Covid, culture and USP’s fight to save academic freedom

asiapacificreport.nz/2020/06/15/covid-culture-and-usps-fight-to-save-academic-freedom/

By David Robie June 15, 2020

PACIFIC PANDEMIC DIARY: By David Robie

What an irony. The 12-nation regional University of the South Pacific that prides itself
on its pan-Pacific culture has unwittingly suffered collateral damage in the wake of the
covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in the Pacific.

Although the Pacific has largely fended off serious incursions by the virus with the Cook
Islands and Vanuatu among those ticked as totally covid-free, the paranoia about
infection has allowed growing doses of authoritarianism to seep into the region.

This theme was picked up by incoming chancellor of the university, Nauru’s President
Lionel Rouwen Aingimea, an articulate and passionate alumni champion of USP and
who is also a lawyer.

READ MORE: The USP legacy – Celebrating the Pacific, shaping its future: 50 years
of achievement

1/5
In a letter last Monday to Fiji’s
controversial pro-chancellor Winston
Thompson, who chairs USP Council, and
who has been driving the current
leadership crisis, President Aingimea
made a widely reported allegation that a
small group was seeking to “hijack” the
institution and putting its future in
jeopardy. He criticised a “disregard for due process”.

Some council members and behind-the-scenes advisers have gone further. They argue
that the host country Fiji has taken advantage of covid-19 lockdowns and health security
restrictions on meetings to take a grip on the leadership agenda in the last couple of
months.

USP’s acting vice-chancellor Professor Derrick Armstrong …

staff “uncomfortable” could leave. Image: FBC screenshot/PMC

- Partner -

While newly appointed acting vice-chancellor Professor Derrick Armstrong says he has
the support of senior management as he fills in for his suspended boss Professor Pal
Ahluwalia (who was the original whistleblower on the alleged USP rorts business and is
now facing tit-for-tat counter allegations), statements from some key staff tell a
different story.

Armstrong said that staff who were “uncomfortable” with his leadership could leave.

One of the strongest and most passionate condemnations of the handling of the current
crisis came at the weekend from Associate Professor Tarcisius Kabutaulaka, director of
the Centre for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawai’i Manoa, giving his
2/5
personal view as a former student and staff member of USP.

He accused a small group of people of “selfishly and disrespectfully desecrated” this

“sacred place of learning” for the Pacific which celebrated a half century two years ago.

“USP was the place where we learned to navigate the

academic ocean; where we tried out ideas; where we
made mistakes and learned to correct them; where we
met, got to know and befriend people from other parts
of Oceania; where we first fell in love and made love for
the first time; where we first experienced heartbreaks;
where some met our spouses; where some had our first
child and buried their umbilical cord,” Kabutaulaka
wrote.

A petition from former staff and alumni declares they

are “dismayed” at how the actions of pro-chancellor
Thompson and his colleagues in the Fiji-based executive
committee have brought the university “into disrepute”.
Dr Tarcisius Kabutaulaka …
The petitioners say they are “deeply mindful of the “USP was the place where we
contribution of scores of staff and thousands of learned to navigate the
graduates of USP towards building its reputation in academic ocean.” Image: Center
Oceania and beyond as well as the massive cooperative for Pacific Islands Studies
regional effort by the governments and people of its 12
member states, and Australia and New Zealand in maintaining the regional institution
and its numerous campuses”.

They also say they are “disturbed at the failure” of Thompson to comply with a May
2019 directive that he works “cooperatively and in harmony” with Ahluwalia for the
good of the university.

3/5
 #TeamPal students supporting suspended USP vice-chancellor Professor Pal Ahluwalia call for the
resignation of Fiji’s pro-chancellor Winston Thompson at the Pacific regional university’s Laucala
campus in Suva. Image: USPSA

The petition includes calls for:

• The reinstatement of Professor Ahluwalia as vice-chancellor

• Public release of the BDO Report [completed last August] into the allegations against
the previous university administration and a report by a three-person investigating
commission; and
• Examination of whether the pro-chancellor has followed due process. And if he is
found to have not followed due process, not delivered natural justice, and undermined
the vice-chancellor then the council should request his resignation and appoint a new
chair.

President Aingimea clearly is not keen on this critical USP Council meeting with many
participants around the region taking part virtually left solely to the control of the Fiji-
based executive committee.

He proposed that an independent organisation such as DFAT (Australia) or MFAT

(New Zealand) organise the special meeting rather than having any USP staff support
do the job.

4/5
“For transparency and security reasons, the Zoom meeting should not be compromised
by having USP staff supporting this meeting,” he said in a letter on Friday, and he also
prefers the meeting to take place this Wednesday rather than next Friday.

As Professor Kabutaulaka says, he hopes the USP Council will sort out the crisis with
“diligence, intelligence and wisdom”.

USP saga: Aingimea proposes independent organisation for proposed meeting

Covid and Papuan political prisoners

Meanwhile, one of the major covid issues still facing the Pacific is the plight of Papuan
political prisoners.

Former prisoner Filep Karma has

criticised the failure of President Joko
“Jokowi” Widodo to honour his pledge
five years ago to free all Papuan political
prisoners during his administration.

Karma says Widodo made this pledge to

five of his fellow political prisoners in
Jayapura, Papua when they were released
in 2015.

However, now the number of Papuan

Former political prisoner Filep Karma …
political prisoners in jail has instead
President said: “This is reconciliation and I will
grown to 46 – with Widodo into his free all political prisoners”. Image: Mundri
second presidential term – and there are Winanto/CNN Indonesia
growing fears about their plight as
Indonesian covid-19 infections continue to rise sharply. The Indonesian human rights
advocacy group Tapol has also beeen pushing the issue strongly.

According to the latest Johns Hopkins University statistics, 38,277 people have been
infected and 2134 have died in Indonesia (including Papua).

5/5