Comunidad del pacífico en perspectiva - Volumen 2

THE ROLE OF 'IHE UNIVERSlTlES IN THE PAClFilC COMMUNITY the so-called progress and development. It seems quite necessary for the peoples of the Pacific Community to question the many popular and long-standing theories and strategies for development so that better and more appropriate theoretical basis and strategies are developed for use by the nations and territories of the Pacific Basin. Our noble cultural traditions have not been adequately culti– vated to provide a strong basis for our lives and for our future. We must firmly move away from mere rhetorics to a real hard look at ourselves in order to find our future. The revival of our noble traditions cannot be achieved by word of mouth ,alone. We must participate positively in the act of the true sense of identify– ing ourselves as the peoples of the Pacific Community. At the early stages of the making of Papua New Guinea as an indepent natíon, the Prime Miníster, the then Chief Minister of Papua New Guinea, said: We want to be able to choose our nation's future for ourselves. There are many goods things in the advanced e<:onomies of Australia, Japan and other countries. But this does not mean we ~hould try to imitate every feature of mose countries here in Papua New Guinea. There are many as– pects of the traditional culture that we should like to keep, but this does not mean that we reject all the ideas from outside. We need to be free to choose •..'. The same sentiments are shared by many leaders of the Pacific people. In 1975 the Prime Minister of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kama¡;ese Mara had this to say: We had reached a stage when we felt the urge and the need 10 control our own destinies, to~ther with confidente in our own abilities to do so". The urge to find one's own identity and the future has brought about the common usage of the terms the Melanesian and die Pacific Ways. The most important and common element in all these expressions is the diversity of cultures which is believed to ·Papua New Guinea Eight Point Improvent Plan, 1973, p. 2. 'llatu Sir Kamasese Mara, Currents in me Pacific, 1975. 207