Tributes to Rupeni Tamanikaiyaroi, Ropate Qalo
‘He always tried to find a balance between tradition and modernisation’
Ropate Qalo was an academic with an independent way of thinking, says Fiji National University’s Professor Nii-K Plange. The late Mr Qalo’s body was cremated yesterday. He said: “Ropate was a very serious academic and very interested in development based research; his area of academic work and research has always been trying to find a balance between tradition and modernisation and he did a lot of work in this particular area. “He joined the sociology department back when I was the head of department in the late 80s where he rose from the position of a lecturer to an associate professor by the time he retired.
“He had a lot of interest in the development of young students and was always ready to mentor them. “In terms of his contribution to the University of the South Pacific as a whole; he served as the head of department for sociology and also served as head of school of what used to be called social economic development; he has written a lot of articles and published several books,” he said.
Professor Plange said in all of Ropate Qalo’s published books, you could find his continuous search of a middle way in terms of development. “As a friend; he was good person to talk too, very kind and was always ready to provide assistance at the same time he was very fiercely independent, an independent thinker,” he said.
“I think personally ‘I will miss him’ because he was a very close friend of mine and I have got closer to his family. “He attained his Bachelors Degree at the USP, did his Masters Degree in the United Kingdom and a PhD at the Australian National University.”