the short term. In the medium and long term, there is a need for proper coordination with central and line agencies of government to have an integrated, user specific population collection and usage. This will reduce cost drastically. At the moment, agencies like NSO (census, DHS, HIES), NID, DPLGA (ward recorder), PNGEC (voter roll) are collecting the same information but for different purposes. In all, I think it is not a good idea to conduct census before the election year. Regards, C. Banga

I aploud our Micronesian Leaders....

Wow! Really inspiring and challenging. Well articulated.

Thank you, Stephen. Informative presentation of material that seems to be well tucked away in official documents. Some specific points: You wrote in a 2019 blog: 'However sensitive Australia is to China’s influence, there is simply no way that Australia would move forward with lending to PNG while the latter was in non-compliance with its World Bank program. ' Is PNG now compliant, or has Australia become more pragmatic? Also, wondering why a loan to PNG would be denominated in USD. With thanks.

Hopefully our Sea of Islands doesn't drift apart will all this political upheaval. We need to get our collective spirit back- "The Pacific Way"

Very interesting article. Thanks Dr Aqorau.