Voices
Social Re-Engineering
Maturity Is Not Always Learned In Classrooms
What follows is an abridged version of University of the South Pacific Vice Chancellor Siwatibau's December address to the graduates of USP's Laucala campus.
Mr. Chairman: The economies of the twelve Member Countries of the USP have, on the whole, not improved since the Graduation of December last year. And the recent and ongoing weaknesses in the world economy have not helped. Low economic growth rates, except for Samoa, high unemployment, particularly among the young, rapidly rising public expenditures, low government revenue growth, physical and social infrastructure which are manifestly in need of repairs, weak external sectors, very weak fiscal positions and varying degrees of social difficulties have persisted during 2002. The prospects for the medium term do not look good.
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To the graduates: This is your day. We celebrate your achievement with you. Your success is officially recognized today with the award of your certificates which, those who have supported your attendance here hope will open doors and expand opportunities for you. The University certainly hopes so too.
As I stressed to those who graduated before you last year, and I wish to remind you of that again, you are indeed highly privileged members of your society. None of our Island countries can afford to educate all its youth to tertiary level. In some of our countries, many drop out or get pushed out of the system even at lower primary and secondary levels. You have all done well to have come out winners in that long process of competition for education, from primary level, through secondary to university. And now you are to receive your diplomas or degrees. Congratulations. You have achieved much. But lest you rest too easily on your laurels, let me remind you of that common saying, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” It is in the application of what you have learnt here, that your country, family and friends will finally assess you. Having invested so much in you, they will expect high returns from their investments.
Maturity is not directly learnt in the lecture rooms or laboratories of the university. It is learnt and developed in the classroom of the world outside. Maturity means recognizing that you exist in an inequitable community of people, with wide disparities of opportunities, of incomes, of privileges and of power or access to resources. Maturity recognizes your privileged situation within that community, and enables you to temper all decisions you make, regarding your relationships with others.
We are all here in this world to serve. The wisdom of most of our traditions, honor service to others. Most of our major religions urge us to serve selflessly. They all emphasize that it is through service to others, that one serves oneself; it is in giving that one receives. So go out and serve. Go out and give of yourself, and of the knowledge and skills that you have developed here.
Now man’s wars have taken a new dimension in the war against international terrorism. Now any country in the world becomes a potential battleground. You may think that we in the Pacific are so far removed that the threat of terrorism need not concern the bulk of us, who are not responsible for our national security. But I hope that you will go out and think about this issue more. The threat of terrorism is never far away. It could, for our region, be terrorism borne of increasing poverty and of injustice within our own countries. It could be terrorism borne of frustrations, by those who increasingly feel left out of meaningful participation in, and of fair sharing of the benefits of our own countries’ development.
You are going out of USP to be leaders of your countries. Bear the needs for justice constantly in mind. Justice in the sharing of resources, in access to opportunities, in participation in the economy, in the provision of social services, in the sharing and use of power and in all relationships–—both amongst peoples, as well as between people and institutions.
Our modern societies are torn apart by ethnic hatred, intolerance, much misunderstanding and unfettered greed. To take leadership in such societies, is to begin a revolution, in our very modes of thinking and in relating to each other. This requires massive re-education to produce the person who abhors hatred and greed and embraces compassion, sharing, justice, honesty, inclusiveness and integrity. We shall need social re-engineering. That can only begin within each of us. I hope you will go out and think about this, and gain the courage, to begin it, first within yourself, as you move on to serve within your society.
