Slow strangulation of USP?
Fiji no longer stands tall in the South Pacific
THERE was a time when Fiji stood tall as a respected leader among the Island states of the South Pacific.
We were at the forefront when the South Pacific Forum (SPF) was born in 1971. This was a visionary initiative to give the Islands a united voice in regional and international affairs. They were able to take collective action for their development and well-being from headquarters established in Suva.
By 1999 that first grouping of states had expanded. It became the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) reflecting an enlarged membership covering our vast region.
Fiji continued to be the Forum's location. We always took a leading part in its deliberations, work and achievements while exercising care not to be seeking dominance.
The Forum ethos was rooted in Pacific Island deference and respect and preference for consensus decision-making.
This was dubbed by Fiji's first Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, as the Pacific Way.
When I was elected Prime Minister in 1992, Forum meetings were always prominent on my work schedules. I already knew of their importance for foreign affairs and promoting the common interests of the islands.
Although I was then the most junior leader I nonetheless had to take over the chair's position when it was Fiji's time to serve in that post.
Most of the Polynesian Forum representatives of the era were princes, nobles and high chiefs. So Sitiveni Rabuka, the rookie commoner, made sure to follow the right protocols in meetings. I was treated with respect. At one point, I found myself acting as envoy for the leaders in expressing concerns to France over that country's controversial Pacific nuclear testing. I was asked as well to engage on the question of independence for the French colony New Caledonia.
The leaders felt I would be the best person to take on these assignments because of my relationship with France. I had been awarded the French Legion d'Honneur for saving a French officer in a military engagement in Lebanon while serving as a UN peacekeeper in 1980.
So where are we in 2022? What is our PIF and regional status now?
Through the combined efforts of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji has lost much of the mana it formerly commanded.
A bully and a spoiler
We have abandoned the Pacific Way and our country now comes across as a regional bully and spoiler, prepared to take ruthless and aggressive action to attain its own ends.
The Prime Minister, currently PIF chair, is in a particularly awkward and embarrassing position. It was on his watch, for instance, that regional unity faltered at a critical time of geopolitical tension.
He was also left with a massive conflict of interest linked to a determined campaign by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum to damage the University of the South Pacific (USP), based at the Laucala Campus. This unprecedented vendetta strikes at the heart of Pacific co-operation.
It has created another big mess for Fiji and its people. Its effects are widespread.
The USP is the premier regional institution of higher learning with an international reputation for academic excellence. It stands out also as the most successful example of regionalism, drawing on the combined spirit and will of Island states who serve on the university's governing council.
Many thousands of young Fijians have earned professional qualifications at the USP. So have students from neighbouring countries that are also members of the PIF.
The PIF leaders are concerned about Mr Sayed-Khaiyum's attack on their university. He is refusing to pay Fiji's annual contribution to its operating costs. By New Year the arrears Fiji owes could approach $l00 million. Withholding such a large amount is obviously creating difficulties and uncertainties for the USP, its staff, students and parents.
Mr Sayed-Khaiyum's confrontation with the university is founded on an insistence that the USP conducts an independent inquiry into allegations of mismanagement. He also wants the Vice Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia to be dismissed.
Members of the USP Council – who are also members of the PIF - reject Fiji's demands. They emphasize investigations have already taken place and Professor Ahluwalia has their confidence.
Mr Bainimarama, as chair of the PIF, finds himself at the centre of the row.
On the USP issue, he is isolated from other Forum members who are united in their opposition to Mr Sayed-Khaiyum's financial punishment of the university.
That means Mr Bainimarama is compromised. When the USP is on the agenda for a PIF meeting where will his loyalty lie? With the PIF and its members who are opposed to Fiji's anti-USP campaign? or with Mr Sayed-Khaiyum and his own government? It appears he condones Mr Sayed-Khaiyum's actions.
Clearly the Prime Minister is no longer able to perform the functions of PIF chair over the USP row in an even-handed manner.
There is also growing concern that the Fiji Government may have adopted a new strategy in what seems to be an attempt to slowly strangle the USP.
Of the university's staff of 1,688, just over 361 are expatriates requiring work permits. Expatriates are crucial for the USP maintaining its excellent international reputation as a centre of higher learning.
But the university is at the mercy of the Fiji Government for expatriate permits to be renewed and granted. There is no official declaration from Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum that permits will be denied. But the suspicion remains that the Fiji Government may see these as a weapon in its battle against the USP.
My information is that one overseas academic has been waiting for four months for a renewal. There may be other similar delays.
I urge the media to ask the minister responsible for immigration to clarify policy on USP work permits. Is there any plan to deny or delay them?
Crisis upon crisis
Fiji has been hit by crisis upon crisis through the mismanagement and authoritarianism of the Bainimarama-Sayed-Khaiyum dictatorship.
The USP joins a long list of victims.
Could we ever have imagined that Fiji, an honoured pioneer of regionalism, and dedicated supporter of the USP, would one day be cast in the specific adversarial role it now occupies?
What is happening to the university has significance for the wider region.
It sends out the overarching message that Mr Bainimarama and Mr Sayed-Khaiyum have little understanding or concern about the importance of Pacific Island country friendships. Neither do they empathize with traditional problem solving, decision-making, and co-operation in regional and international affairs.
The USP attack by Mr SayedKhaiyum undermines regionalism when the Island nations need a united front in the crucial mission to slow climate change.
To Mr Sayed-Khaiyum the imperative is to bend the USP to his will. It appears that climate change may be secondary to him getting his own way with the university.
pI sense that the same may apply to Mr Bainimarama. What happened to his reputation as a climate change warrior?
Is the USP assault by Mr Sayed-Khaiyum more important to the Prime Minister than preserving a united front on climate change?
My party, the People's Alliance, and its partner the National Federation Party, once again declare total support for the USP.
A People's Alliance-NFP coalition government will engage immediately with the university. We will settle as quickly as we can the payments Mr SayedKhaiyum has refused to release. We will arrange for Vice-Chancellor Professor Ahluwalia to relocate from Apia, Samoa, back to the Laucala Bay campus.
We will apologise to regional governments, to Professor Ahluwalia, and the USP staff and students, for the disgraceful attempt by the Government of Voreqe Bainimarama and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum to cripple the university.
Then will come the work of restoring trust and confidence in Fiji and rebuilding our regional reputation, so that the Pacific Way rules once more.