The University of the South Pacific (USP) Journalism Programme has marked the 2026 World Press Freedom Day this year in partnership with the Fiji National University (FNU) School of Language, Communication and Literature.

A successful collaboration between two universities, the event highlighted a strong partnership focused on advancing journalism education in the Pacific.

A panel discussion was moderated by the head of USP Journalism, Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, on the theme “Exploring media’s role in divided societies: can media be both peacemaker and watchdog?”

The panelists were:
· Dorinda Mabon – media and communications student, Fiji National University
· Iva Nataro – editor, Fiji Sun
· Vahefonua Tupola – Journalism Students Association representative, USP
· Nilesh Lal – executive director, Dialogue Fiji
· Alifereti Sakiasi – journalist, The Fiji Times

The Assistant Minister for Multi-Ethnic Affairs, Culture, Heritage and Arts, Shalen Kumar, was chief guest while the Pacific Representative of the UN Human Rights Pacific, Heike Alefsen was keynote speaker.

The collaboration highlighted a shared commitment to tackling key challenges such as misinformation, digital disruption, and ethical reporting, while preparing the next generation of journalists.

Asia Pacific Report and Pacific Media Watch collaborate with the University of the South Pacific Journalism Programme.

A feature story authored by a student journalist highlighting the harm plastic pollution poses to human health in Fiji — with risks expected to rise significantly if robust action is not taken soon — has won the Online category of the 2024 Vision Pasifika Media Awards — Cleaner Pacific.

Riya Bhagwan, a Fiji national studying journalism at The University of the South Pacific (USP), won the prize with her Wansolwara story, titled Behind the stalled progress in Fiji’s plastic pollution battle, reports the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

USP student journalists won two out of four categories in the awards.

• READ MORE: The 2024 Vision Pasifika Media Award winners

Launched during the 7th Pacific Media Summit by Niue’s Prime Minister, Dalton Tagelagi, the awards celebrate excellence in environmental news reporting across the Pacific Island region.

The theme, Cleaner Pacific, spotlights the urgent need to tackle plastic pollution, one of the triple planetary crises threatening the planet, alongside climate change and biodiversity loss.

A story titled Managing Solid Waste in Gizo, a tough task, by award-winning Solomon Islands journalist, Moffat Mamu, of the Solomon Star, and also a USP graduate, won the Print category.

Coverage of the Vatuwaqa Rugby Club’s efforts to keep their community clean, by Fijian journalist Joeli Tikomaimaleya of Fiji TV, picked up the Television category.

Student award winner
The Student Journalism Award was won by Niko Ratumaimuri, of USP, for his story in Wansolwara highlighting a call by young Fijians to keep the country plastic free.

The 2024 Vision Pasifika Media Awards is a partnership facilitated by SPREP with the Australian government through support for Pacific engagement in the INC on plastic pollution and the Pacific Ocean Litter Project (POLP), Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner (OPOC) and the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA).

SPREP Director-General Sefanaia Nawadra said: “We are drowning under a sea of waste! The Pacific media is critical in ensuring we in the Pacific understand the challenges of waste and pollution and share ways we can work towards its effective management.

“Many of our waste issues originate from outside our region and our Pacific media must help our countries advocate for global action on waste especially plastic.”

Exiled West Papuan media are calling for Fiji — in a reflection of Melanesian solidarity — to hold the greater Pacific region to account and stand against Indonesia’s ongoing media blackout in addition to its human rights abuses.

The leaders in their field which include two Papuans from Indonesia’s occupied provinces have visited the Pacific country to forge media partnerships, university collaboration and joint advocacy for West Papua self-determination.

They were speaking after the screening of a new documentary film, Pepera 1969: A Democratic Integration, was screened at The University of the South Pacific in Fiji.

• READ MORE: Papuan journalist award-winner Victor Mambor targeted for his reports
• West Papua media at Pacific Journalism Review
• Other West Papua media reports

The documentary is based on the controversial plebiscite 56 years ago when 1025 handpicked Papuan electors, which were directly chosen by the Indonesian military out of its 800,000 citizens, were claimed to have voted unanimously in favour of Indonesian control of Western New Guinea.

Victor Mambor — a co-founder of Jubi Media Papua — in West Papua; Yuliana Lantipo, one of its senior journalists and editor; and Dandhy Laksono, a Jakarta-based investigative filmmaker; shared their personal experiences of reporting from inside arguably the most heavily militarised and censored region in the Pacific.

“We are here to build bridges with our brothers and sisters in the Pacific,” Mambor told the USP media audience.

Their story of the Papuan territory comes after Dutch colonialists who had seized Western New Guinea, handed control of the East Indies back to the Indonesians in 1949 before The Netherlands eventually withdrew from Papuan territory in 1963.

‘Fraudulent’ UN vote
The unrepresentative plebiscite which followed a fraudulent United Nations-supervised “Act of Free Choice” in 1969 allowed the Indonesian Parliament to grant its legitimacy to reign sovereignty over the West Papuans.

That Indonesian authority has been heavily questioned and criticised over extinguishing independence movements and possible negotiations between both sides.

Indonesia has silenced Papuan voices in the formerly-named Irian Jaya province through control and restrictions of the media.

Mambor described the continued targeting of his Jubi Media staff, including attacks on its office and vehicles, as part of an escalating crackdown under Indonesia’s current President Prabowo Subianto, who took office less than 12 months ago.

“If you report on deforestation [of West Papua] or our culture, maybe it’s allowed,” he said.

“But if you report on human rights or the [Indonesian] military, there is no tolerance.”

An Indonesian MP, Oleh Soleh, warned publicly this month that the state would push for a “new wave of repression” targeting West Papuan activists while also calling the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) – the West Papuan territory’s peak independence movement – as a “political criminal group”.

‘Don’t just listen to Jakarta’
“Don’t just listen to what Jakarta says,” Mambor said.

“Speak to Papuans, listen to our stories, raise our voices.

“We want to bring West Papua back to the Pacific — not just geographically, but politically, culturally, and emotionally.”

Press freedom in West Papua has become most dire more over the past 25 years, West Papuan journalists have said.

Foreign journalists are barred entry into the territory and internet access for locals is often restricted, especially during periods of civil unrest.

Indigenous reporters also risk arrest and/or violence for filing politically sensitive stories.

Most trusted media
Founded in 2001 by West Papuan civil society, Jubi Media Papua’s English-language publication, the West Papua Daily, has become arguably the most trusted, independent source of news in the territory that has survived over its fearless approach to journalism.

“Our journalists are constantly intimidated,” Mambor said, “yet we continue to report the truth”.

The word Jubi in one of the most popular Indigenous Papuan languages means to speak the truth.

Mambor explained that the West Papua Daily remained a pillar of a vocal media movement to represent the wishes of the West Papuan people.

The stories published are without journalists’ bylines (names on articles) out of fear against retribution from the Indonesian military.

“We created a special section just to tell Pacific stories — to remind our people that we are not alone, and to reconnect West Papua with our Pacific identity,” Mambor said.

Lantipo spoke about the daily trauma faced by the Papuan communities which are caught in between the Indonesian military and the West Papua national liberation army who act on behalf of the ULMWP to defend its ancestral homeland.

‘Reports of killings, displacement’
“Every day, we receive reports: killings, displacement, families fleeing villages, children out of school, no access to healthcare,” Lantipo said.

“Women and children are the most affected.”

The journalists attending the seminar urged the Fijian, Melanesian and Pacific people to push for a greater awareness of the West Papuan conflict and its current situation, and to challenge dominant narratives propagated by the Indonesian government.

Laksono, who is ethnically Indonesian but entrenched in ongoing Papuan independence struggles, has long worked to expose injustices in the region.

“There is no hope from the Asian side,” Laksono said.

“That’s why we are here, to reach out to the Pacific.

“We need new audiences, new support, and new understanding.”

Arrested over tweets
Laksono was once arrested in September 2019 for publishing tweets about the violence from government forces against West Papua pro-independence activists.

Despite the personal risks, the “enemy of the state” remains committed to highlighting the stories of the West Papuan people.

“Much of Indonesia has been indoctrinated through school textbooks and [its] media into believing a false history,” he said.

“Our film tries to change that by offering the truth, especially about the so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969, which was neither free nor a genuine act of self-determination.”

Andrew Mathieson writes for the National Indigenous Times.

The University of the South Pacific (USP) is at the heart of a global legal victory with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivering a historic opinion last week affirming that states have binding legal obligations to protect the environment from human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

The case, hailed as a triumph for climate justice, was driven by a student-led movement that began within USP’s own regional classrooms.

In 2021, the government of Vanuatu took a bold step by announcing its intention to seek an advisory opinion from the ICJ on climate change. But what many may not have realised is that the inspiration behind this unprecedented move came from a group of determined young Pacific Islanders — students from USP who formed the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC).

• READ MORE: How Pacific students took their climate fight to the world’s highest court. And won
• The Pacific Community (SPC) climate justice resource
• Climate Justice at the ICJ
• Other Pacific climate justice reports

According to the United Nations background information, these USP students led the charge, campaigning for years to bring the voices of vulnerable island nations to the highest court in the world.

Their call for accountability resonated across the globe, eventually leading to the adoption of a UN resolution in March 2023 that asked the ICJ two critical legal questions:

• What obligations do states have under international law to protect the environment?
• What are the legal consequences when they fail?

The result
A sweeping opinion from the ICJ affirming that climate change treaties place binding duties on countries to prevent environmental harm.

As the ICJ President, Judge Iwasawa Yuji, stated in the official delivery the court was: “Unanimously of the opinion that the climate change treaties set forth binding obligations for States parties to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.”

USP alumni lead the celebration
USP alumna Cynthia Houniuhi, president of the PISFCC, shared her pride in a statement to USP’s official news that this landmark opinion must guide not only courtrooms but also global climate negotiations and policy decisions and it’s a call to action.

“The law is on our side. I’m proud to be on the right side of history.”

Her words reflect the essence of USP’s regional identity, a university built not just to educate, but to empower Pacific Islanders to lead solutions to the region’s most pressing challenges.

Why is the ICJ’s climate ruling such a big deal?         Video: Almost

Students in action, backed by global leaders
UN Secretary-General Antόnio Guterres, in a video message released by the UN, gave credit where it was due.

“This is a victory for our planet, for climate change and for the power of young people to make a difference. Young Pacific Islanders initiated this call for humanity to the world, and the world must respond.”

Vishal Prasad, director of PISFCC, in a video reel of the SPC (Secretariat of the Pacific Community), also credited youth activism rooted in the Pacific education system as six years ago young people from the Pacific decided to take climate change to the highest court and today the ICJ has responded.

“The ICJ has made it clear, it cemented the consensus on the science of climate change and formed the heart of all the arguments that many Pacific Island States made.”

USP’s influence is evident in the regional unity that drove this case forward showing that youth educated in the Pacific are capable of reshaping global narratives.

A win for the Pacific
From coastal erosion and rising sea levels to the legacy of nuclear testing, the Pacific lives with the frontline effects of climate change daily.

Coral Pasisi, SPC Director of Climate Change & Sustainability, highlighted in a video message, the long-term importance of the ruling:

“Climate change is already impacting them (Pacific people) and every increment that happens is creating more and more harm, not just for the generations now but those into the future. I think this marks a real moment for our kids.”

Additionally, as Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change, noted to SPC, science was the cornerstone of the court’s reasoning.

“The opinion really used that science as the basis for its definitions of accountability, responsibility, and duty.”

Among the proud USP student voices is Siosiua Veikune, who told Tonga’s national broadcaster that this is not only a win for the students but for the Pacific islands also.

What now?
With 91 written statements and 97 countries participating in oral proceedings, this was the largest case ever seen by the ICJ and it all began with a movement sparked at USP.

Now, the challenge moves from the courtroom to the global stage and will see how nations implement this legal opinion.

Though advisory, the ICJ ruling carries immense moral and legal weight. It will likely shape global climate negotiations, strengthen lawsuits against polluting states, and empower developing nations especially vulnerable Pacific Islands to demand justice on the international stage.

For the students who dreamed it into motion, it’s only the beginning.

“Now, we have to make sure this ruling leads to real action — in parliaments, at climate summits, and in every space where our future is at stake,”  said Veikune.

Vahefonua Tupola is a second-year student journalist at University of the South Pacific’s Laucala Campus. Republshed from Wansolwara News, the USP student journalism newspaper and website in partnership with Asia Pacific Report.

Entities and individuals that thrived under the previous government with public relations contracts now want to be part of the media or run media organisations, says Fiji Media Association (FMA) secretary Stanley Simpson.

He made the comments yesterday while speaking at a World Press Freedom Day event hosted by the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific.

“We were attacked by fake accounts and a government-funded propaganda machine,” he said.

• READ MORE: PINA on World Press Freedom Day – facing new and complex AI challenges
• Rabuka salutes Fiji media but warns against taking freedom for granted
• NZ fares well in latest RSF press freedom index as authoritarian regimes stifle Asia-Pacific media
• RSF 2025 World Press Freedom rankings
• RSF World Press Freedom Index 2025: economic fragility a leading threat to press freedom

“It is ironic that those who once spinned and attacked the media as irrelevant  — because they said no one reads or watches them anymore — now want to be part of the media or run media organisations.”

“There are entities and individuals that thrived under the previous government with PR contracts while the media struggled and now want to come and join the hard-fought new media landscape.”

Simpson said the Fijian media fraternity would welcome credible news services.

“We have to be wary and careful of entities that pop up overnight and their real agendas.”

“Particularly those previously involved with political propaganda.

“And we are noticing a number of these sites seemingly working with political parties and players in pushing agendas and attacking the media and political opponents.”

• Fiji is ranked 40th out of 180 countries surveyed in the 2025 RSF World Press Freedom Index – a rise of four placed from last year.

Republished from The Fiji Times with permission.

The University of the South Pacific journalism programme is hosting a cohort student journalists from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology this week.

Led by Professor Angela Romano, the 12 students are covering news assignments in Fiji as part of their working trip.

The visitors were given a briefing by USP journalism teaching staff — Associate Professor in Pacific journalism and programme head Dr Shailendra Singh, and student training newspaper supervising editor-in-chief Monika Singh.

• READ MORE: The Pacific Media Conference at USP

The students held lively discussions about the form and state of the media in Fiji and the Pacific, the historic influence of Australian and Western news media and its pros and cons, and the impact of the emergence of China on the Pacific media scene.

Dr Singh said the small and micro-Pacific media systems were “still reeling” from revenue loss due to digital disruption and the covid-19 pandemic.

As elsewhere in the world, the “rivers of gold” (classified advertising revenue) had virtually dried up and media in the Pacific were apparently struggling like never before.

Dr Singh said that this was evident from the reduced size of some newspapers in the Pacific, in both classified and display advertising, which had migrated to social media platforms.

Repeal of draconian law
He praised Fiji’s coalition government for repealing the country’s draconian Media Industry Development Act last year, and reviving media self-regulation under the revamped Fiji Media Council.

However, Dr Singh added that there was still some way to go to further improve the media landscape, including focus on training and development and working conditions.

“There are major, longstanding challenges in small and micro-Pacific media systems due to small audiences, and marginal profits,” he said. “This makes capital investment and staff development difficult to achieve.”

The QUT students are in Suva this month on a working trip in which students will engage in meetings, interviews and production of journalism. They will meet non-government organisations that have a strong focus on women/gender in development, democracy or peace work.

The students will also visit different media organisations based in Suva and talk to their female journalists on their experiences and their stories.

The USP journalism programme started in Suva in 1988 and it has produced more than 200 graduates serving the Pacific and beyond in various media and communication roles.

The programme has forged partnerships with leading media players in the Pacific and our graduates are shining examples in the fields of journalism, public relations and government/NGO communication.

The QUT visit to Fiji was sponsored by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan Mobility Programme. Asia Pacific Report publishes in partnership with The University of the South Pacific’s newspaper and online Wansolwara News.

• The university is hosting a Pacific Media Conference in partnership with the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) and the Asia Pacific Media Network (APMN) in Suva on 4-6 July 2024.

The University of the South Pacific Council has reappointed Professor Pal Ahluwalia as vice-chancellor and president amid two days of staff protests.

The council says it has also heard from staff representatives and urged the unions and management to work collaboratively in the interest of the university.

The meeting was chaired by the acting pro-chancellor and chair of council and the New Zealand government representative, emeritus Professor Pat Walsh, in place of the pro-chancellor and chair of council Dr Hilda Heine, who is away from university business.

• READ MORE:  USP strike on the cards after council blocks staff papers in pay row
• USP union warns of industrial action if fair pay is not approved
• ‘All talk and no action’ say USP protesters calling for fair pay
• USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

In a statement released by USP, Professor Walsh welcomed the reappointment of the vice-chancellor and expressed his and the council’s endorsement of Professor Ahluwalia’s performance.

Professor Ahluwalia thanked the vouncil for its continued support, saying he looked forward to serving the university and the region.

The council noted reports from the pro-chancellor and the vice-chancellor and president on activities undertaken since their last report to council.

Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the university was delivering its priorities successfully against the backdrop of declining enrolment numbers and financial constraints.

Updated on finances
The council was updated on the finances of the university and noted the ongoing challenges USP continues to face.

The council adopted the proposed annual plan for 2024 and noted the financial strategies for the coming year.

It also approved the financial plan for 2024 and adopted the audited financial statements for the half-year ended 30 June 2023.

The council further noted the impact and risks associated with the financial challenges being faced by the university largely due to the decline in student numbers.

The management outlined its strategies for mitigating the challenges ahead.

The council also approved a report by the University Senate and instituted new programmes in Pacific TAFE.

In addition, the council endorsed a proposed scoping study to establish a Pacific Centre of Excellence for Deep Ocean Science and a report will be presented at the next council meeting to be held in Vanuatu in 2024.

Unions want VC out
Meanwhile, The Fiji Times reported yesterday in a front page report that staff unions said they wanted Professor Pal Ahluwalia out.

Vijay Narayan is news director of Fijivillage News. Republished with permission.

University of the South Pacific (USP) staff gathered outside the Japan-Pacific ICT Centre today to protest over better pay and conditions as well as calling for the removal of the regional institution’s vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

The university’s main decision making body, the USP Council, is meeting at the Laucala campus this week.

Aggrieved employees of the university showed up in black, holding placards calling for “fair pay” and for Professor Ahluwalia to resign.

• READ MORE: USP staff unhappy with VC, but he thanks them for ‘engagement’
• USP saga and other reports

The staff are unhappy after the USP pro-chancellor chair of council Dr Hilda Heine did not include a staff paper on the agenda of the meeting today, according to local media reports.

“The Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) president Elizabeth Fong said the paper included a submission on staff salary adjustment and a recommendation to recruit a new Vice Chancellor who is originally from the region,” according to a Fiji One News report.

FBC News reports that the staff are calling for the “non-renewal Ahluwalia’s contract, claiming that he is no longer fit for the role” and that the vice-chancellor’s position to be advertised.

“Fong claims the VC is all talk and no action,” it reported.

The state broadcaster is reporting that USP staff want a 11 percent increase in pay and not the four percent they have received recently.

“We have staff shortages, vacancies which means people have doubled up and tripled up on their responsibilities. This is about keeping USP serving the region, serving its people,” Fong was quoted by FBC News as saying.

USP staff gather in numbers for peaceful protest pic.twitter.com/y4XA6EHYvC

— fijivillage (@fijivillage) November 27, 2023

‘We remain hopeful’ — USP
In a statement to RNZ Pacific, USP said its management “continues to work with the staff unions regarding their grievances” since they were raised earlier in the year.

“Through its meeting with AUSPS, the USP management has resolved some of the matters raised in the log of claims while discussion continued on the remaining issues.”

The university said that in October 2022, all USP staff received salary increments and the second increase kicked in in January 2023.

“Staff also received a bonus in the middle of the year (2023). Negotiations are continuing, and provisions have been made for another salary increase next year, subject to the Council approving our 2024 budget.”

The USP said the chair of the USP Council approved the council agenda, “and the USP management does not have a say in the matter”.

“As stated several times previously, the vice-chancellor’s relocation is decided by the council.

“The institution, as always, supports union rights and acknowledges that a peaceful protest is within its ambit.

“However, we remain hopeful that through USP management, we can continue to have discussions with the AUSPS about their grievances and follow proper channels to meet their demands until an amicable solution is reached,” it said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The University of the South Pacific will be receiving additional funding from the Fiji government in the 2023-2024 national budget, says Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Professor Biman Prasad.

Speaking at a public consultation in Lautoka this week, he said the additional funding was to pay off arrears owed by the Fijian government to the regional university.

As of February this year, the Fiji government owed USP F$116 million (NZ$86 million) in unpaid grants.

• READ MORE: ‘Nepotism, lack of transparency and accountability’ claims emerge at USP
• Other USP reports

“We gave $10 million already,” the Deputy PM said.

“I attended their council meeting and I made a commitment.

“We are restoring the annual grant to the university which is about $34 million.

“From this year the annual contribution that the Fiji government always used to contribute will be included in the budget and that will be paid.

“We are going to include an additional amount to clear out the arrears from the past years and so the university will have a lot of money.”

Professor Prasad was responding to queries raised by USP staff member Teresa Ali on the government’s commitment to the university’s annual grant.

Deputy VC ‘dismissed’
Meanwhile, Fijivillage News reports that the University of the South Pacific management has confirmed that deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president Professor Janusz Jankowski’s arrangement with the institution has ended.

In response to an email sent by FBC News, USP management said Professor Jankowski was recently engaged as a fixed-term and part-time consultant.

It also said that, contrary to media reports, the vice-chancellor and president of USP did not have the delegated authority to terminate the employment of a deputy vice-chancellor.

News media reports say that a week before the termination of Professor Jankowski’s contract, he had written a damning 13-page “whistleblower” report to two of the university’s pro vice-chancellors alleging “nepotism, lack of transparency and accountability” at the university.

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

A leaked document authored by a recently recruited senior University of the South Pacific academic has again put a spotlight on the affairs of the regional institution.

The “strictly confidential” document, viewed by RNZ Pacific, is written by Professor Janusz Jankowski, the deputy vice-chancellor and vice-president (research and innovation) of USP.

The 13-page report is addressed to the USP Council chair and pro-chancellor — and former Marshall Islands president — Dr Hilda Heine and deputy chair and deputy pro-chancellor, Professor Pat Walsh.

• READ MORE: Academic ‘tsunami’ at USP shakes regional Pacific institution to core
• ‘USPgate’ allegations by Fijileaks
• Background to SCORI – is this a sell-out of Pacific’s ‘Sea of Islands’?
• The USP saga

It alleges several “issues, concerns and breaches with both USP policies and procedures” under USP’s vice-chancellor and president Pal Ahluwalia’s leadership.

Dr Jankowski — who was appointed to his role in November last year and has been working remotely from the UK — is calling for formal investigations of the vice-chancellor of the regional university.

RNZ understands that following Dr Jankowski’s report to the USP Council, he has been dismissed from his position.

It is also understood that USP staff unions are unhappy with a range of issues highlighted in the report and the sacking of Dr Jankowski.

RNZ Pacific has contacted Professor Ahluwalia and USP for comment.

In an email response, a USP spokesperson said on Wednesday that Dr Jankowski was no longer working at the university but that was not related to his complaint.

“Contrary to media reports, the vice-chancellor and president of USP does not have the delegated authority to terminate the employment of a deputy vice-chancellor,” the statement said.

“This authority rests with the University Council. In the matter pertaining to Professor Janusz Jankowski’s status with the university, he was until recently engaged as a fixed-term and part-time consultant, and this arrangement has now ended.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The New Zealand government has reaffirmed its 55-year partnership with the regional University of the South Pacific and will contribute NZ$35.8 million to the institution in the next five years to support USP’s long-term planning, innovation and stability.

This was confirmed by NZ’s Deputy Prime Minister and Associate Foreign Affairs (Pacific) Minister Carmel Sepuloni following bilateral talks with USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia yesterday.

New Zealand and USP have also signed a new 10-year partnership.

• READ MORE: Other USP reports

Professor Ahluwalia said the money provided was for the university to deliver strategic plans which encompassed the best education over its campuses without which they would not survive.

Sepuloni said that now more than ever — and in true Pacific spirit — they must continue to maintain regional solidarity and be unified in what was a very important partnership for New Zealand.

She said the partnership further provided New Zealand with the opportunity to support the university’s strategic direction.

Blue Pacific strategy
It also would deliver against shared priorities while supporting Pacific action on the region’s 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, and working towards Pacific countries’ Sustainable Development Goals.

Sepuloni said New Zealand was committed to upholding regional security and stability in the Pacific.

She said it was even more important now to strengthen further the relationships with their Pacific whānau, and work with them to maintain and build on the institutions that had long maintained peace and security within the region.

Sepuloni added that this partnership was an excellent demonstration of NZ’s commitment to a regional approach making them stronger together.

Rashika Kumar is a Fijivillage reporter. Republished with permission.

There was euphoria at the campus of the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva in Fiji last Thursday when news came from New York that a historic resolution on climate action had been adopted unanimously at the United Nations General Assembly.

The resolution refers to the International Court of Justice case that would result in an advisory opinion clarifying nations’ obligations to tackle the climate crisis and the consequences they should face for inaction that could be cited in climate court cases in the future.

The campaign for the landmark resolution, supported by more than 130 member countries, started its journey in 2019 when a group of final-year law students conceived the project as an extra-curricular activity known as “learning by doing” on USP’s international environmental law course at their campus in Port Vila in Vanuatu.

• READ MORE: Vanuatu hails ‘historic resolution’ in climate battle on the world stage
• UN adopts Vanuatu-led resolution in ‘epic win’ on climate change
• Other Pacific climate reports

An elated Dr Justin Rose, adjunct associate professor of law and coordinator of the 2019 class where the campaign originated, told University World News from New York where he had joined his former students for the UN vote that it was any lecturers dream to see such results achieved by the students he had guided.

“Teaching and learning about climate change and climate change governance can increasingly be somewhat depressing — I teach what are essentially the same problems, and the same proposed but unimplemented solutions, that were taught to me at ANU [Australian National University] in 1992 when I studied the course I now coordinate.

“Those same problems and solutions have been ignored for so long that catastrophic climate impacts are occurring,” notes Rose.

Then in 2019 he set up an extra-curricular exercise that students could volunteer for.

A different skillset
“There were 20 participants from a class of 140,” he said, recalling how the project started.

“It was a way to teach a different skillset to those interested in doing some extra work and to empower them to do something positive about climate change.

“The exercise was, firstly, to discuss among the group the most productive legal action Pacific island countries could initiate within international law, and secondly to prepare letters and a brief that could be sent to PIF [Pacific Island Forum] leaders seeking to persuade them to implement it,” explained Rose.

When, at the annual summit meeting of the PIF leaders in 2019, the leaders only “noted” the proposal, the students did not give up but instead formed an organisation — Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) — to start what soon became a global youth campaign for an International Court of Justice climate change opinion.

Their key objective was to convince the governments of the world to seek an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice answering a question that would develop new international law integrating legal obligations around environmental treaties and basic human rights.

They were soon joined by the World’s Youth for Climate Justice.

The world ‘has listened’
“We are just ecstatic that the world has listened to the Pacific youth and has chosen to take action. From what started in a Pacific classroom four years ago,” noted Cynthia Houniuhi, the Solomon Islands-based president of PISFCC, who was one of the original law students at USP that initiated the project.

“We in the Pacific live the climate crisis. My home country Solomon Islands is struggling. Through no fault of our own, we are living with devastating tropical cyclones, flooding, biodiversity loss and sea-level rise.

“The intensity and frequency of it is increasing each time. We have contributed the least to the global emissions that are drowning our land,” said Houniuhi in a statement released from New York.

“The vote in the United Nations is a step in the right direction for climate justice.”

The International Court of Justice will now hold hearings and hear evidence on the obligations of states in respect to climate change, with a view to handing down an advisory opinion in 2024.

A favourable opinion should make it easier to hold polluting countries legally accountable for failing to tackle the climate emergency, possibly with compensatory payments given to victim countries.

“This isn’t the end of our campaign for climate justice. The court process will unfold, taking evidence from around the world,” said Vishal Prasad, a campaigner for PISFCC and a graduate from USP in politics and law.

“The real work begins in applying whatever the court advisory opinion says in domestic law, especially in countries that continue to drive the climate crisis with their toxic emissions.”

Merilyn Temakon, an assistant lecturer in legislation and intellectual property law at USP, said: “I am very proud indeed of these students as one of their leaders is Solomon Yeo whom I had the privilege of teaching.

“I was invited on one or two occasions to sit in the main conference room at Emalus (Vanuatu campus) and to listen to their presentations on the effect of climate change,” she recalls.

“At that time there were only a few active members, but now the whole of the PICs [Pacific Island Countries] and half the globe are behind their submission.”

Countries face escalating losses
USP politics and international affairs Associate Professor Sandra Tarte, who sent out an email to all colleagues on March 30 saying “Colleagues, we did it”, told University World News that the resolution emerged out of “mounting frustration at the mismatch between the global community’s rhetoric and action on climate change amid escalating losses for countries such as Vanuatu, which face an existential threat due to sea-level rise”.

The frustration spawned a social movement led by Vanuatu law students turned youth activists, and work on the resolution was led by Indigenous lawyers in the Pacific, she said.

Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau, speaking after the vote at the UN General Assembly, said: “Today we have witnessed a win for climate justice of epic proportions. Vanuatu sees today’s historic resolution as the beginning of a new era in multilateral climate cooperation.”

Solomon Yeo, one of the students involved in the initial project at USP, who was part of Vanuatu’s delegation to the UN General Assembly meeting, argues that securing the resolution demonstrates that Pacific youth can play a part in tackling climate change.

“Today we celebrate four years of arduous work in convincing our leaders and raising global awareness of the initiative,” he told Radio New Zealand, speaking from New York.

“The adopted resolution is a testament that Pacific youth can play an instrumental role in advancing global climate action [and] young people’s voices must remain an integral part of the process.”

“We are enormously proud of everything our alumni at PISFCC have achieved,” said USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia in a statement.

“These are exactly the kind of high-achieving publicly minded graduates that we aim to produce.”

Dr Kalinga Seneviratne is consultant lecturer with the University of the South Pacific journalism programme based in Suva. This article was first published by University World News and is republished with permission.

Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023.

He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 at Suvavou House yesterday where a draft replacement law was handed to participants.

“I am concerned because after we pass this Bill, we will be stuck with it for a very lengthy period while we have this wider consultation with the community, and the media is then just spinning its wheels, unable to move forward on critical issues it needs to address,” Parkinson said.

• READ MORE: Other reports on Fiji media law

“The question is, do we start with the complete repeal of the Bill and then have the consultations over any issue that you may have, or do we start with this (the draft)?

“For me, I think we start with a clean slate and then we can have a wider conversation about whether there is the need for regulation in any sensitivity areas, and of course part of the conversation are these issues are already covered under (other) forms of legislation or control.

“For example, cross media ownership or the unscrupulous player taking control of large sections of the media, that could apply to an unscrupulous player taking large control of the supermarket or any other form of business in Fiji, and its already covered by way of FCCC (Fiji Competition and Consumer Commission).

Don’t ‘over-complicate’ media law
“These are all covered already, and I don’t see a need for any further particular legislation for the media.

“So our call from the media, we have no problem with a wider media consultation or media regulation, if that is necessary, lets start with a clean slate, that is our position.”

University of the South Pacific head of journalism associate professor Shailendra Singh urged the drafters of the legislation to be aware of Fiji’s media system, especially after the covid-19 pandemic when it was vulnerable politically and financially.

He urged the drafters not to “over-complicate” laws for the media.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

“The University of the South Pacific (USP) has been and continues to be a bedrock for regionalism. A resource owned by the region; for the region and a precious institution that needs to be protected in line with the vision of our forebearers.”

This was the message by USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia during his ministerial banquet speech at the Pacific Education Ministers Conference (CPEM) at Auckland University this week.

The conference theme was “Empowering Education for Pacific People”.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific Regional Education Framework reports

“I am acutely aware that we stand on the shoulders of giants; Pacific leaders who had the prescience of their ancient navigating forbearers, to set up an institution of higher learning and to set it on a course over the horizons in pursuit of two things excellence and equity,” he said.

Professor Ahluwalia said USP graduates had filled critical roles and many had gone on to be leaders across all sectors in their countries.

“This visionary foundation laid down by our Pacific forebearers has made USP the greatest success story of regional cooperation, where the richness of diversity of experiences has formed the foundation of hope and choice; and has established a network for learning to know; learning to do; learning to be; and learning to share,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

The main focus in the early years of USP had been on teacher education to support member governments with their education workforce as they gained their independence, over the years.

Shifts in regional priorities
However, USP had expanded its offerings in response to shifts in regional priorities and needs.

Professor Ahluwalia added that as these regional needs had become more divergent, the prospects of adequately meeting them — “while remaining true to our ongoing commitment to excellence and equity” — had become increasingly become a difficult challenge with diminishing resources.

“I am immensely proud of USP’s achievements and profoundly passionate about the exciting possibilities before us and over our horizons,” he said.

“However, I am under no illusions that we face sizeable challenges and to realise our full potential as a regional university, we need to be at our best to efficiently and effectively teach, learn and research in the service of our regional family.”

Professor Ahluwalia stressed the need to listen to the people as well as stakeholders, valuing relationships and partnerships in new and innovative ways — “and caring for regional communities and natural resources that we haven’t collectively cared enough for”.

“It is our responsibility now to ensure a cohesive articulation of tertiary qualifications across this network that address specific national needs of members of our family, while also pooling resources so that we can do things together where it makes sense to do so.”

Professor Ahluwalia said USP had had to be responsive and resilient and had much more to gain than to lose from genuine innovation.

“We are best positioned to claim leadership in areas no other organisation has the regional mandate, capability, need or courage to pursue,” he added.

Republished with permission.

The installation of the Turaga Bale na Vunivalu Na Tui Kaba, Ratu Epenisa Cakobau, clearly indicates that Fiji’s traditional chiefly system still has a strong footing and chiefs still command respect among the country’s citizens.

This is the view of Dr Paul Geraghty, the University of the South Pacific’s associate professor of linguistics.

Dr Geraghty said even though the previous government had downplayed the role of chiefs, the population at large did not belittle their roles in society.

• READ MORE: Bau gets ready to install Ratu Epenisa as the Vunivalu Na Tui Kaba
• PM Sitiveni Rabuka: ‘I kept my promise’
• Great Council of Chiefs to reconvene after 16 years
• Dawn of a new era for Kubuna

“Although Ratu Epenisa has been the de facto Vunivalu for a number of years, this confirmation by the vanua is important not only for ethnic Fijians, but also as the late National Federation Party leader, Jai Ram Reddy, pointed out to the Bose Levu Vakaturaga, for all races for whom Fiji is home,” he said.

“It is confirmation that the traditional chiefly system, though viewed by some as anachronistic, still has a place in Fiji society, and that chiefs still command respect among all citizens of Fiji.”

Dr Geraghty explained that the recent traditional installation was also met with approval by most segments of society and this was a solemn occasion worth celebrating.

He said given that those who had opposed Ratu Epenisa had passed on, he was the oldest available candidate and one who knew Bau and its people well.

On the chiefly island of Bau, the chief herald, Ratu Aisea Jack Komaitai said the first Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) meeting would be held on the island on May 24-25.

Meanwhile, iTaukei Affairs Minister Ifereimi Vasu said the installation of Ratu Epenisa was significant to the reinstatement of the GCC.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Additional reporting by Elena Vucukula. Republished with permission.

‘I kept my promise’

Watching the pomp and pageantry of the installation of the Turaga Bale na Vunivalu, na Tui Kaba on Friday took me back some 42 years. pic.twitter.com/1jWm7nbih4

— Sitiveni Rabuka (@slrabuka) March 12, 2023

The University of the South Pacific is expected to receive the first instalment of the promised $10 million part payment of owed grants soon.

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said this was a show of the coalition government’s commitment to restoring Fiji’s outstanding grant contributions since 2019.

It is understood that by June this year, the total grant to be paid to USP would reach $116 million.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay university debt
• The USP saga

Rabuka made the comment during a moving thanksgiving service at USP’s Laucala campus this week to mark the return of exiled vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia to Fiji.

Since 2019, the previous government under FijiFirst remained steadfast in its decision to withhold grant contributions to USP until independent investigations into alleged mismanagement by Professor Ahluwalia were carried out, ultimately leading to the professor and his wife Sandra’s deportation from Fiji.

Professor Ahluwalia, who has since been operating in exile from USP’s Samoa campus, was offered an invitation by Rabuka to return to Fiji, a move that has gained widespread support from USP students and staff.

“The power of one vote on the floor of Parliament made it possible for me to sit as Prime Minister in Parliament and cabinet, and allowed me and Fiji to say to Pal Ahluwalia to come home, come back,” Rabuka said.

‘Fiji did it to you’
“I want to apologise to you, very simple. It doesn’t matter who did it. As far as the world is concerned, Fiji did it to you,” Rabuka said.

“Now, I am Fiji by the power of one vote. We’ve corrected that. Thank you for agreeing to come back.

“I reiterate the USP students’ apology, we were orphaned since you left; now we have our parents back.”

The Prime Minister said USP was the best example of regional cooperation, breaking new ground in bringing people together, not only from the Pacific but within Fiji.

In accepting the apology, Professor Ahluwalia said the thanksgiving service was a day to celebrate and expressed his appreciation to the Prime Minister and Deputy PM for their support and commitment to the regional university.

“After 107 weeks of exile, I never thought I would see the day I get to thank my staff and students in person,” he said.

“I am overwhelmed by the heart of the university, our students, for standing by me, our staff; how do I thank people who sacrificed without expecting anything in return.

Beacons for education
“Universities have to become beacons for education and to speak truth to power. I am here, I am here to serve you and the nation.”

USP pro-chancellor and chair of the USP Council Hilda Heine expressed her gratitude to Rabuka for allowing Professor Ahluwalia to return to Fiji and for providing assurances and support towards the region’s premier institution.

She also acknowledged Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa for hosting the vice-chancellor and his family in Samoa since January last year, and Nauru’s Deputy Speaker of Parliament and former president Lionel Aingimea and the government of Nauru for hosting the vice-chancellor following his removal from Fiji in February 2021.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s journalism newspaper and website Wansolwara News. Republished in collaboration with the USP journalism programme.

While steps are being taken behind the scenes by Fiji’s coalition government to review the country’s existing media legislation, civil society organisation Dialogue Fiji says coming up with a law that protects media freedom and safeguards against reporting that can have negative implications is difficult.

Speaking at the launch of the Fiji Media Industry Development Act 2010 – An Analysis report in Lami last week, Dialogue Fiji executive director Nilesh Lal said Fiji’s punitive Media Industry Development Act was promulgated in 2010 and remained in place, although the new Fiji government had expressed its intentions to replace it.

The report was produced by Dialogue Fiji and contained important lessons and insights on the challenging issue of media freedom and regulation in a multiethnic society with conflict dynamics like Fiji.

• READ MORE: Lice Movono: Hopes for the return of press freedom in Fiji
• Other Fiji media law reports

“We will need to consider elements such as capacity of the Fijian market to sustain a multiplicity of media players. Media ownership has been a key element of the regulatory regime under previous administration and this will need to be looked at,” Lal said.

“The challenges to traditional media posed by social media in a small market context will need to be considered to ensure that media organisations remain financially viable and a robust and diverse media sector is maintained.”

Lal said many lessons had been learnt from the experience of the past 12 years, operating under a highly restrictive and punitive media regulation.

He said it was important that stakeholders be consulted at every stage of the review process of the media legislation, including pre-drafting.

Friction possible
“If the draft does not meet expectations, it is going to unduly create friction between the government, media and other interest groups such as CSOs,” Lal said.

The launch programme also included a panel discussion on the issue of media regulation and features of the media legislation desirable in Fiji.

A Fiji government video of the Dialogue Fiji media freedom discussion.

Lal said as an organisation that championed democratic freedoms, dialogue and deliberations, Dialogue Fiji believed it was important to create opportunities for Fijians to deliberate on issues that affected their lives.

“Media freedom is an important element of freedom of expression. We need the media to be able to exercise this right, which is afforded to them in Fiji’s Constitution,” he said.

The comprehensive analysis on the Act was authored by USP Journalism Programme coordinator Associate Professor Dr. Shailendra Singh, Nilesh Lal and the chief deputy Attorney-General of Arizona (US) Daniel Barr.

Dr Singh said a major complaint against the Act from the media sector and observers was the ambiguities in some of the provisions.

“Section 22 is a good example of this. Section 22 states no content must include materials against the public interest, order, national interest or anything that might create disharmony in society,” he said.

National interest ‘subjective’
“The national interest/order can be subjective matters. The question is, who decides what is national interest or public interest, especially when these terms are so ill-defined in the Act.

“The reality is that the media, government and the public all have different viewpoints about what constitutes the national interest in any particular time or year. Vagueness in some of the provisions in the Act is another shortfall when it comes to international benchmarks.”

For issues like hate speech, he said it was important to ensure key terms were first defined.

“The broader the definition, the more it opens the door for arbitrary application of these laws. Some people might say, in all its years of existence, no one has been charged or prosecuted under the Media Act. Sometimes this is touted as a positive development but the problem is, it can be invoked at any time,” Dr Singh said.

“Even though no one might have been charged or cited, it is still like an axe hanging over the news media’s heads. This is why Media Act is accused of instilling a chilling effect on journalism in Fiji.”

Penalties excessive
Dr Singh noted that penalties in the Act were also in breach of some international benchmarks, adding that excessive sanctions should be reserved for exceptional cases. In Fiji’s Media Act, penalties applied across the board regardless of the seriousness of the offence.

He noted that there was little evidence of the separation of powers in the Act and that all powers were invested in the Communications Minister and Attorney-General, breaching international benchmarks on independence of regulatory bodies of government.

“Any national media regulatory body should be independent from the government in a democracy. The A-G and Communications Minister, who have so much power in the Act, are part of government and are expected or required to work in the interest of government first and foremost,” Dr Singh said.

“So two ministers had so much powers and are expected to work in unison, rather than in the interest of media organization,” Dr Singh said.

“What we found peculiar is that, with the previous government, the Communications Minister and A-G positions were held by the same person, one person with two different portfolios controlling everything. When we talk about separation of powers, it was almost non-existent in the Media Act.”

Dr Singh also noted that a core grievance with the Act was the criminalisation of ethics, adding that Fiji was one of the few countries in which journalism ethics had been criminalised.

Under self-regulation, ethics are considered non-punitive breaches but under the Media Act, a breach of ethics is treated as criminal offences.

“Ethics are not set in stone; you cannot have the same response for every ethical dilemma out in the field,” he said.

“Another key analysis in the Act is the lopsided hearing and appeal procedures where the appeal provisions for the media are restricted. It raises some really serious questions, for example, why are complainants against news media given full appeal whereas media can only appeal decisions for penalties more than $50,000?

“There is non-compliance of universal human rights, all should be equal before the law, provided equal protection of the law.”

Dr Singh said the Act was well protected legally so that no court of any kind could entertain any challenges by any person or body in relation to the validity or legality of the Act, and any decision of the Tribunal except for appeals.

“The immunity clause shows how the Act and its entities are bestowed all the powers without being bound by some of the core accountabilities of the justice system,” he said.

Government’s commitment
Attorney-General Siromi Turaga, who joined the panel discussion alongside newsroom editors from Fiji’s mainstream news media, said the coalition government recognised the pivotal role that the media played in Fiji, in terms of ensuring the circulation and responsible reporting of information.

He reaffirmed the government’s support of a free, independent and responsible media and reiterated that the Media Industry Development Act 2010 would be reviewed with the assistance of a committee that would be established for the task.

While there was no set timeframe on the completion of the review, Turaga said this was a priority for government as it continued to encourage robust journalism, urging journalists to also “practise fair and balanced reporting, and most importantly, allow for the right of reply at all times”.

Turaga said the analysis by Dialogue Fiji provided an insightful commentary on the Act and was a helpful resource for the review process.

Republished under the journalism education partnership between Asia Pacific Report and the University of the South Pacific regional journalism programme.

The University of the South Pacific’s vice-chancellor and president, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, was given a rousing welcome at Nadi International Airport today returning to Fiji from exile.

He returned two years after he and wife Sandra Price were detained and deported by the former FijiFirst government for allegedly breaching provisions of the Immigration Act.

“We have arrived in Nadi. What a fabulous reception. USP staff, students and so many well wishers to meet us fills out hearts with joy. Beautiful singing and prayer. Thank you Fiji,” he wrote on Twitter, as the couple were received by USP deputy vice-chancellors and vice-presidents, Professor Jito Vanualailai and Dr Giulio Paunga.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay $90m university debt
• Other USP saga reports

USP Council Secretariat representative Totivi Bokini-Ratu, Lautoka campus director Pramila Devi, and representatives from the USP Students Association, USP Staff Association and Association of the USP Staff were also at the airport to greet Professor Ahluwalia.

“I’m so humbled to see everyone. It is an absolute joy to be back and an opportunity for us to continue serving USP,” he said in a statement.

We have arrived in Nadi. What a fabulous reception. USP Staff, Students and so many well wishers to meet us fills our hearts with joy. Beautiful singing and prayers. Thank you Fiji.

— Professor Pal Ahluwalia, USP VC (@pal_vcp) February 9, 2023

“The support from staff, students and regional governments has just been incredible.

“It was so beautiful to see how much our staff fought. The fight wasn’t just for me; it was for a bigger cause and I’m just a catalyst for the bigger change they wanted to see.”

Next step for students
Professor Ahluwalia said the next step was to work with his senior management team to ensure they got the best out of their students and the region.

He is expected to visit the USP Pacific TAFE Centre in Namaka and Lautoka campus today with other events and meetings scheduled for the coming week, including a launch of the Alumni Relationship Management Service, and the welcoming of international students.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife’s controversial exile from Fiji followed months of increased tensions between USP and the previous government over allegations of financial mismanagement and corruption.

With the new People’s Alliance-led coalition government in power after ousting the FijiFirst administration in the 2022 general election, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has vowed to right the wrongs of the past administration.

Last December, he declared that Professor Ahluwalia and Dr Padma Lal, widow of another exiled academic, the late Professor Brij Lal, were free to enter the country.

“I am ready to meet Dr Lal and Professor Ahluwalia personally. I will apologise on behalf of the people of Fiji for the way they were treated,” Rabuka had said.

Working from Samoa
He said prohibition orders against Professor Ahluwalia, Dr Lal and the late Professor Lal, were “unreasonable and inhumane”, and “should never have been made”.

Professor Ahluwalia has been working out of USP’s Samoa campus since 2021, and said he looked forward to working with the coalition government to strengthen the relationship between USP and Fiji.

“As a regional institution, USP will continue to serve its island countries — particularly Fiji — and work hard to shape Pacific futures,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

Meanwhile, USP and the Fijian government are expected to conduct a joint traditional welcome ceremony for Professor Ahluwalia, followed by a thanksgiving service at the Japan-Pacific ICT Multipurpose Theatre, Laucala campus next Tuesday.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s journalism newspaper and website Wansolwara News. Republished in collaboration with the USP journalism programme.

The head of the University of the South Pacific has welcomed the return of payments by the new Fiji coalition government, reports ABC Pacific Beat.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka announced an initial payment of $7 million to the university from Fiji’s current budget.

Apia-based vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who has been working in exile from Samoa and Nauru, welcomed the payment.

He said he would be visiting Fiji in February, the first time he will back in country since his deportation two years ago by the FijiFirst government.

Pacific Media Watch: It is understood the host country Fiji owes USP more than $80 million in grants since the FijiFirst government withheld payments.

Nick Fogarty, Reporter

Fiji’s Minister of Finance and deputy Prime Minister Professor Biman Prasad says all coalition partners in the new government have agreed to a closer relationship with the Suva-based regional University of the South Pacific (USP).

He said government would restore confidence in USP and respect the governance structure of the institution.

Professor Biman Prasad said that it was a commitment made by all coalition partners in government.

• READ MORE: Professor thrilled over USP return – Fiji to pay $90m university debt
• Other USP reports

He said Fiji would now be “a real partner” with USP.

“We’re going to restore that confidence, we’re going to respect the governance structure of the university,” he said.

“This means that when the university council makes a decision, we as members in that council will respect that decision, unlike the previous government and their reps, who disregarded it because they didn’t win in the council.

“Things didn’t go in their favour; they tried to [withhold] the grant of the university through some bogus claim that there should be more investigation.

“None of that was true, none of that was reasonable.”

Vice-chancellor ban already lifted
He said the ban on vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who was forced to become based at USP’s Samoa campus after being deported from Fiji in 2021, had already been lifted.

“As you know, the Prime Minister has already lifted the ban on Professor Pal Ahluwalia who was deported in the middle of the night,” he said.

“That was a sad thing for this country — it was an attack on democracy, it was an attack on academic freedom.

“So we are very pleased that our government has been able to remove that and we look forward to a very cooperative relationship with the University of the South Pacific and indeed with all other universities in the country because we believe that empowering the universities, giving them academic freedom, giving them autonomy is good for our students, good for our staff, good for the country.”

Professor Prasad said the government would work closely with tertiary institutions in the country.

“This government is going to work closely with the universities and other tertiary institutions to make sure that we empower them, we use resources at those universities to help government to work in policy areas, analyse data.

“As a government, we are going to be very, very liberal with the academic community in this country because we want them to know that this is a government which is going to be open, which is going to help them do research because we will not be afraid of critical research being done by academics, whether they are in Fiji or from outside.

“They will have access to data wherever possible. They will have access to the processes and the support to do research in critical areas.

“That will be very, very important for the government.”

#Fiji plans to ‘restore confidence’ in USP partnership, says Professor Prasad #AsiaPacificReport @fijitimes @bimanprasad #FijiPol #education #academicfreedom @USPlibrary @pal_vcp @ShailendraBSing @USPWansolwara @shrek45 https://t.co/MHM0kTlr2k pic.twitter.com/tXybbQwXkz

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) January 3, 2023

Half century of innovation
Pacific Media Watch reports that the University of the South Pacific is one of only two regional multinational universities in the world — the other is in the West Indies.

USP is jointly owned and governed by 12 member countries — Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The university has campuses in all member countries with Fiji having three campuses.

For more than a half century, USP has been leading the Pacific with distinctive contributions in research, innovation, learning, teaching and community engagement.

Rakesh Kumar is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Exiled University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia says he is thrilled at the prospect of returning to Fiji.

Speaking to The Fiji Times from Los Angeles in the United States yesterday, he said Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka — when he was in opposition — made a commitment to pay Fiji’s outstanding debt of $90 million to USP and to allow him to return to Fiji.

“Mr Rabuka said it, National Federation Party leader Professor Biman Prasad said it, and the Social Democratic Liberal Party leader also said it,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

• READ MORE: Exiled USP chief, Dr Lal now free to enter Fiji, says Rabuka
• USP unions slam Fiji’s Sayed-Khaiyum for ‘damaging’ Pacific university
• Other USP saga reports

“So it’s part of all three parties’ manifestos and part of their public statements, so we as a university are delighted that this amount that has been outstanding for so long will finally come to the university.

“It’s excellent news, not just for the Fijian students but for the entire region because the region has been carrying Fijian students for quite a while and there will now be a chance for us to do a lot of things that we have deferred and not been able to do, particularly issues around maintenance.

“It also means we can now aggressively look for quality academic staff.”

Rabuka issued a statement on Boxing Day saying the prohibition order against Professor Ahluwalia had been lifted and he was welcome to travel to Fiji at any time.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife Sandra Price claimed that on Wednesday February 3, 2021, 15 people made up of immigration officials and police stormed into their USP home and forcefully removed them at about 11.30pm.

They claimed they were driven the same night to Nadi International Airport and deported on the morning of Thursday, February 4, to Australia.

The FijiFirst government on February 4, 2022 issued a statement that the Immigration Department had ordered Professor Aluwahlia and his partner Sandra Price to leave Fiji with immediate effect following alleged “continuous breaches” by both individuals of Section 13 of the Immigration Act.

Government said under Section 13 of the Immigration Act 2003, no foreigner was permitted to conduct themselves in a manner prejudicial to the peace, defence, public safety, public order, public morality, public health, security, or good government of Fiji.

Fiji now ‘free country’
RNZ Pacific reports that Finance Minister Professor Biman Prasad said all three parties in the coalition had promised this in their election campaigns and manifestos.

The former FijiFirst government have withheld the payments since 2019 over a protracted battle with Professor Ahluwalia, now operating in exile out of Samoa.

“They didn’t like a man who was doing the right thing who exposed corruption within the university,” Professor Prasad said.

“And it has done you know, to some extent, terrible damage not only to the university, but also the unity in the whole region.”

In July, the two unions representing staff at the university said the Fiji government owes the institution F$78.4 million and the debt has increased since then.

“Well, I can’t tell you the timetable, but all I can say is…that the university will receive the appropriate funding, as well as the government will pay what is due as a result of the previous government withholding the grant to the university,” Professor Prasad said.

His revelation comes after the government statement by Prime Minister Rabuka inviting Professor Ahluwalia to return to Fiji.

Personal apology
Rabuka said he wanted to apologise to Professor Ahluwalia in person upon his arrival for the way he had been treated by Fiji.

The prime minister has also invited the widow of exiled Fijian academic, Professor Brij Lal, who passed away on Christmas Day last year to bring home his ashes for burial at Tabia near Labasa.

Professor Prasad said they look forward to welcoming home more Fijians and expatriates exiled during Voreqe Bainimarama’s 16-year-reign.

“Fiji is now a free country. We will welcome everyone who wants to come to Fiji. No one should fear about any kind of vindictiveness or harassment,” Professor Prasad said.

“That is what we promised during our campaign, and that is what this government will deliver.”

Felix Chaudhary is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with Fiji Times permission. This article is also republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ. 

Professor thrilled over #USP return – #Fiji to pay $90m #university debt #AsiaPacificReport @fijitimes #rnzpacific @pal_vcp @ShailendraBSing @wansolwara @USPWansolwara @GeraldP87 #Fijipol #education #SitiveniRabuka @bimanprasad https://t.co/bC0ECuzF7d pic.twitter.com/laTlgEH3bf

— David Robie (@DavidRobie) December 26, 2022

The greenlight has been given to University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, and Dr Padma Lal, to return to Fiji by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.

Professor Ahluwalia was deported in 2021 and Dr Lal — widow of the late leading Fiji academic Professor Brij Lal — was refused entry to Fiji along with her husband.

Exiled Professor Ahluwalia currently resides in Samoa and Dr Lal in Australia.

• READ MORE: How Fiji could help resolve the Pal Ahluwalia and USP crisis
• Professor Brij Lal: A champion of democracy and Fiji’s finest scholar

Rabuka has made it clear today that both of them are free to enter the country.

“I am ready to meet Dr Lal and Professor Ahluwalia personally,” he said.

“I will apologise on behalf of the people of Fiji for the way they were treated.”

Dr Lal had been prevented from coming to Fiji with her husband’s ashes for them to be taken to his birthplace at Tabia, near Labasa.

First anniversary
Today marks the first anniversary of Professor Lal’s death.

Rabuka said prohibition orders against Professor Brij Lal and Dr Lal, as well as Professor Ahluwalia, were “unreasonable and inhumane” and should never have been made.

He had promised his government would bring to an end the injustices suffered by Professor Ahluwalia, and Professor Lal.

“I received a clarification today from the Department of Immigration that neither Dr Padma Lal nor Professor Ahluwalia were the subject of written prohibition orders,” he said.

Josefa Babitu is a Fiji Sun reporter and USP journalism graduate. Republished from the Fiji Sun.

Former politician Remesio Rogovakalali is hoping to see transparency and engagement in the next term of government, no matter which party is elected.

The 77-year-old principal from Corpus Christi Teachers College in Nasese says he wants to see integrity and truth among politicians.

“I’d like to also see more engagement between government, non-governmental organisations and unions,” he told Wansolwara after voting at Suva Grammar School this morning.

• READ MORE: Fijians brave the heat as numbers swell – but elections chief calls for voters
• Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage

“Fijians are more educated than previous years, education is only getting better and this will make Fijian democracy stronger.”

Rogovakalali carries a wealth of experience in politics, having stood for election twice in 2001 and 2006.

Reflecting on his time in politics, he believes truth is a powerful tool and must be adopted more in Fijian politics.

“I’ve voted at every election and it carries immense value to be able to have our voices heard. I am urging all Fijians to vote and exercise your right and civic duty,” he said.

Another figurehead at the polls today was Fiji Labour Party Leader Mahendra Chaudhry, who also called on Fijian citizens to cast their votes before 6pm.

The former PM cast his vote at 10.46am at the University of the South Pacific’s Statham Campus polling station in Suva Point with his wife, Virmatee Chaudhry.

He said reports of wide voter turnout across the country were promising signs of Fiji’s interest in the results of the election.

“To citizens still contemplating whether or not they will cast their vote, please come and vote, take part in the election. This is your future and you must exercise your right to vote,” he said.

Voters like Mereani Babara, who moved from Tavua to Baulevu in Nausori five months ago, hopes the elected government would address sanitation and water woes in areas like Waidra, Baulevu.

She looked forward to casting her vote at Koroqaqa Primary School and urged other Fijians to make their way to their designated polling venue before the 6pm deadline.

Published in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific journalism programme’s Wansolwara News.

Water bottles, umbrellas and fans were common accessories for voters across Fiji today. Lines at polling stations nationwide grew quickly in the early morning, as Fijians tried to beat the midday heat.

Lines at the University of the South Pacific’s Statham Campus polling venue at Suva Point extended across the hot carpark.

In spite of the early morning rush by voters to cast their ballots, by midday Supervisor of Elections Mohammed Saneem noted that voter turnout “is not looking very promising” as only 164,954 voters at 1145 polling stations (27.24 percent of the total registered voters) had cast their ballots by 11am.

• READ MORE: Voters turn up in numbers as Fiji’s 2022 election gets underway
• Fijians heading to the polls today for third post-coup election
• Other Fiji elections reports
• Wansolwara elections coverage

He urged every registered Fijian voter to come out and vote, and to make use of the free public transport to get to polling venues in their localities.

“The weather is good, the polling venue is ready, the line is gone, all you have to do now is show up and vote,” Saneem said during the midday Polling Day update at the National Results Centre in Suva.

“If you have voted, check in on your family members who haven’t voted. Take them out and make them vote. Spend the next 5-6 hours to get family members to go out and vote.

“If you need transport on election day, send an SMS of your VoterCard number to 1500. That SMS reply will tell you the number and details of the person monitoring public transport in that area.

‘Go and vote’
“This free public transport service will continue until 4pm so make use of it now, go and vote.”

With temperatures expected to reach 30 deg. Celsius by 1pm, with some voters raised concerns about the lack of shelter in open spaces for queues.

Voter and mother Asinate Colovanua said even although Fijians were used to the heat, there could have been provisions for water and shelter, especially for the older citizens waiting in line.

Elderly voters were eventually offered shelter in air-conditioned cars as they waited their turn to vote at the polling station.

Meanwhile, Saneem reminded Fijian Elections Office staff to refrain from introducing entry requirements for polling agents.

“There were a few issues from the field in relation to candidate agents. I’d like to clarify to FEO staff, you have to let polling agents in. There is no requirement to have their agent appointment forms stamped, do not introduce this as a requirement,” he said.

The 2022 General Election is the third post-2006 coup election and is set to be significant for cementing democracy. The number of registered voters exceeds both the 2018 and 2014 elections.

As many as 606,092 Fijians are expected to cast their votes at 855 venues today.

Fiji’s 2022 General Election will close after the last voter in the queue at 6pm has voted. The commencement of counting is expected to start thereafter with provisional results to be announced by 8pm.

Published in collaboration with the University of the South Pacific journalism programme’s Wansolwara News.

While some women at the University of the South Pacific’s 14 campuses found working from home enjoyable during the covid-19 pandemic, others felt isolated, had overwhelming mental challenges and some experienced domestic violence, a Pacific survey has found.

Titled “University Women Remote Work Challenges”, the survey was funded by the Council of Pacific Education (COPE) and was supported by the Association of the University of the South Pacific staff (AUSPS)

The research report, released last month, was conducted by Dr Hilary Smith (an honorary affiliate researcher at the Australian National University and Massey University) for the women’s wing of AUSPS.

• READ MORE: Other Pacific gender research

“This survey confirms that many of our university women had support from their family networks while on Work From Home, but others were left feeling very isolated,” said Rosalie Fatiaki, chair of the AUSPS women’s wing.

“Women with young children had a lot to juggle, and those who rely on the internet for work had particular frustrations — some had to wait until after midnight to get a strong enough signal,” she said.

Around 30 percent of respondents reported having developed covid-19 during the Work From Home periods, and 57 percent had lost a family member or close friend to covid-19 as well as co-morbidities.

In the survey there was also evidence of the “shadow pandemic” of domestic abuse and although the reported levels were low, it was likely the real incidence was much higher, said Dr Smith.

‘Feelings of shame’
“That was because of the feelings of shame (reporting domestic violence). In the Pacific Islands families and communities tend to be very close-knit groupings,” Dr Smith said.

Only two of the 14 USP campuses in 12 Pacific countries avoided any covid-19 closures between 2020 and 2022 — the shortest closure was two days in Tokelau and the longest at the three Fijian campuses of Laucala, Lautoka and Labasa lasting 161 days.

There had been no cases on the Tuvalu campus until the second quarter of this year.

“For women who had older children they said they enjoyed the time with their families,” Dr Smith said.

“And it was more difficult for those with young families,” she said.

She stressed the importance of being careful with the survey in relation to domestic violence.

“With this kind of survey, we had to be a little bit careful. We can’t say we got evidence of how much there is because it is a very tricky thing to survey and especially in this kind of survey,” Dr Smith said.

‘Sensitive issue’
“And because it is a sensitive issue and people tend not to identify and it is something that people tend to be ashamed about pretty much.

“The survey was totally confidential, and we set it up so no one would who the respondents were.

“It was impossible to find out through the ANU programme we used.

“But the fact people did give some evidence then I think that we know that it is actually quite significant, and we assumed that the prevalence was quite higher.”

She said that she was not saying there were more incidents, but from media reports, particularly in Fiji, she had suspicions that it was higher than reported in the survey.

“We were responding to the fact that there were other news reports in Fiji we referenced, and there has been the other report by the UN (United Nations) women about it,” she said.

The report “Measuring the Shadow Pandemic – violence against women during Covid-19” was released by the UN in December 2021 and the Violence Against Women Rapid Gender Assessments (VAW RGA) were implemented in 13 countries spanning all regions — Albania, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Nigeria, Paraguay, Thailand and Ukraine.

There was general support of national statistical offices (NSOs) or national women’s groups and funding from the policy and Melinda Gates Foundation, which found an incidence of 40 percent of reported domestic violence.

‘There in Pacific”
“So, we weren’t saying that it was more than in other countries, but we were saying it was there in the Pacific.

“It could be more, or it could be less but because the evidence had been already highlighted in Fiji, we were just picking up on that.”

AUSPS had specifically asked for it to be followed up because of “widespread murmuring” that domestic violence was occurring.

“My colleagues at USP had indicated they wanted to follow it up because they had heard that it was an issue for some women,” Dr Smith said.

In her recommendations she had suggested counselling for women and a safe space on campus, but she was unsure if it would be acted on.

Limited counselling
There was limited counselling available already and some had suggested that it should be done through religious denominations, she said.

She said internationally people had struggled with mental health issues during the pandemic, so it was common to all communities.

“There was a relatively high incidence in Fiji, and we reported the findings from the survey,” Dr Smith said.

Among the recommendations for support during isolation was the setting up of a helpline and regular calls from senior personnel and support staff.

She said even if this pandemic had passed there were other events like natural disasters, politics, and wars to be mindful of.

“Human-made or nature-made or the prevalence of other pandemics, we are basically saying the university should be prepared,” Dr Smith said.

With barely four weeks to go to the election, students and staff at the regional University of the South Pacific have stepped up their political activity against the FijiFirst government over its refusal to pay $85 million (and counting) in outstanding contributions to the running of USP.

The USP community — which some estimates put at more than 30,000 — is being encouraged to vote accordingly, with an indirect but unmistakable appeal to “Friends of USP” to vote for the People’s Alliance-National Federation Party prospective coalition come polling day.

It beggars belief that the Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, has left Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and his cabinet colleagues so exposed at USP.

• READ MORE: Sayed-Khaiyum hits out at alleged USP vote swaying tactic
• Follow the Graham Davis file on the Fiji elections
• Other Fiji election reports

Because if the university community — students, staff, their families and sympathisers — lodge a collective protest vote against his conduct, it could easily cost the government the election.

What other political party in its right mind would put at risk its survival to support a position that simply isn’t sustainable because Fiji doesn’t have the numbers on the USP Council to enforce its will?

FijiFirst, of course. Which is prepared, lemming like, to go over a cliff with Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum just to pander to his ego.

You might have expected student protests at USP as it is being slowly strangled by the ruling party and certainly that would have happened anywhere else in the world. Yet it’s no surprise to learn that there has been a strong, though subtle, plainclothes police and military presence at USP for some time, including specific incidents of intimidation of students and staff.

Climate of fear
So the relative silence from the student body doesn’t owe itself to apathy but fear — the climate of fear that pervades the rest of the nation as well and has been the subject of public comment by church leaders and private comment by almost everyone else.

It is a rich vein for the opposition to mine in the election lead-up. So get set for the government’s scandalous conduct at USP to become a major election issue.

And for the prospect of FijiFirst suffering a humiliating setback at the polls to match its humiliating inability to get its way with its absurd demand for “reform” of the university, including the removal of its exiled vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who continues to run USP from Samoa.

Australian-Fijian journalist Graham Davis publishes the blog Grubsheet Feejee on Fiji affairs. Republished with permission.

Statement to Friends of USP voting in Fiji’s election 2022:

TURN UP AND MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT.

We will be casting our votes on 14 December.

Nine political parties are contesting. Apart from Fiji First Party (FFP), the other serious contenders are Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party, Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP), and Gavoka’s Social and Democratic Party (SODELPA). SODELPA has been imploding for some time!

Since 2018, FFP government has withheld Fiji’s contribution to USP. All other parties have campaigned to pay what Fiji owes. Most of us would like to see a change of government because of the government’s refusal to pay its contribution which stands at FD$85 million.

As preposterous as it may sound, it means that eight small member countries such as Tokelau (pop. 1400), Niue (1600) and Tuvalu (11,300) are subsidising Fiji, having the largest population with nearly a million people!

Despite five independent investigations confirming corrupt practices by the former vice- chancellor and president (VCP), and confirming the current VCP’s report on the corruption, the government continues to shield the former VCP and his supporters.

Through its domineering presence in Council, the government lobbied hard to terminate the current VCP Dr Ahluwalia’s contract. When Council rejected it, the government unprecedentedly deported Dr Ahluwalia and his wife Gestapo-like. It declared them persona-non-grata in the same shameful manner as the late pre-eminent Pacific historian Dr Brij Lal and his family.

With Council’s support, USP is being run from Samoa campus, home of current Chancellor (Head of State Tuimaleali’ifano) former mother and daughter Pro Chancellors (Fetaui and Fiame Naomi Mata’afa), and VCP Professor Ahluwalia.

There are three serious implications of the Fiji debt.

First, institutional utilities and student services are likely affected as maintenance and upkeep of buildings and facilities are compromised.

Second, the growing vacancies across a number of academic, professional and support staff will not be filled quickly, thereby increasing the work-load of an already overstretched staff.

This is exacerbated by the protracted delays in the issuance of work permits to expatriates and regional staff from member countries such as Tonga and Solomon Islands.

Staff shortage threatens availability and variety of programmes (e.g. Pasifika orientated programs in Governance, Law, Social Sciences, Climate Change, Engineering, MBA etc), erosion of quality of teaching and research output.

The third and most critical is the obvious collateral damage to the education of students (35,000 to 40,000 in 2022) and 50 years of capacity building with an alumni of 60,000 plus across the globe.

For USP to continue as the premier university to nurture and realise the spirit of Pasifikan regionalism, a change is necessary.

In 2018, the FFP narrowly won by 150 votes. A groundswell of support is evident for Rabuka’s Peoples Alliance Party (PAP), and Prasad/Tikoduadua’s National Federation Party (NFP). To make the change and ensure USP’s survival, make your vote count.

Voting is at the polling stations shown on the voter registration card. For iTaukei voters intending to travel to the islands and villages before 14 December, before traveling, check the polling station shown in your voter registration card and avoid disappointment.

WE must turn up and not waste OUR votes on FFP, smaller parties and independent candidates.

God Bless Fiji and USP

November 2022.

Award-winning University of the South Pacific student journalist Sera Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti says Pacific voices on the climate fight need to be amplified for big nations to notice and be accountable for their actions.

The final-year student recently won the top prize in the tertiary level journalism students category at the 2022 Vision Pasifika Media Award with her two submissions on the environmental impacts of Tonga’s volcanic eruption on villagers of Moce Island in Fiji, and declining fish populations on the livelihoods of Fijian fishermen in Suva.

Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti said she was “beyond humbled” to receive the award and expressed her gratitude to God for the opportunity to amplify Pacific voices on climate change.

• READ MORE: Other environmental journalism reports
• Bearing Witness: A Pacific climate crisis documentary and journalism development project — David Robie and Jim Marbrook

Originally from Dravuni village on beautiful Kadavu island, Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti said Pacific Island countries contributed the least towards climate change and global carbon emissions — but were the most affected.

“We are known to have a close relationship to the land and sea. To have that severely affected by big world countries whose activities are a big cause of this is unacceptable,” said the student editor of Wansolwara, USP Journalism’s award-winning print and online publication.

“I am passionate about environmental issues and human interest stories. I believe the Pacific stories should be ‘heard’ and ‘told’ from the Pacific Islanders’ perspective and words as it is a crisis they live by and survive every day.

“In Fiji, there aren’t enough journalists covering stories of the environment and how it’s affecting the people. I understand it can be a resource constraint and financially limited area.

Filling the gap
“I want to fill that gap in the industry and be able to do something I’m passionate about because it’s incredibly important to tell our people’s story.”

Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti dedicated her award to her family, USP Journalism students, staff, peers and indigenous women.

“So many times, we limit ourselves to what others perceive us, and it will take you to step out of your comfort zone to be able to experience your full capabilities,” said Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti, who was also a recipient of the EJN story grant for indigenous reporting.

She was recently one of the first recipients of the Native American Journalists Association and the Asian American Journalists Association (NAJA-AAJA) Pacific Islander Journalism Scholarship.

The Pacific Regional Environmental Programme’s (SPREP) acting communications and outreach adviser, Nanette Woonton, reaffirmed that SPREP recognised the critical role of all media in disseminating public information, education and influencing behaviour for the better.

“At the secretariat, we are excited to be able to offer the opportunity through these awards to honour and recognise the hard work by our media colleagues in protecting our people and the environment,” she said.

Vision Pasifika Media Award
The 2022 Vision Pasifika Media Award was facilitated through a collaboration between the SPREP, Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), Internews Earth Journalism Network (EJN), and the Pacific Environment Journalists Network (PEJN), with financial support from Aotearoa New Zealand.

The award comprised five categories — television news, radio production, online content, print media, and tertiary-level journalism students.

• Other category winners were: Fabian Randerath (television news), Jeremy Gwao (online content) and Moffat Mamu (print). Randerath was also named the overall winner for his story “Rising Tides – Precious Lives” on Fiji Broadcasting Corporation (FBC).

Akansha Narayan is a final-year student journalist at USP’s Laucala campus, Suva. USP and Wansolwara collaborate on Pacific stories, and for several years USP and the AUT’s Pacific Media Centre collaborated on a joint Bearing Witness climate journalism project.

The University of the South Pacific’s Journalism Programme is open to strengthening engagement and partnership with the Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) following the recent visit of senior ABC executives to Fiji.

Last week, ABC International Services head Claire Gorman, ABC International Development public affairs lead Jo Elsom, ABC Sport head Nick Morris and ABC Asia Pacific News managing editor Matt O’Sullivan met USP Journalism coordinator associate professor Shailendra Singh and staff to discuss ways ABC International Development (ABCID) and its regional media development programme (PACMAS) could assist the media in Fiji and journalism students at USP.

The discussions with the visiting ABC delegation focused on the possibility of content sharing, student professional attachments as well as priority areas for partnership such as youth, gender and regional cooperation to strengthen capacity-building and opportunity for growth.

USP Journalism students and staff have participated in a number of ABCID/PACMAS capacity-building workshops and training, including the Women Leaders Media Masterclass, Reporting the Story of Us: Media Masterclass, Factcheck webinar, Pacific Resilience Masterclass as well as a Training of Trainers short-course for Fiji journalists at the Fiji National University’s National Training Productivity Centre.

The ABC executives were also given a brief tour of the newly-refurbished USP Journalism facilities at Laucala campus.

Geraldine Panapasa is editor-in-chief of the University of the South Pacific’s award-winning journalism newspaper Wansolwara. Republished under a partnership between Asia Pacific Report and Wansolwara.

Compiled by Sera Tikotikoivatu-Sefeti, leila Pafrina, Sibete Ietaake and Aralai Vosyaco in Suva

From the last Strategic Plan 2019-2021, USP faced two major challenges — a fall in core funding and the impact of the global covid-19 pandemic. This hindered the university’s ability to invest in key ambitions. How has USP fared since then in terms of addressing those challenges and its impact on academia, general operations and staffing as well as USP’s financial status?

Professor Ahluwalia: It’s obvious that the impact of not receiving funding from the government is affecting us. But when we are faced with adversity, what we do is prioritise. That’s the job of a CEO, or in this case, the vice-chancellor, the president. You prioritise. You determine what is important to you. In our strategic plan, which we refreshed last year with a lot of consultation with our students and staff, our priority is to provide quality education for our students.

• READ MORE: The full e-edition of Wansolwara

That’s the first priority. With funding challenges we can’t walk away from those. But we’ve prioritised everything so that we give our students priority. It hasn’t really changed my commitment to you since the day I walked into the university. It just means that we’ve sharpened the student experience.

We’ve sharpened the realities of working in a post-covid-19 environment. We’ve tried to see how we can get our students better qualifications.

The byproduct of that is that we’ve also been able to focus on rankings because we want people to know how good this university is. It’s not like we’re chasing rankings for the sake of chasing rankings. Rankings are there as an icing on the cake, but the cake has to be the right thing. Rankings are external people telling us that we’re doing things right.

I think the impact on learning and teaching has been as minimal as you can imagine, as well as on research. We’ve deferred capital works and really important projects, which should have been done. When I came to the university, I inherited a deferred maintenance bill of $36 million. Now that’s a huge thing I tried to really solve that problem to begin with, where the idea was we would put $5 million into it every year.

We haven’t been able to do that because of the funding. So we are trying to reprioritise all the time so that students’ education is always paramount. But of course, that’s where those issues have come. In terms of staffing, since I’ve been here, we’ve never ever sacked anybody at USP. We will continue to prioritise our staff. Where there is natural attrition, in some cases, we might not fill those positions. Secondly, we’ll prioritise academic staffing over all other staffing because it’s the academic staffing that is so vital to our school.

The Strategic Plan 2022-2024 aims to strengthen five priority areas from the previous plan. How is USP progressing so far with these priorities?

The five priority areas really kind of represent our core values. In many ways, we’re doing exceptionally well. There are some areas that have been adversely affected because of covid-19. Some of those areas would be around our staff not being able to travel to regional countries. The core business of our university is reflected in Strategy Five, teaching and learning, research and innovation, our regional campuses, our work as a CROP (Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific) agency, and all the other sections that support our core values. That is how our strategic plan is set up.

We give regular reports to our council on how we’re performing. As an example, a couple of things that have been affected because of covid-19 is that we couldn’t get enough students into laboratories. These are postgraduate students to make sure that our postgraduate number of completions remain at the same level. But it’s no different than anywhere else in the world. The whole world is experiencing that kind of disruption. For eight months our campuses in Fiji were closed, so I wasn’t surprised when we didn’t meet that KPI (key performance indicator).

We paid very close attention, and I’m really proud of our academic staff and our students because I think it’s shown our team spirit. It’s shown our human resilience. Students had to make adjustments. Probably nobody you know in the last four generations of USP students would have had to do that, so it’s a real testimony to how our students have responded to those kinds of efforts in a once in a 100-year pandemic.

Recently, USP was ranked 401-600 out of 1406 institutions, with an overall score of 70 out of 100 in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Ranking for 2022. Would this recognition bring about further changes at USP to increase its ranking?

Rankings are not the sole focus of our efforts. Our focus is on our strategic plan and on our mission, vision, and values. Our children must have the opportunity to study at the best university in the Pacific. We are a value-led organisation, so I’m really pleased to say that three rankings in the last 18 months have really given us confidence that we are on the right path.

We have to continue and how do we invest in this? We have funding for research, but we are also continuously making sure that the best academics are recruited and that we don’t compromise on academic quality because, at the end of the day, academic quality is what gives our students that cutting edge. It is the academic quality that helps us produce the research outputs that would then improve the ranking.

In terms of capital projects and ongoing maintenance works, what progress has been made to the upkeep of the university and its campuses?

With the crisis that we’re in right now, we continue to prioritise issues that have to be addressed. If we don’t, the problem just gets worse. So there is the normal routine maintenance and other projects. Some of the other things have been put on the backbench, but we’re still putting a lot of effort into these things. In terms of the Solomon Islands campus, there are no new plans. It’s externally funded. The campus is progressing, and we hope it will be finished next year.

This will be something that is really important because it will provide more opportunities for our Solomon Island students. The Solomon Island students are the second largest number of students of any of our campuses, so the fact that the campus will be finished soon will give a real boost to our Solomons regional campus.

In terms of financial status, is USP implementing new measures to mitigate the fall in core funding? If so, what are these measures? Are we expecting an increase in fees, will there be staff cutbacks or cutbacks to major expenditures, and is USP seeking major external funding as a backup?

By the end of June, the Fijian government would have owed us roughly $74.8 million, which is a very substantial cut in our funding from the agreed formula. What that means is that people try to understand what that funding is for. Funding from different governments is really a subsidy for students studying on campus.

The Fiji government gives that because, one, they have the largest number of students and so the amount is calculated on the number of students and it’s based on a formula which has been in place for many years. That’s the first point I want to make.

The second point I want to make is that we made it work despite the fact that we haven’t been getting that funding.

So that means that Fiji students are still being subsidised, but they need to be subsidised by the overall ways in which the university operates.

So effectively, by not paying their funding, the Fiji government is not really supporting its students, and of course, that affects our core funding, but we have reprioritised students. Our priority is teaching and learning.

Are we going to increase fees? There is no plan to, given the state of our economy at the moment. At the outset, what I’m really proud of is the resilience of our staff as well. We don’t have any staff cuts. We have not taken any. We’re not reducing our staff. We’re actually maintaining ourselves because we believe that the staff we have provide the quality education. Despite everything, we’ve maintained our staff.

We’re always looking for external funding. We’re pursuing that all the time. For us, a lot of external funding is not coming directly into consolidated revenue, which we can use the way we want. We are getting it for projects and projects are being funded. Of course, our biggest challenge remains a non-funded community.

The Kiribati campus lacks essential facilities and equipment to assist students with their programmes. This is a reason many students from Kiribati travel to Fiji to study at the main campus in Laucala. What plans, if any, are in the pipeline to upgrade USP’s teaching and learning facilities on Kiribati and other regional campuses?

One of the things that covid-19 taught us is that we can do a lot of things in more imaginative ways and still deliver quality education. People can study from home. They can do a lot of their own studies. As the vice-chancellor I spent some time in Nauru.
I had an absolutely amazing experience, which made me understand what a small Micronesian country goes through, what challenges people face on a day-to-day basis, and that has really informed a lot of my thinking about where we are.

Now that I’m at one of our larger campuses in Samoa, I’m discovering many things that need to be solved here too. But I think in terms of our programmes, we are offering more and more programmes for our regional students.

The first year experience buddy programme has been successfully running at the Laucala campus, given the importance of non-academic support in a student’s first year of university life. Will the university roll out the First Year Experience buddy programme across other regional campuses?

That’s certainly my expectation that we’ll be doing that. There are two things that we did this year that were very different, something that I am really proud of — the Semester Zero initiative. I had this idea that students should be able to come to university. Many students out there have no experience with technology, which would be normal in other countries.

So that was the first thing that we really wanted to solve, and I think we ran that programme for the first year to get that better. Now there’s a final programme to something that is actually run in different ways on different campuses.

While it is business as usual for some campuses, is USP still concerned about the possible resurgence of other deadly strains of covid-19 and its impact on education? Are appropriate measures being implemented or improved to mitigate these impacts on the USP community?

Absolutely! There’s no room for complacency. I’m really proud of the team and DISMAC — our Disaster Management Committee. We were very quick to develop plans. We’ve had to deal with a lot of different things, and we’ve learnt how to do that effectively. We’re not being complacent. We’ll monitor this.

Every week I get a report on where we are with campuses and what’s going on. I have regular meetings with all my SMTs (senior management teams).

I want to know how our staff are doing, their well-being is important to us. We’re very prepared. I think that’s why we’ve managed this crisis as well as we did. That’s what the ranking was for when we were ranked 11th for “crisis management” by the World Universities with Real Impact (WURI) 2021 global ranking.

You have many notable and remarkable achievements, and these may have been accompanied with its fair share of challenges. How has your time in Samoa been and what are some life lessons or perhaps one factor that has kept you going during those challenging times?

I’ve been very blessed. I’ve had the experience of working at a lot of institutions and I think I’ve been able to bring all that experience together to serve the Pacific. But the one biggest thing in all this, is the support of my staff and my students. Without that, nobody’s worth anything.

I’m eternally grateful and proud of the achievements of our staff and students. This is never a one-person job; it’s always teamwork. It’s always bringing the best of everybody together. I’m so proud of that.

The one thing about rankings is, not only for our students now but also for our alumni, is it shows that we are not just any ordinary university, but that we are the premier institution in the country.

As a custodian of that university, I’m very conscious of that. It’s always been on my mind. I’m not here to rule, I’m here to serve. That’s the attitude which I feel very blessed about and that’s deep in my heart. I know that the minute I stop serving, I’ll be gone.

Moving forward, what can we expect from USP in terms of programme offering, and improvements to learn, teaching and research?

We’re always looking at what the future is going to hold for our region, what is it that our staff and students need to be doing to take us to the new year ahead of everybody else because we’re training the future of the labour force, the workforce that’s going to be required for our region. We’re going to enter into health programmes and we will start looking at other programmes where we can really bring innovation to the region.

Some existing programmes will need to accommodate that change. I think the future looks fantastic, and the new streams of areas that would be available to our students and prospective students also look fantastic.

Wansolwara is the student journalist newspaper of the University of the South Pacific. It collaborates with Asia Pacific Report, which prioritises student journalism.

A Fiji political leader is calling out the Australian and New Zealand governments on their “deafening silence” over human rights issues in the region.

The leader of the opposition National Federation Party, Professor Biman Prasad, has called out the two countries for not acknowledging what he described as “the declining standards” of democracy, governance, human rights, media freedom and freedom of speech issues in some Pacific countries.

Prasad said the recent 2022 Pacific Islands Leaders’ Forum ended with prime minister Anthony Albanese and Jacinda Ardern refusing to speak up on the decline in the standards of democracy.

• LISTEN TO RNZ PACIFIC WAVES:  Dr Biman Prasad talks Pacific democracy
• Australia and New Zealand’s ‘deafening silence’ on Pacific democracy and human rights – Asia Pacific Report
• Australia and New Zealand’s silence on democracy and human rights in the Pacific – DevPolicy Blog
• ‘Doorstops’ at the Pacific Forum – why no tough questions on West Papua?

“What concerns me is that the Pacific Forum is an important leaders’ meeting and both Australia and New Zealand are members,” Professor Prasad told RNZ’s Pacific Waves.

“One would have expected, even to the dislike of some within the forum, at least some mention of how the Pacific Forum is going to deal with declining standards of democracy, good governance, human rights, media freedom and freedom of speech,” he said.

“[But] no word from leaders, particularly Australia and New Zealand, was a bit concerning.”

Failed over glaring issues
The forum leaders’ meeting, he said, failed to address glaring issues, such as:

• the Fiji government’s spat with the head of the regionally-owned University of the South Pacific;
• questionable governance practices and attacks on free speech in Solomon Islands;
• a judiciary under siege in Kiribati;
• ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua; and
• the deterioration of decolonisation arrangements in New Caledonia.

According to Prasad, Albanese and Ardern refused to discuss these in Suva because they feared it would push Pacific nations “further into the arms of China”.

Such a stance gives credibility to the claim that “Australia and New Zealand are preoccupied with their own strategic interests first, before the interests of Pacific Island countries,” he wrote in a Development Policy Centre blog last week.

“I can speak about Fiji more specifically. As leader of an opposition political party in Parliament, I experienced first-hand the bullying, the intimidation by this government and the declining standards of democracy, of transparency and accountability,” he said.

“Fiji continues to behave in the guise of championing climate change around the world that everything is hunky dory in Fiji. It is not and that is why the forum is important.”

He said “appeasing autocratic leaders” to keep Beijing at bay was unacceptable and the sooner Canberra and Wellington realised appeasement was not the best strategy, the better it would be for the region.

NZ’s ‘no comment’
RNZ Pacific contacted both the Australian and New Zealand governments for comment.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had no comment to make on Professor Prasad’s blog.

However, a spokesperson for Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Australia had a long-standing history of supporting work to strengthen regional action in support of human rights.

“Our focus was on the contributions we can make as a member of the Pacific family, rather than what others may be doing,” it said.

“Australia will talk to partner governments directly where we have concerns about democracy, transparency and the rule of law.”

Australia will be contributing up to A$7.7 million (NZ$8.6 million] over the next four-and-a-half years to support the Pacific Community in implementing the Human Rights and Social Development Division Business Plan to strengthen human rights in the region.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Fiji’s Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is “doing damage” to the premier regional university by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution, say the two staff unions representing the University of the South Pacific.

Association of the USP academic staff president Dr Elizabeth Fong and USP staff union president Tarisi Vacala said in a statement that the USP Council had held several special meetings to address current USP issues as well as matters of concern of the Fiji government members.

“The council deliberations led to clear majority decisions that exonerated Professor Pal Ahluwalia yet again of any mismanagement, administrative or for financial, and his reappointment as vice-chancellor and president of the USP and his relocation to Samoa,” the statement said.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the USP saga

The unions said despite the deportation from Fiji of Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, just two years into his first contract, the government continued to “hurt Fiji and regional students” by withholding its obligatory grant.

“Mr Sayed-Khaiyum’s statements in the Fiji Parliament and media about the withholding of Fiji government grant have not been accompanied by any formal paper to the University Council justifying his calls for an independent inquiry, the objectives of the inquiry, the composition of the commission of inquiry, or its terms of reference nor the financial costs that may be incurred.

“It is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of financial mismanagement and other breaches, Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution.”

Questions sent to Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Sayed-Khaiyum by The Fiji Times remained unanswered at publication time.

‘Honour’ Parliament decisions call
RNZ Pacific reports that the unions called on the Fiji government to “honour” the decisions of Parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.

The Fiji goverment has withheld what is officially called a grant but is in fact a subsidy on the student fees at the university, RNZ Pacific said.

The two unions — Association of USP Staff (AUSPS) and the USP Staff Union (USPSU) — said the Fiji government owed the institution FJ$78.4 million (NZ$58 million).

The money has been withheld by the government because of its ongoing battle with vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia.

There were a series of inquiries after Ahluwalia had identified significant corruption within the previous administration at the USP.

Five inquiries so far have cost the USP more than FJ$1 million — and they have all exonerated Ahluwalia.

The unions said: “It is apparent, that unable to remove Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his exposure of the financial mismanagement and other breaches of the previous USP Administration, the Attorney-General and Minister for Economy, Civil Service, Communications, Housing and Community Development is doing damage to the premier regional university and hurting USP students by withholding the Fiji government’s obligatory contribution.”

However, the Fiji government last week called for yet another investigation.

The two unions representing staff at the University of the South Pacific are calling on the Fiji Government to honour the decisions of their parliament and pay the outstanding subsidy due to the university.https://t.co/aIgYpn0lu3

— RNZ Pacific (@RNZPacific) July 22, 2022

The unions had a paid advertisement running yesterday in Fiji.

In it they said: “Based on the outcomes of the inquiries there is no reasonable justification for another inquiry.

“The unions on behalf of the students, staff and alumni therefore call on the Prime Minister, [Voreqe] Bainimarama to abide by and honour the decision of the Fiji Parliament that approved the USP grants for 2020, 2021 and to pay what is owed under its obligation and to bring this matter to closure so as to leave no-one behind.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ and with permission from The Fiji Times.

The University of the South Pacific’s latest international ranking is a “testament to the excellence” that pervades the university, says USP vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

He said this in a statement confirming USP had been ranked 401-600 out of 1406 institutions, with an overall score of 70 out of 100 in The Times Higher Education (THE) impact ranking for 2022.

“It is recognition of the sheer hard work and determination of our researchers,” Professor Ahluwalia said.

• READ MORE: Other USP reports

“It reaffirms USP’s standing as the premier education institution in the region and this ranking is a testament to the excellence that pervades our university.”

The impact ranking is the only global performance table that assesses universities against the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where indicators are carefully calibrated to provide comprehensive and balanced comparisons across four broad areas — research, stewardship, outreach and teaching.

USP scored over 50 (out of 100) in research for SDGs 4, 13, 14, 16 and 17, reflecting the quality and relevance of its publications to the SDGs.

Under SDG four, USP scored highly at over 80 on Lifelong Learning Measures, which highlights lifelong learning opportunities through the provision of public resources, public events, vocational training events, education outreach activities beyond campus, and the existence of policy to ensure access to lifelong learning.

Environmental measures
Under SDG seven, USP scored high, over 70 on Energy Use Density, which is the energy used per floor space of university buildings in 2019.

Under SDG 13, USP scored 100 for Environmental Education Measures that demonstrate activities around local education projects and collaborations on climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation, including disaster planning reflecting the engagement and collaboration by the university on climate change action locally, regionally and internationally.

USP scored highly at 75 under SDG 14 for Supporting Aquatic Ecosystems Through Action, which includes work on maintaining ecosystems and their biodiversity and over 85 for Local Ecosystem Maintenance.

For University Governance Measures, Working with Government, such as the provision of expert advice to government and participation in government research, and Percentage of Graduates in Law and Civil Enforcement-related courses under SDG 16, USP scored almost 80, 85 and over 75, respectively.

Finally, under SDG 17, which is considered the mandatory SDG, USP scored 100 percent for Relationships to Support the Goals, reflecting USP’s relationships with regional NGOs and international collaborations for SDGs.

The timeframe for data collection for the impact ranking 2022 spanned from January to December 2020 and in some cases, 2019, due to disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

Wata Shaw is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Lack of backup satellite and cable links in the wake of Tonga’s volcanic eruption at the weekend reignites debate over the government’s plans to secure communications.

Communication with Tonga remains intermittent after the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption and tsunami severed the kingdom’s undersea cable connection with the rest of the world.

The crisis has renewed debate over previous government decisions which have been the subject of controversy and court cases.

• READ MORE:  Tongan volcanic eruption reveals the vulnerabilities in global telecommunications
• Tonga’s undersea communications cable could take weeks to repair
• Why the volcanic eruption in Tonga was so violent, and what to expect next
• Other APR reports on the tsunami

It could be weeks before services are fully restored.

The 827km cable between Tonga and Fiji was cut when the volcano exploded. The break is located 37km from the capital, Nuku’alofa.

A cable connecting Tongatapu to other islands in the archipelago has been severed about 47km from Nuku’alofa.

A submarine cable repair ship is expected to sail from Papua New Guinea in the next few days.

Some communication with Tonga is possible via satellite. It is understood some people have been able to use the University of the South Pacific’s satellite connection to contact New Zealand from Ha’apai.

A New Zealand resident in Mangawhai, north of Auckland, has been in contact with his colleagues in Tonga via satellite text phone, 1News reported today.

However, Tonga Cable Ltd chair Samiuela Fonua said the lingering ash cloud was continuing to make even satellite phone calls abroad difficult.

Fonau said Tonga had been talking with New Zealand about establishing a second international fibreoptic cable, but any long-term solution was difficult.

The Kacific controversy
The government of the late prime minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva believed the best option was for Tonga to spend its money in building a satellite back up service.

The Pohiva government had made a 15-year deal with Kacific to establish a satellite backup link, but this was cancelled by the Tu’ionetoa government.

As Kaniva News reported in June last year, Kacific Broadband Satellites International Ltd provided emergency broadband services to Tonga when the undersea cable was severed by a ship’s anchor in 2019.

The Tongan government and its subsidiary Tonga Satellite Ltd later signed an agreement with Kacific for the supply of satellite broadband for a fee of US$5.76 million, which was due on June 15, 2019.

The fee was not paid and the company took Tonga to court in Singapore to enforce payment of the debt. The government then tried to take TSL off the kingdom’s company registry. This was overturned by the Tongan Supreme Court.

“We came to Tonga’s aid during its hour of need,” company CEO Christian Patouraux said at the time.

“It is deeply disappointing that Kacific has to undertake legal proceedings.

“The Tongan Government has benefited from millions of dollars of payments from international aid and infrastructure agencies to fund e-government initiatives and strengthen digital access over the last 10 years.”

The Hawaiki deal
The current Prime Minister, Siaosi Sovaleni was at the centre of a controversial deal with internet provider Hawaiki when he was Minister of Environment and Communications.

Sovaleni signed a TOP$50 million (NZ$32.5 million) contract.

Tonga paid TOP$6 million (NZ$4 million) so that the Hawaiki cable connecting New Zealand and Australia to Hawai’i and Los Angeles was connected to the Vava’u fibre cable in Tonga.

However, in 2019 Tonga Cable Ltd (TCL) director Paula Piveni Piukala and Minister of Trade and Economic Development Tu’i Uata were sent to Auckland to seek advice on the deal.

Uata said TCL had questioned whether the large sums being paid from taxpayers’ money were justified.

Piukala said at the time it “did not make sense” to pay such a large amount of money just in case the cable might be damaged in the future.

Tonga also had an agreement with French company Alcatel for the provision of a fibreoptic cable system connecting Nuku’alofa and Vava’u with a branch to Ha’apai.

The World Bank
The World Bank has funded $50 million for Tonga’s high-speed internet cable which was launched in 2013.

Tonga asked the bank to also fund a back up, or redundancy, cable but the bank said it was not financially viable.

Kalino Latu is editor of Kaniva Tonga. Asia Pacific Report collaborates with Kaniva News.

He has worked as an academic in five different countries and now Dr Steven Ratuva has been made a distinguished professor – the first Pacific person to ever hold this highest professorial title.

The Fiji-born University of Canterbury political sociologist and director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies has been recognised for his pioneering research in a range of fields, including ethnicity, security and politics.

Dr Ratuva has been promoted to the highest role in academia and wants to inspire other Pacific students and scholars to break down the “political and cultural” hurdles that often stand in their way.

• READ MORE: Steven Ratuva becomes world’s first Pacific distinguished professor

“I want to show them that nothing is impossible, you can reach the top,” he said.

“There is always the perception that Pacific people are not as smart, just good in rugby and not so much academia.

“It’s a myth that we need to break through.”

Dr Ratuva said he was honoured to receive the appointment.

First time for a Pacific scholar
“It’s the first time a Pacific scholar has received the title, anywhere in the world,” he said.

“There’s a lot of research around the world about how minorities internalise the perception about them. It’s about breaking through those psychological and cultural perceptions.”

Dr Ratuva joined the University of Canterbury in 2015 but has also worked at universities in Fiji, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia.

“I grew up in an environment where education was very much encouraged and promoted. In my family alone, there are about 15 degrees altogether.”

Dr Ratuva worked for the Suva-based University of the South Pacific (USP) before joining highly respected think tank the Institute of Development Studies, based at the University of Sussex, in southern England.

“It’s the leading development institute in the world. It’s ranked above Oxford and Harvard, they compete for second position,” he said.

The father of two is a prolific author and in the last two years alone he has written and edited five books, including a three-volume global project on ethnicity, the largest and most comprehensive on the subject.

Connecting the boxes
“A lot of those issues are interconnected; politics, economics, culture,” he said.

“Often in academia we break them up into little boxes. In my work, I try to connect those boxes.”

Last year, Dr Ratuva was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and has won the society’s Mertge Medal for New Zealand social science research excellence.

He is currently co-leading a University of Canterbury and USP joint project on climate crisis, covering 16 Pacific countries.

Dr Ratuva is one of four Canterbury academics recently awarded the role of distinguished professors. The others are Maggie Lee Huckabee, Charles Semple and Michael Hall.

This article was first published by Stuff and is republished with permission.

The son of a factory worker made New Zealand history last week, as the first Pacific person to be appointed to the eminent leadership position in academia at a New Zealand university.

“I’m really excited to be the AUT vice-chancellor and with that excitement comes a sense of its significance with the sector which I work in and have given much of my life to, actually looking like the people it serves. So I’m really excited to be part of that story,” Toelesulusulu told Asia-Pacific Report.

• READ MORE: Pacific scholar Dr Damon Salesa named AUT’s next vice-chancellor
• ‘Transform lives’ with education, new vice-chancellor for AUT tells Pasifika

“AUT is a place where talent can find opportunity and I would hope that lots of other people would want to express that excitement by wanting to come to AUT,” he says.

“What matters more is the work of the whole institution, that the university itself embraces its many different communities, its Māori students, its Pacific students and already AUT is a little bit known for that and what we can do is to build even more deeply on that.”

Professor Steven Ratuva, director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Canterbury, says Dr Salesa’s appointment is a significant milestone for the Pacific.

“It is something he richly deserves, and he has been working hard for and it is a good career choice, it is good for the Pacific academic community, and I congratulate him for his contribution to Pacific education.”

South Auckland priority
Currently pro-vice-chancellor Pacific at the University of Auckland (UOA), Dr Salesa takes up his new role as vice-chancellor at AUT in March.

From just up the hill at UOA, he has observed AUT, and likes what he saw.

“I’ve really admired the way AUT prioritised and served its students, particularly the students of South Auckland and mature students, and that is one of reasons I was really interested in the job,” he says.

“Just because those communities of learners for whom education really matters, AUT has really embraced them and that is part of what is exciting about AUT — that is why I wanted to come across and join AUT.

“There is no question that the campus down south and campus on the shore bring universities into the communities that they serve and as well as being global institutions they are local institutions.

“If you have heart to service and you keep the students at the very centre of the decisions you make, you get great results like you see AUT deliver in South Auckland and the North Shore,” he says.

Strengthening Māori and Pacific research
Pacific and Māori research is one area he wants to strengthen as well as build relationships with other institutions in the Pacific.

“Certainly, one of the things I have as a priority is to make sure that AUT is in all of the partnerships that it needs to be in, that we are serving our communities and our partners as well in a reciprocal relationship from which everyone grows.

“That will mean we have to be a little bit selective, but it will also mean that Pacific partnerships and other partnerships are critical to the very centre of the university, and they are not seen as being marginal because we’re a university in the middle of the South Pacific.

“We need to honour that and be connected to our whanau around the Pacific.

“It is absolutely important that we are having those conversations, we need to understand how we can support the University of the South Pacific (USP) and their work, how we can find benefit and value for New Zealand and AUT students and staff from those relationships, so certainly we will be taking that seriously.

“But certainly, USP is a special institution in our region, so we need to be strategic in how we support and partner with them.”

Associate Professor Shailendra Singh, head of journalism at USP, says “as many have pointed out, the appointment is well deserved. He was not given any preference as a Pacific Islander. He was picked on merit.

A Pacific ‘trailblazer’
“As a trailblazer, he will inspire many Pacific Islanders and Pacific people beyond New Zealand as the vice-chancellor of one of the finest universities in our region.

“Through my association with the Pacific Media Centre (PMC), I have participated in AUT journalism-related workshops, seminars, and conferences.

“I have a high regard for the AUT and the PMC, long a flagship of the university for its cutting-edge research and publications in Pacific journalism.

“I hope the PMC is revived as journalism in the region has been struggling due to economic and political factors. Pacific journalism needs support and leadership and AUT can become the beacon it was,” Associate Professor Singh says.

Dr Salesa was in the dark about the PMC which has now been in hiatus for almost a year for unknown reasons.

“I’d have to learn more about that, I don’t know the ins and outs of that situation, but these are things that have to be collaborative, they have to be built with the kind of collective will and expertise of the university especially.

“There is no question that AUT will be prioritising Māori research and Pacific research among its other amazing specialisations,” Dr Salesa says.

AUT ‘anchored in Pacific’
“AUT will always be anchored in the Pacific region and obviously has a long history of educating people from the Pacific region and we hope to continue and deepen that.

“Those partnerships will speak directly to AUT’s future, and this is a period in time where everyone is just hoping for the best possible outcome for USP, and we will be looking to support in ways that make sense for them and AUT.”

Dr Salesa is testament to the fact that people of a Pacific background or ethnicity can succeed and excel — not just in sport, but in every facet of society.

“I think we’ve always known, as the saying goes, talent is everywhere, but opportunity isn’t — and what AUT is the story of, is making opportunity available to diverse groups of talented people.

“We know if you make opportunities available to those who have been denied them, they will flourish if they are supported in the right way.

“I have no doubt what people will see in my own story is that the kinds of diverse talent we have in New Zealand that too often we haven’t made the most of, can come to AUT and thrive.

“I hope that people see in that all kinds of stories because I am also the son of a factory worker, and I am also a first-generation university attendee people can understand that when talent gets opportunity and support it drives them and that’s what I am hoping you’ll see and that is what success at AUT is all about and its story,” the Auckland suburb of Glen Innes-raised Dr Salesa says.

Education pathway
A strong advocate for education, he wanted young Māori and Pasifika people to pursue that pathway rather than young school leavers joining the workforce.

“We know that education is one of the proven pathways to wellbeing and prosperity for families, and that at the same time we know that many families need their young people to go out and work.

“So, it is absolutely critical that we find ways to get talented young Pacific, Māori and other students into high value employment and education is one of the ways of doing that.

“What we need is for them to be ambitious, to have high expectations of themselves and their families and it is for AUT and other universities to deliver that transformational learning which is the secret to those strong and prosperous futures,” Dr Salesa says.

Transformative learning allowed people to change and have more than one career.

“We know all of us are living in the most uncertain and highly changeable times. In the old days everyone imagined they would have just one career and many people now are realising they might not only change jobs but change careers and they have also come to realise that in many, many of our jobs technology sits at the centre of opportunity and the ability to be effective.

“AUT is the kind of institution that is built for these times, it offers all sorts of flexible learning offerings and a truly diverse student body and it is New Zealand’s tech university.

Transformative learning
“So transformative learning is the kind of learning that actually transforms individual students lives where you can see outcomes writ large and that’s what I’m hoping to support further development at AUT so that people understand AUT is a great place to go, to study and get a great job but also prepare themselves for a great future,” Dr Salesa says.

Then there was the inevitable vexed question, whether it was time for another university, namely AUT, to start a new medical school? To which he played with a straight bat.

“At the moment AUT is one of the great providers of the health workforce in New Zealand and certainly for the short term we will be focusing on doing an even better job of doing that.

“Delivering a health workforce and the health researchers that New Zealand needs. That is obviously a critical contribution in the age of the pandemic, but again that will be built collaboratively with my colleagues at AUT.

“I think it is a very challenging time for universities across the board and particularly where next year is going to be where students have had two years of lockdown learning in Auckland so we have to make sure that the university can support them in their ambitions to be successful at AUT.

“That is going to be one of the great challenges, not just facing AUT, but all the tertiary providers that have suffered lockdowns in Auckland.”

A public relations disaster for Fiji just as Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum head to Glasgow for COP26 as one of Britain’s leading media outlets — The Independent — carries out a detailed investigation into events at the University of the South Pacific.

Fiji’s reputation in Britain and the academic community the world over has suffered a grievous blow.

What emerges is a sordid tale of cronyism, bullying, repression and a frontal assault on regional cooperation by the FijiFirst government that has undermined Pacific solidarity and adversely affected the education of ordinary Pacific Islanders at USP, including Fijian young people.

• READ MORE: The long-running USP governance saga

The length and scope of this article and its impeccable pedigree guarantee that it will become the dominant global narrative about events at USP and have a far reaching impact on Fiji’s reputation, including its current role as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum.

And for what? For Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s ego.

A festering wound that will cripple the FijiFirst government all the way to the 2022 election, when its prized “youth vote” will get to make its own pronouncement at the ballot box on events at USP.

Be genuinely dismayed at the AG’s shortsightedness and Bainimarama’s stupidity for allowing his number 2 to embark on a battle he simply cannot win.

This is what The Independent describes as a “long read”:

“At first there is a woman’s voice coming from the back of the house in the dead of night. Then there is repeated ringing of the doorbell. Other voices, male ones, are coming through the front door now; the voices are authoritative and increasingly impatient. Instructions are barked, telling those inside to open up. Fists bang the door. Soon plainclothes police officers are inside and shortly afterwards 63-year-old Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife Sandy Price are forcibly escorted to the airport. The vice-chancellor of the most prestigious university in Fiji is being deported on the orders of the Fijian government.

“The University of the South Pacific (USP) is pretty. Its main campus building in Fiji has a clean, modern design and is fronted by rows of palm trees. But behind the attractive facade and beneath a clear blue South Pacific sky, all hell is breaking loose. An internecine conflict has broken out. On one side stands the vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia, who claims to have blown the whistle on mismanagement and malpractice at the university; opposing him are pro-chancellor Winston Thompson and the Fijian government, who say Ahluwalia is guilty of both breaking USP hiring protocols and of unspecified immigration violations.”

Read on at The Independent or if you want to dodge the paywall, read here.

Republished with permission.

Nauru president Lionel Aingimea has accused Fiji of being “divisive” over its refusal to pay its share of funding for the 12-nation regional University of the South Pacific, saying the institution needs every member country to pay their contribution.

Aingimea said all Pacific island country members of USP were present and voted overwhelmingly to support the offer of a new employment contract to vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

Professor Ahluwalia is now based at the USP campus in Samoa after Fiji unilaterally deported him and his wife Sandra in early February.

• READ MORE: Top global accolades for USP, the ‘captain’ and Pacific regionalism
• Nauru president praises USP for its global top 10% university ranking
• Other USP saga reports

Aingimea, delivering a ministerial statement in Nauru’s Parliament this week, said there was ongoing contention about Fiji withholding its grant agreement due to the USP council decision to renew Professor Ahluwalia’s contract in spite of opposition by Fiji.

He said Fiji’s Attorney-General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, had expressed disapproval of the decision of the council

“This disapproval was voiced in the Fiji Parliament sitting of 19 August 2021.

“Honourable Speaker, USP as a regional university does not belong to any one country.

Responsibilities of members
“Responsibilities of the institution are borne by its members.

“Needless to say, there were a lot of statements that were issued by many bodies and people who went against what Fiji’s A-G stated in Parliament.

“In summary of the USP’s council actions, I state that in a democratic environment, where respect and honour is paramount, the USP Council and employer of the vice-chancellor discussed and voted for his re-instatement.”

President Aingimea, former chancellor of USP, said the re-appointment of Prof Ahluwalia was supported by officeholders, staff and student unions.

In August’s Parliament sitting, reported in The Fiji Times, Sayed-Khaiyum said Fiji did not accept Professor Ahluwalia as the vice-chancellor of USP and that it would not provide any funding or assistance to USP as long as he remained in this position.

BDO report tabled in Nauru Parliament
The Fiji Times reported on Saturday that Fijian academics in the former USP administration had been implicated in a 2019 report into mismanagement and corruption at the regional university that was tabled by President Aingimea in Nauru’s Parliament this week.

Known as the BDO report, Aingimea said it showed serious breaches of university processes and procedures resulting in the loss of millions of dollars of member government and donor funding.

Aingimea said the report showed clear violation of university rules, unethical conduct and gross financial mismanagement by the previous university administration.

He said one particular academic was mentioned more than 100 times in the report.

She was investigated after being awarded a five-year contract, three cash bonuses and one-step increment that was not aligned with the university’s recruitment standards.

Aingimea said the report was then used to review the university’s procedures and implement reforms so mismanagement, corruption, fraud and financial irregularities were not repeated.

Moving forward, Aingimea urged USP to develop strategies to ensure it remained financially sustainable.

Most trying times at USP
Aingimea said that during his year-long tenure as chancellor ending in June 2021, he was faced with the most trying times in the history of the regional university.

“Our unity as a region was being severely tested.

“My tenure was marked by having to deal with challenges including the covid-19 pandemic on USP, a severe funding crisis, and the deportation of the vice-chancellor and president (VCP).”

Questions on Aingimea’s comments sent to Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama had received no response.

Contacted on Friday, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said he was in a meeting and that he would respond.

USP Staff Association president Dr Elizabeth Fong said the association had called for action to be taken on the report’s findings.

Arieta Vakasukawaqa is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

President Lionel Aingimea of Nauru has praised the University of the South Pacific for becoming ranked among the world’s top 10 percent of universities by The Times Higher Education rankings (THE).

This is the first time that the university has achieved this recognition in its 53-year history.

President Aingimea, who is outgoing chancellor and a law graduate and former teacher at the regional university, said it was a “remarkable achievement” and a “resounding endorsement of regionalism” in the Pacific.

• READ MORE: The USP saga
• NZ universities climb in Times Higher Education world rankings
• Full THE rankings

The ranking comes at a critical time for vice-chancellor and president Professor Pal Ahluwalia who has faced bitter opposition by the Fiji government for more than two years in what commentators regard as a “political vendetta”.

Professor Ahluwalia was deported by Fiji in February but had his contract renewed by the USP Council with him being based at a USP campus in Apia, Samoa, instead of Suva.

The THE ranking is seen as a vindication of his efforts to strengthen the university.

The 2022 rankings, released in the UK, look at five criteria: teaching, research, international outlook, citations and industry income.

President Aingimea said in a statement today Nauru had “been a proud founding member” of the university.

‘Longstanding commitment’
“At the time of USP’s establishment in 1968, Nauru stood tall recognising the importance and value of a regional university,” he said.

“Since that time, many Nauruans have, and continue to attend USP. Today, that long-standing commitment as one of the owners of USP has been rewarded in an unprecedented manner.

“USP has for the first time in its 53-year history been ranked by one the most prestigious ranking organisations of the world, The Times Higher Education Rankings (THE).

“USP has entered global rankings to now be part of an elite group that sees it ranked among the top 10 percent of universities in the world. This is truly a remarkable achievement when we take into account our developing regional context.

“Today is a day when the 12 member countries that own the USP can rejoice and see the resources and efforts that they have invested in this great Pacific institution being justly rewarded.

“This ranking is a resounding endorsement of regionalism.

“I have a deep personal association with USP, as a student witnessing first-hand the power of forging life-long relationships with colleagues from across the Pacific.

‘Part of the team’
“I have been a member of staff at USP, as a lecturer in law, and have been part of the team dedicated to delivering a quality education to our students.

“Finally, as president it was a privilege to serve as chancellor of USP. My term as chancellor was marked by the work we had to do to provide USP with the good governance it well and truly deserves.

“As an alumnus of USP, I stand tall with all the staff, students and alumni who have contributed to the success of USP through this ranking.

“It gives me enormous pleasure to congratulate Professor Pal Ahluwalia who has championed USP’s entry into the THE rankings along with his senior management team.

“This ranking speaks volumes about the high calibre of research and academic output that USP has produced. I express my deep gratitude to everyone for their commitment to achieve this recognition.

“Over the last two years, our staff and students have sacrificed a lot, and to each and every one of you, on this wonderful occasion, I once again offer my heartiest congratulations.”

In a USP profile, Professor Ahluwalia said the university had achieved recognition in two particular categories with the THE rankings — “international outlook” (top 400) and “industry income” (top 500).

The University of Canterbury and the University of the South Pacific are partnering in a unique research project that will explore the impact of climate change in the Pacific, and the role indigenous ecological knowledge can play to help communities to adapt.

A statement from the USP said the project would address a lack of research into community resilience and response mechanisms, and how indigenous knowledge could work with Western scientific approaches to inform a range of responses — from government policies to community plans.

It stated the research would support Pacific academics and take a Pasifika approach to research, including talanoa and culturally relevant methodologies.

• READ MORE: Talanoa journalism and climate change – ‘Pacific way’ journalism education and media research culture

It would also capture indigenous approaches and local responses to changes in climate being experienced.

In the statement, University of Canterbury team leader Professor Steven Ratuva said the “trans-disciplinary innovation is needed to explore the multi-layered impacts of the climate crisis on the environment and people in the Pacific and beyond”.

“The project is a unique opportunity to weave science, social science, humanities and indigenous ecological knowledge in creative and transformative ways,” said Professor Ratuva, who is director of the Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies.

USP’s professor of Ocean and Climate Change and director of the Pacific Centre of Environment (PaCE-SD), Dr Elisabeth Holland, said the project responded to increasingly urgent calls from Pacific leaders and peoples to address the climate crisis.

‘First of its kind’
“It is truly a first of its kind of synthesis of research on both climate change and the ocean in the Pacific,” she said.

“This ‘by the Pacific for the Pacific’ project provides the opportunity to amplify community voices in the ongoing national and international discussions.”

According to the statement, the research will contribute to the global understanding of climate change in the Pacific region, contributing to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Global Stocktake in 2023.

It will also provide valuable information to Pacific governments and civil society groups and Pasifika peoples.

It will highlight Pacific solutions to Pacific experiences, sharing these experiences across the region and the world.

The project is funded by the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Timoci Vula is a Fiji Times reporter. Republished with permission.

Some people who were accused of corrupt practices at the University of the South Pacific have applied for Fiji government positions, claims opposition SODELPA member of Parliament Ro Filipe Tuisawau.

He was responding to Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s statement against the governing USP Council in Parliament last week.

“Some people who were accused of corrupt practices have applied for government positions to be part of the civil service,” Ro Filipe said.

• READ MORE: Fiji funding threat over Pacific-wide university draws ire in New Zealand
• Background to the USP saga

He said Sayed-Khaiyum was fond of bringing up allegations against expatriate USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia but failed to mention allegations against the previous Fiji vice-chancellor [Professor Rajesh Chandra].

He said victims of the USP saga were students and staff members who mostly comprised Fijians.

He said there were allegations of corrupt practices before Professor Ahluwalia’s term that should be investigated and the Attorney-Genefral only told “one side of the story”.

“Fiji should be paying more (in grant) because there are more Fijian students.”

Fiji’s USP stance ‘vindictive’

Fiji Labour Party leader Mahendra Chaudhry described the Fiji government’s decision not to release its annual grant to USP unless an independent inquiry was carried out on allegations against Professor Ahluwalia as vindictive.

“One does not expect this degree of immaturity and pettiness from a high-ranking government minister,” Chaudhry said.

“The minister should know that USP will go on regardless of such petty behaviour from him, it is Fiji that will suffer.

“His antics are giving Fiji a bad name and putting regional cooperation at risk.

“We have the PM making an upbeat statement in Parliament talking of regional solidarity and building trust and confidence in our relationship as a forum family’ while the Economy Minister is going all out to wreck this regional family.”

He questioned whether, in line with his new policy on USP, the minister would also suspend payments under the Toppers and TELS scheme to Fiji’s USP students.

“I also wonder what our two big regional donors [Australia and New Zealand] and forum partners think about such petty behaviour.

Divert budgetary support to USP
“Maybe they can consider diverting some of the budgetary support money they donate to the Fijian government, to the USP to make up for the default in Fiji’s annual grant payments.”

Questions sent to Sayed- Khaiyum last week regarding Chaudhry’s statements remained unanswered.

While the Australian consulate has chosen to remain silent on the issue, New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its government respected the collective decision of the USP governing Council to reappoint Prof Ahluwalia.

New Zealand would continue to work with all stakeholders to find a solution that was in the best interests of students.

“New Zealand remains concerned by the ongoing management and governance challenges at the University of the South Pacific (USP),” a statement from the ministry said.

Felix Chaudhary and Luke Rawalai are Fiji Times reporters. Republished with permission.

The University of the South Pacific (USP) has been ranked 11th for “crisis management” by the World Universities with Real Impact (WURI) 2021 global ranking.

The university’s world standing was announced in a virtual conference by professor emeritus of Seoul National University and founding director of the WURI ranking, Moon Hwy Chang.

WURI is the latest university ranking system established in 2020. It was developed by the Organising Committee of the Second Conference of the Hanseatic League of Universities.

WURI was created to evaluate the innovative programmes of universities and to measure the performance of universities in creating real value to society and providing opportunities for the future in the following fields:

• Industrial applications rather than the traditional ways of counting research papers and lecture-type teaching;
• Value-creating startups and entrepreneurship as opposed to the common practice of measuring the number of jobs filled;
• Social responsibility, ethics, and integrity compared to those that only consider the knowledge and skills required for material success;
• Student mobility and openness for exchange and collaboration between schools and across national borders, which are more encompassing than an independent yet closed system; and
• Crisis managementof dealing with external shocks such as the covid-19 pandemic and technological breakthroughs (e.g. artificial intelligence) to thrive rather than just to survive.

The USP entered in the category of “crisis management” and provided the details of how it had responded to covid-19 in 2020. Its submission, titled Continuity of Education amidst COVID-19 Pandemic was submitted in December 2020.

WURI assessed USP on how it dealt with external shocks such as the covid-19 pandemic and technological breakthroughs (e.g. artificial intelligence) “to thrive rather than just to survive”.

USP’s acting vice-chancellor and president, Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Pāunga, said USP was extremely pleased and proud to be included among the best universities in the world in ensuring the continuity of learning and teaching in the current covid-19 pandemic.

“This worldwide recognition is a great and timely gift, received during one of the most challenging periods in the university’s history. This is not just the university’s achievement but a proud moment for the entire region,” he said.

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea has rejected a Fiji minister’s claim that the decision of the University of the South Pacific to reappoint its vice-chancellor and base him in Apia, Samoa, instead of Suva is illegal.

“I don’t see how it can be illegal,” said President Aingimea, who is also the university’s chancellor, in defending the decision to relocate Professor Pal Ahluwalia to Samoa after he was deported by the Fiji government in February in widely condemned circumstances.

“I am also a lawyer and I’ve also read the USP charter and statutes and the [USP] Council has the authority in making appointments.

• READ MORE: USP staff and students hit back at Sayed-Khaiyum’s ‘illegal’ claim

“There’s nothing in the statutes or the charter to suggest we have broken any rule by reappointing the vice-chancellor or issu[ing] him with a new contract.

“There is nothing illegal about it; council offered him a new contract and it can, as the employer.”

As chancellor of the 12-nation regional university, Aingimea said in statement issued by the Nauru government that the council had acted within the guidelines of the USP charter and statutes in response to a claim by Fiji’s Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum last week that USP had acted illegally.

On Tuesday, the university’s two staff unions and the students’ association also issued a joint declaration that USP had acted legally.

Offer of new contract
A sub-committee chaired by President Aingimea presented six recommendations to the USP Council which convened a special meeting on May 25 and June 2 and agreed to offer a new contract to Professor Ahluwalia as vice-chancellor and president (VCP) of the USP.

Students and staff were pleased with the recommendations and the outcome of the council deliberations in re-appointing the VC, said Aingimea.

“The council stands for what’s right and that’s what the students and staff want.”

President Aingimea agreed that it was Fiji’s decision when it came to terminating work visas. However, he added that the issue of contract termination lay with the council as the vice-chancellor’s employer.

“We [USP Council] looked at the USP statutes and charter and we have not broken any rule in offering a new contract to the VC.”

Since the sub-committee was established, President Aingimea said he had received a lot of correspondence from staff, students and the Fiji media inquiring about the status of the VC.

As chairman of the sub-committee, President Aingimea respected the process and considered it inappropriate to respond to those enquiries — until now, saying that any communication and developments arising from the sub-committee must first be reported to council.

Contract renewal precedence
He said there was precedence when former VC Professor Rajesh Chandra’s contract was renewed by the council without advertising the position.

President Aingimea also defended Samoa as an established USP hub — as Emalus campus in Vanuatu was. Relocating the VC to Samoa would not be a disadvantage in terms of the VC carrying out his work.

As a former lecturer at USP, said President Aingimea, the reports and issues facing the university were not new. He described them as “longstanding issues”.

“So maybe it’s about time the region spoke out,” Aingimea said.

“This is a regional university. It doesn’t belong to any one country.”

Fiji has the highest number of students attending USP and is thus the highest contributor to university grants with an annual contribution of $34.4 million.

It also benefits the most through income tax, rent, travel, transport, medical, and the purchase of goods and services by the staff and students that attend and are employed by the university.

Fiji not paid up
In reality, however, said the Nauru government statement, the Fiji government had not paid the full amount in recent years.

In 2019, it was short $7.8 million and $17.75 million in 2020. This year, a contribution has not been made by Fiji, which gets back nine times its contribution.

President Aingimea said all member countries of the USP had the right to an equal voice in the decisions and operations of the USP.

“USP belongs to all of us, not just one country.”

The University of the South Pacific staff and student unions have condemned Fiji Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum’s claim that a new USP contract offer to the vice-chancellor is illegal, saying he has “misled” the Fiji public with a “baseless” statement.

The unions also said he had shown “total disrespect” for the governing USP Council which represents 11 independent regional governments, donors, staff, students and alumni in the Pacific.

In a joint media statement, the Association of USP Staff (AUSPS), University of South Pacific Staff Union (USPSU) and the USP Student Association (UPSA) said today Fiji had the highest number of representatives on the council and was “given ample opportunity by the pro-chancellor and chair of council to share its views” under democratic process.

• READ MORE: A-G: Appointment illegal – USP Council accepts reinstatement of Professor Pal Ahluwalia
• Other reports on the USP saga

Fiji was decisively out-voted in the council. A new Samoa-based contract was offered to Professor Pal Ahluwalia who had been abruptly deported along with his wife in February in a widely criticised action.

“In essence the Fiji members of the council failed to convince other members of the council regarding their views on the issues under discussion and now calling a decision illegal and questioning others that are within the purview of the august body,” said the media statement signed by AUSPS president Elizabeth Reade Fong, USPSU president Taris Vacala, and USPSA president (Laucala) Lepani Naqarase.

“This press release serves to rebut as baseless the statements of the AG [Attorney-General] and the Fiji representatives to the USP Council who have reported council outcomes to him.”

Citing many of the university’s governing documents — including the university charter — the statement said: “The council is well within its rights and has determined that the VC/P will be located at the Samoa campus. This was voted for by a clear majority.

‘Within due process’
“The same is applied to the continuation of salary of the VC/P on his deportation by the council at its February 16, 2021, meeting at which the chair of council and chair of the Audit and Risk Committee were not present due to ‘conflicts of interest’ which led to their earlier and continued recusal from council deliberations.

“All of this was within due process. The members must accept that the council has the right to determine whether a conflict of interest exists.”

The statement added that only the University Council could appoint and remove a vice-chancellor.

Sayed-Khaiyum told the Fiji Parliament last week that Professor Ahluwalia’s reinstatement was illegal, reports The Fiji Times.

In response, the university stated its priority during these challenging times was learning and teaching delivery and it wished not to comment further.

The university stated the governing body of the regional institution was the USP Council.

Speaking on the university’s annual report for 2018, Sayed-Khaiyum said the appointment was illegal because it was not in accordance with the university’s charter.

• Full joint USP unions media release at The Pacific Newsroom

The governing body of the University of the South Pacific has put a stop to a long and bitter campaign by the Fiji government to get rid of vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

With the strong leadership of Tonga and Samoa, the council voted to:

• Issue a new contract for the vice-chancellor’s position to Professor Pal Ahluwalia
• Relocate the VC’s office from the university’s main campus in Suva, Fiji, to the USP’s Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa; and
• Stipulate that VC Ahluwalia’s contract be a three-year term.

Fiji’s five representatives to the council were led by its Solicitor-General Sharvada Nand Sharma in place of Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (who was attending a virtual session of the Fiji Parliament), and Education Permanent Secretary Dr Angeela Jokhan (who was until last year a senior academic at the USP).

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports

They attempted unsuccessfully to garner support to block the three motions.

The strongest support they received was when eight council members voted against a three-year term for Professor Ahluwalia’s new contract as VC. The additional three votes against the motion came from the representatives of Australia, New Zealand and council chair Winston Thompson of Fiji.

A majority of council members did not support reservations raised over Professor Ahluwalia’s age. He is 62 this year, but some senior members of USP have worked at the university until they were 70 years of age.

Australia called for this clause to be reconsidered by a new sub-committee, a suggestion Nauru’s President and education minister, Lionel Aingimea, strongly opposed. Aingimea argued that the motion had already been scrutinised by a sub committee of the council which he chaired, and the better way for Australia to show its stand on the matter would be through voting.

How they voted
Thompson and the Australian representative also voted with the Fiji bloc against the relocation of the VC’s office to Samoa. New Zealand joined the majority of members that included Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands and a majority of the USP staff and student reps in endorsing the motion.

Solomon Islands had an unusual voting pattern, Islands Business was told, for its education minister voted with Fiji on the first motion opposing the re-engagement of VC Ahluwalia, and then decided to abstain in the successive two motions.

Her attempt to claim the additional vote of their new co-opted member to the council, long-time Pacific fisheries expert Dr Transform Aqorau was denied by the council because Dr Aqorau is yet to undergo an induction as its newest member.

Samoa was represented by senior civil servants.

With the council secretariat withholding a statement on the outcome of today’s meeting which was held virtually, it could not be confirmed whether the council would be meeting again next week to decide on the fate of its chair Winston Thompson and the chair of the council’s audit and risk sub-committee Mahmood Khan, also of Fiji.

Both men have been cited for insubordination and of working against the interest of the council and the USP, and have spearheaded the campaign to remove Professor Ahluwalia as VC.

Those efforts saw attempts to suspend him from the position in July last year, and a middle-of-the-night deportation, along with his partner, Sandy Price, from Fiji in early March this year.

Professor Ahluwalia and Price have been living in Nauru since then.

Samisoni Pareti is managing director of Islands Business news magazine in Fiji. This article is republished with permission.

The deported vice-chancellor of the University of the South Pacific has told the Samoa Observer that his future remains in limbo after he was expelled from Fiji, the 12-nation regional university’s headquarters.

Speaking to the Observer from Nauru, Professor Pal Ahluwalia said the decision about where to serve out his tenure remains out of his hands.

The remarks come the day after Samoa formally extended Professor Ahluwalia the offer of a safe haven.

• READ MORE: Other reports on the USP saga

The professor says he had received offers from both Samoa and Vanuatu to offer him a safe haven, but that the decision about where he ends up will be up to the university.

Professor Ahluwalia has been in Nauru for two months now at the invitation of President of Lionel Aingimea to observe first-hand the challenges that face countries in Micronesia and the South Pacific and see what can be done to improve them.

“I’m waiting for the University Council to decide about where I go next and I know your prime minister and the prime minister of Vanuatu have both said that they would like me to operate from either of those two countries,” said Professor Ahluwalia.

“My view is [I will go] to wherever the council wants me to go.”

Confident over Samoa
The caretaker Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr Sa’ilele Malielegaoi, is confident the vice-chancellor will choose to pick Samoa

Speaking for the first time following the election during his Taimi ma le Palemia programme last Monday, Tuilaepa confirmed Samoa is one of only two countries that have extended an invitation to host Professor Ahluwalia.

“Our branch of the regional university was more focused on agricultural courses, but with the recent change, it is now a general campus,” he said.

“This means any course can be taught there and that’s why we offered to host the vice-chancellor; similar to when he lived in Fiji while also directing the university here and in Vanuatu.

“This is why he can also live here during his tenure while he oversees the campuses in Fiji and Vanuatu. Only two nations offered – Vanuatu and Samoa.

“And we do feel that the [vice-chancellor] would prefer to be in Samoa; so we are awaiting a decision as there is also Australia and New Zealand involved. But whatever it may be, I really believe that he will come here.”

Professor Ahluwalia drew the ire of university and national authorities for whistleblowing a raft of misspending and irregular bonuses among the university leadership.

Leaked audit report
Copies of his audit report, and a follow-up report that backed up his findings by forensic accountants BDO Auckland were widely leaked and exposed widespread corruption in the school.

But when he began investigating the situation, he never imagined it would lead to his overnight expulsion, he said.

“Obviously, I did an audit when I first got to the USP in 2019 and that audit revealed irregularities and financial mismanagement and human resource breaches of policy,” he said.

“I thought the only logical thing for me to do was report it to my council, which I did and of course some members of my management who were incriminated in it don’t share my values or my passion for higher education in the Pacific.

“It’s a clash of values and integrity and ethics. I can only speak about myself, others have to really answer those questions for themselves.”

Professor Ahluwalia was deported from Fiji, the site of the university’s main campus, without warning in February following a late night raid and he was deportated to Australia the following day.

In the meantime, Dr Giulio Masasso Tu’ikolongahau Paunga, is acting vice-chancellor and president.

University clarification
Last week, USP’s chancellor, President Aingimea, clarified that Professor Ahluwalia was still the head of the university despite his abrupt removal from the main campus.

Speaking to The Fiji Times, the regional university chancellor said there was no question that Professor Ahluwalia was still the vice-chancellor.

“That was a question that was put to a subcommittee, the subcommittee has put it back to the council with some recommendations – as far as I am personally concerned, he is still the VC of the USP,” he said.

“As far as I am concerned there are other campuses around the region, USP is a regional institution and, therefore, the VC can, as far as I am concerned, operate out of Samoa, Vanuatu or Nauru or any other country for that matter.”

The Samoan government has been clear on its intentions to have Professor Ahluwalia work from Samoa from the start and speaking to the Samoa Observer soon after his deportation in February, the vice-chancellor said he would be delighted to do so.

The caretaker Prime Minister said such scandals were crucial in shaping the future of the university as well as a lesson for the next host country for the university head.

This article was first published in the Samoa Observer.

Deported Canadian academic Professor Pal Ahluwalia is still vice-chancellor and president of the University of the South Pacific, says chancellor Lionel Aingimea.

Professor Ahluwalia and his wife, nursing lecturer Sandra Price, were forced to leave Fiji in early February after the Fiji government claimed the couple had breached provisions in their work permits.

Aingimea, who is also Nauru’s President, said once issues relating to the academic’s departure were cleared at the council level, Professor Ahluwalia would be allowed to operate out of any USP member country, except Fiji.

• READ MORE: More reports on the USP saga

Aingimea’s comments comes amid a council meeting this week to discuss a report which had highlighted governance issues at the regional institution.

The report was compiled in 2019 by forensic accountant BDO Auckland following allegations by Professor Ahluwalia of “serious mismanagement and abuse of office” at the USP.

The fallout between the university’s governing body, the USP Council, and the head office host nation, Fiji, came to the fore following the deportation of Ahluwalia.

Aingimea had condemned the deportation.

USP not informed
He said the USP Council, Professor Ahluwalia’s employer, was not informed of his deportation by the Fijian authorities.

The council had not revoked Professor Ahluwalia’s contract, Aingimea said.

He told the Fiji Times newspaper last week that he had received a lot of letters from USP students and staff expressing their disappointment that issues remained unresolved.

The question of Professor Ahluwalia’s role was put to a subcommittee, Aingimea said, and the subcommittee had returned it to the council meeting this week with some recommendations.

“As far as I am personally concerned, he [Ahluwalia] is still the VC of the USP,” he said.

On Ahluwalia not being able to return to Fiji, Aingimea said he could operate from any member country.

“As far as I am concerned there are other campuses around the region, USP is a regional institution and, therefore, the VC can, as far as I am concerned, operate out of Samoa, Vanuatu or Nauru or any other country for that matter.”

Ahluwalia and his wife were taken from their Suva home late at night on February 3 and driven to Nadi International Airport to be put on a flight to Australia.

According to the Fiji government, Alhuwalia and Sandra Price had continuously breached Section 13 of the Immigration Act which led to their deportation.

The couple have denied the claims.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The arrest, detention, and deportation of University of the South Pacific vice-chancellor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife are significant issues for Fiji and the “Sea of Islands”.

As a son of the Pacific committed to Oceania, I am dismayed by recent events at USP. I write in support of all the peoples of Fiji. Moreover, I uphold the mana of the many artistic and intellectual ancestors USP has provided for the education of younger generations of Pacific people across Oceania.

I acknowledge USP’s educational leadership for all peoples in Oceania with humility and respect. I extend solidarity to all USP staff and students from Fiji and around the Moana.

• READ MORE: USP open letter: How Fiji infiltrated a campus and kidnapped a vice-chancellor in ‘Gestapo-style coup’
• Secret report reveals widespread salary and allowance rorts at USP
• USP’s academic leader deported for getting close to Fiji’s dark secret
• Fiji work permits comes with conditions, says Bainimarama
• Other reports on the USP saga

I do not have the right to tell USP staff or students how they might resolve their issues. We Pasifika in Aotearoa are not qualified to lecture our brothers and sisters at USP about conflict resolution. USP has the collective culture, history, people, and protocols to resolve some of the issues about the expulsion of their vice-chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia.

But I wish to provide some humble suggestions to empower those seeking to resolve the issues that USP in Fiji confronts today.

Speaking as a Pasifika activist, I acknowledge that the only resolutions will be holistic ones involving all parties. But I think the Fiji government can perform an important role in resolving all issues. In broader terms, I feel the Fiji government could perform an important leadership role in allowing USP to heal and move forward in a spirit of Moana unity.

Ramifications for Fiji, region
The Fiji government’s expulsion of Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife from Fiji has had tremendous ramifications for Fiji and the region.

Academic organisations, activists, legal organisations, NGOs, journalists, Fiji members of Parliament, regional politicians, and USP alumni, staff, and students have all clarified relevant issues about the Fiji government’s unilateral decision to expel Ahluwalia and his wife.

In summary, some of these issues are:

1. The rule of law and the right of due process;
2. Protection of human rights;
3. The protection of the right to dissent;
4. Academic freedom;
5. Unilateral government intervention into the affairs of USP;
6. Protection of USP staff from unfair dismissal,
7. Safety and the wellbeing of USP staff, students at USP in Fiji, including safe from arrest or detention;
8. Claims of corruption at USP;
9. Allegations against Pal Ahluwalia;
10. Claims of punitive action against Ahluwalia by the Fiji government and Fiji members of the USP Council;
11. Issues of staff remuneration;
12. The health of relationships between Fiji and other member states who co-own USP;
13. Distinctions between state and civil society, i.e. the distinctions between the Fiji government and the regional university campus in Fiji; and
14. Calls for a relocation of the office of USP’s vice-chancellor from Fiji to other member nations, such as Samoa or Vanuatu.

Helpful resolutions
The Fiji government could help resolve these matters by engaging in a number of actions, discussions and processes. It could:

• Invite Professor Pal Ahluwalia and his wife back into the country so the issues could be resolved in Fiji.
• Clarify precisely what part of the law Ahluwalia his wife are alleged to have breached.
• Recommit to protecting the human rights of all in Fiji. More specifically, the government could ensure that all USP employees’ human rights are guaranteed so academic freedom can be exercised responsibly.
• Acknowledge that Pal Ahluwalia and his wife’s human rights have been breached. Moreover, the government could act to ensure this does not happen again to any other USP employee.
• Take precautions not to directly intervene in the affairs of USP again by expelling employees of the university. Moreover, Fiji government representatives on the USP Council could work to ensure this is never carried out again at the university.
• Release the funding the Fiji government owes USP without strings attached.
• Work closely with USP’s member nations to work out collective resolutions to enhancing the regional nature and character of the institution. This could be achieved through the creation of innovative policies that ease current immigration restrictions on the recruitment and retention of staff particularly from the region, and, further, by helping to facilitate an easing of inter-country movement of USP staff and students among member countries.
• Uphold the sanctity of USP as a learning space and strongly discourage police and military units from entering any USP grounds in Fiji and elsewhere.
• Respect the autonomy of USP’s staff and student organisations.
• Ensure the University Council-commissioned 2019 BDO Report, which independently investigated all allegations of corruption, is officially released to all stakeholders including staff and students. The only way to investigate criticisms of Ahluwalia is for independent people to assess the truth of these allegations. Similarly, only independent voices can consider the truth of claims made on Ahluwalia’s behalf. The government agrees to accept the outcomes of such investigations. The search for truth and fact are being politicised because of the Fiji government’s interference in university matters. Truth can only prevail if it is not weaponised for political purposes.
• Ensure all concerns regarding staff remuneration are scrutinised fully and fairly by investigators acting independently of both the Fiji government and USP. The government could respect the independence of investigator’s findings. Moreover, the issue of remuneration for those staff who have served the region selflessly over long years could be examined with sensitivity and respect by investigators.
• Allow USP staff and students privacy to work through issues raised by Professor Ahluwalia’s deportation. The government could step back and encourage USP’s people on all sides of this issue to engage in toktok or talanoa in order to heal and move forward in unity. This might encourage people not to settle scores with one another via government and/or university politics.
• Articulate and clarify the lines of autonomy existing between the spheres of the Fijian state – and USP as part of Moana civil society. Then healthy lines of intersection between state and civil society might be established. If such lines are not clearly established, the Fiji government could be accused of trying to absorb USP in Fiji into an apparatus of the state.
• Seek assistance from Pacific neighbours to help sort out issues. Pacific unity is perhaps best demonstrated when we support one another. Working with Pacific Island friends ensures USP’s vision of re-shaping the future in Oceania continues. Moreover, working in partnership with other Pacific Island peoples ensures USP’s mission of empowering Moana peoples in the region continues for the foreseeable future.

Tony Fala is an activist, volunteer community worker and researcher living in Auckland, Aotearoa. He has Tokelau ancestry. According to genealogies held by family elders, Fala also has ancestors from Aotearoa, Samoa, Tonga, and other island groups in Oceania. He works as a volunteer for the Community Services Connect Trust rescuing food and distributing this to families in need. Fala is currently producing a small Pan-Pacific research project, and is also helping organise an Auckland anti-racist conference.

As the fate of the University of the South Pacific remains on edge, a small leak of a personal file hints at what is wrong with the 50-year-old regional institution.

It is detail on Dr Angela Jokhan, until recently USP’s Head of Faculty of Science, Technology and Environment.

It’s unflattering: “…she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful”.

• READ MORE: Other USP saga reports
• USP chancellor condemns treatment of Pal
• The BDO report

Plainly a significant player in the organisation, Dr Jokhan is of greater significance now in Fiji having been appointed Fiji’s Permanent Secretary Education last October.

How she got the job, given her academic performance, raises questions. Answers point to her marriage to a wealthy land agent who happened to be an unsuccessful FijiFirst candidate for Parliament.

The couple have been strong supporters of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

At the 12-nation USP, under former vice-chancellor Professor Rajesh Chandra, Dr Jokhan earned a significant salary and had her contract renewed in a less than transparent way, say institutional sources.

Complaint led to BDO report
Incoming vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia took up the post and, as is now well known, suspected matters were not right. His complaint to the USP Council led to the now infamous BDO report, initially revealed in The Pacific Newsroom.

Dr Angela Jokhan was mentioned 109 times in the BDO report.

Professor Ahluwalia called for reports on the various people and among them was one written by Professor Derrick Armstrong, the deputy vice-chancellor. Last year, he became acting vice-chancellor when the Fiji government moved to have Professor Ahluwalia fired.

When they were unsuccessful in that, they earlier this year just nabbed him in the middle of the night and deported him.

Professor Armstrong’s report on Dr Angela Jokhan has been leaked. Headed “Feedback on the Performance of Associate Professor Anjeela Jokhan as Dean FSTE” it is in several sections.

”Contribution made to support the University, the Vice-Chancellor and President and the Senior Management Team.
“Associate Professor Jokhan is a highly experienced manager and makes significant contributions to the University across a number of areas. In addition to her Faculty responsibilities she has also recently taken over temporary responsibility at the SMT level for the University’s ICT area. She pursues her responsibilities with vigour and has been fully engaged in a number of key areas and activities central to the University’s strategy and performance. She is a very active member of the University Senate. Her enthusiasm can from time to time lead to her being quite abrasive and dismissive of other points of view. She can be a very effective member of the SMT team but this is not always the case and she has an unfortunate tendency to create conflict with her peers and to be extremely disrespectful. She does have a tendency to insist that she is correct on an issue on the basis of her personal knowledge and long experience with the University, even when there is no evidence to support her viewpoint.

”Contribution to the Faculty/Department.
Associate Professor Jokhan runs her Faculty with a very firm hand. The Faculty is successful on a number of indicators and she has put together a good team of Associate Deans who ensure efficiency and consistency in the administration of Faculty procedures. The Faculty has led the University in a number of areas, for example in the development of apps and the granting of patents. The Faculty has also been very successful in achieving the international accreditation/recognition of programmes in, for example, Engineering and Computing. The research performance of the Faculty might be considered satisfactory overall but there has been very little success in achieving external funding for research and with some individual exceptions its performance would not be considered notable compared with Science Faculties elsewhere. With stronger academic leadership there would most certainly be opportunities for the Faculty to step up a gear. There have been many conflicts with Heads of Schools and with other staff. On occasions the Dean has taken actions with regard to staff members that have put the University at risk. She demonstrates considerable impatience with those with whom she differs. It would be hard not to be aware of the widespread grumblings and dissatisfaction within the Faculty over her management style.

”Leadership, Representation
“Associate Professor Jokhan does not have the rank of full professor and her personal research leadership is minimal. She is a biologist by academic background but in recent times has contributed to publications with her students and junior staff in the area of ICT enabled learning. However, she does not have an academic background in this area, nor does she have a strong profile. The absence of academic leadership is a significant deficit in the leadership one might expect from a dean. Her contribution is principally as a manager rather than as an academic leader.”

Also leaked is a spreadsheet itemising Dr Angela Jokhan’s academic publications and PhD supervision.

It’s rather modest for an academic who, as BDO said, was on a salary of F$450,000 (NZ$305,000) a year.

• Full report and documents at The Pacific Newsroom