02/04/2025
Worth reading and sharing
*The unsung heroes of the yester years; Soldiers and gentlemen*
By David Lepi
20th March 2025, PORT MORESBY. Papua New Guinea opened the year’s parliament sitting on March 11th 2025 with special tribute to the country’s pioneer politician and second prime minister from independence, the late Sir Julius Chan. Respectfully known as the “Last Man Standing’ Sir Julius played a pivotal role in Papua New Guinea’s political and economic development, serving twice as prime minister and four times as Deputy Prime Minister. At the time of his passing he was Governor of New Ireland Province.
Magnificent recognition and fitting accolades came from both sides of the house and among them was the chief attribute, Sir Julius or Sir J, as he was adorably called, was his decisiveness in taking affirmative action. His two decisions made as prime minister on two different occasions that etches in the memories of Papua New Guineans forever, are his deployment of PNG Defense Force soldiers as regional peace keepers to Vanuatu in 1980 to quell the Jimmy Steven rebellion that threaten our newly independent Melanesian wantok.
And his most enigmatic decision ever was, putting an end to the Bougainvillea conflict, militarily, using one of the world’s specialized mercenaries. Whether popular or not it was an executive order made consciously on the pain of the consequences. And as a true patriot Sir J was ready to defend both his decision and the honor of the country he loved so dear.
They say history only remembers kings and not soldiers but our heroes who featured in the Coconut War in Vanuatu and the Sandline Crises defy that precept and stand out strongly that their story need to be told.
And now with the 50 year independence anniversary of Papua New Guinea coming up in September, 2025, it would be an honor to celebrate the life and sacrifice of our heroes who proudly wore the Kumul insignia and the men who led them on the front.
These are “quintessential soldiers." Meaning these men embody the core values and traits of a model military person, often characterized by discipline, courage, loyalty, and unwavering commitment to duty, as well as strong leadership and teamwork skills. A quote fitting for these heroes is taken from the movie script, _Troy_, a cinematic re-edition of the legendary Homer’s the Iliad and the Odyssey.
_*“Men are haunted by the vastness of eternity. And so we ask ourselves: will our actions echo across the centuries? Will strangers hear our names long after we are gone, and wonder who we were, how bravely we fought, how fiercely we loved?”*
THE COCONUT WAR, 1980
The 1980 _Kumul Force_ landing in Vanuatu or New Hebrides as it was called back then, and the successful incursion ending a French backed rebellion threatening the independence of the newly born Melanesian state was in military terms a tactical genius. The commando raid was commanded by our very own Colonel Tony Huai and went according to script like a Hollywood or cinematic movie script with almost zero casualties completed in less than 24 hours.
According to the PNG Defense Force Commander at the time Brigadier General Ted Diro, “the PNG incursion on the rebel stronghold in Tanafo, Vanuatu, and restoring democracy was not only a peace keeping mission but a bold statement to the world that Papua New Guinea has come of age and is ready to defend her sovereignty and of others in the region.”
International media quickly carried the story of the daring amphibious assault across the globe putting the newly independent state of Papua New Guinea rightfully on the world stage.
*Lieutenant Colonel Tony Huai*
At the relatively tender age of 30 Lieutenant Colonel Tony Huai, who was being groomed for the priesthood before he decided to make a career as a soldier finds himself in almost total control of a South Pacific island.
Lt Col Huai, from Rapa village, Central Province, one of the "whizz kids" of the PNG Defense Force, has been given the task of commanding the 120 tough combat soldiers, Kumul Force, who land on Espiritu Santo, with an aim of quashing the anti-government secessionist rebellion.
At 30' he seemed a little young, for the task — but not when you consider he comes from a country that was 5 year old and that has a 40-year-old Prime Minister and a 34-year-old Chief Justice.
As Lt Col Huai, a shortish, open-faced man, moved around Luganville, Vanuatu, gently clutching a sinister-looking Israeli Gali'l automatic rifle, it is clear he is quite used to the strong.
Australian - fostered disciplines of the Defence Force!
Orders, were never barked or shouted by this man. The colonel sounds, as if he's making a quiet suggestion, but all about him soldiers snap to and junior officers move quickly to- do his bidding.
After a rigid Roman Catholic primary school education Tony Huai was sent to Chanel College, Rabaul, as a lead up to an expected career in the church.
But in 1966 the young Huai threw all that in and joined the army as a raw private.
He says he found no moral dilemma in the decision to abandon the church as a career in favor of becoming a professional soldier who would be expected to serve in war.
"I thought at the time- I should look for a fresh direction," he said. "I looked at it as just another job."
In 1969 Tony Huai graduated from Portsea Military college in Australia, as a second lieutenant in the Australian Army and his 11-year rise through officer ranks began. 1
During that rise he became commanding officer of the Pacific Island- Regiment's 1st Battalion and commander of the PNG Officer Training College at Lae.
Asked about his special expertise within the military. Col Huai describes himself as' "more a training specialist than anything else — but I'm just an infantry soldier".
His commander, Brigadier General Ted Diro — : another early whizz kid — says his choice of Col Huai as commander of the ground forces against Vanuatu's secessionist rebels could hardly be bettered.
“The Vanuatu experience was an eye opener for us”, Huai said. At the time of deployment, Huai was Lieutenant Colonel and Director of Land Operations. After the successful operation, he was promoted to full Colonel a rare occasion in military history where an army officer is promoted while in conflict. Huai’s clocked 28 years of distinguished service in military. He retired happily as a Brigadier General and once commander of the PNG Defense Force. He turns 64 in August and a good father of 9.
*Brigadier General Ted Diro*
Brigadier General Ted Diro, a quintessential soldier as if cut out from a comic script, had a formidable bearing - tall in stature and quick witted, strong jaw, high cheek bones and a cold slanted eyes that revealed nothing was the man who directed the Espiritu Santo theater in Vanuatu, 1980, during the Coconut War.
Ted Diro was the first Papua New Guinean to command a Pacific Island Regiment Battalion. He seemed destined for a military career. His father was a carrier on the Kokoda Trail during World War 2, and always encouraged Ted to join the Army. He attended the selective Sogeri High School near Port Moresby where he was a member of the school cadet unit and was greatly impressed by the periodic visits of the PIR Pipes and Drums. From Sogeri, Ted won a scholarship to the Slade School in Queensland where he completed his schooling and was selected for the Officer Cadet School at Portsea Victoria, graduating in 1963.
Following attachments to several Australian Army units and attendance at a number of courses during 1964, Ted was posted to 2 PIR in Wewak as a platoon commander. He performed well, was promoted Captain in 1968 and posted as the first Papua New Guinean Adjutant of the Battalion. He was promoted to Major in 1971 and commanded companies in both 1 and 2 PIR. He was selected to attend the Australian Army Staff College in 1973
He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1974 and assumed command of 1 PIR. Later that year he was promoted to the rank of Colonel and appointed as Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force. In 1975 he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and appointed as Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force. He resigned from the Defense Force in 1981 to follow a political career and eventually became Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea for a time.
Now Diro retired, his military and civilian honors include Brigadier General ER (“Ted”) Diro, OBE, CBE , OST J.
SANDLINE AFFAIR, 1997
The Sandline affair was a political scandal that became one of the defining moments in the history of Papua New Guinea, and particularly the conflict in Bougainville. It brought down the government of Sir Julius Chan, and brought Papua New Guinea to the verge of a military revolt. The event was named after Sandline International, a United Kingdom based private military company.
*Bougainville Crisis*
In May 1989, PNG’s Bougainville copper mine was permanently shut down after disgruntled landowners supported by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army began sabotaging critical mine infrastructure. A secessionist war ensued until 2001 when the signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement ended it. In the intervening years lawlessness beset Bougainville, government facilities were destroyed, basic services evaporated, chaos and factionalism took hold, and hundreds lost their lives.
In August 1994, Julius Chan, upon becoming prime minister, vowed to end the crisis before the 1997 general election. His strategy was mixed – work with the Bougainville transitional government, pursue peace negotiations, and step-up military operations. But the secessionists remained resolute on independence. In October 1995, Chan appointed Jerry Singirok commander of the army, and tasked him to defeat the rebels. When Singirok, like others before him, failed, Chan turned to a private military contractor, Sandline International, for help. The Sandline contract, negotiated in secret and worth US$36 million, was signed on 31 January 1997.
*Operation Oyster*
Foreign mercenaries and an elite special forces unit (SFU), which Singirok created, were to eliminate the rebels and reopen the copper mine. On 18 February 1997, as preparations were underway to execute Operation Oyster, an Australian journalist Mary-Louise O’Callaghan exposed the Sandline contract. Chan denied it until Singirok, in an address to the nation on Radio Kalang on 17 March 1997, told listeners he had unilaterally aborted it. Singirok was sacked that night.
In the same address he called on Chan, his deputy and finance minister Christopher Haiveta and defence minister Mathias Ijape to resign within 48 hours. Alleging that the contract was corrupt, Singirok called for a caretaker government to investigate it.
Before going public Singirok’s SFU led by Colonel Walter Enuma and Captain Belden Namah executed Operation Rausim Kwik, detaining Sandline executives – including head of Sandline, Tim Spicer – and mercenaries, to deport them.
*Major General Jerry Singirok*
The man who triggered the Sandline Crises and added a chapter to our military’s history is ‘_the fighting general’_, as his men adorably called him is Major General Jerry Singirok.
Jerry Singirok, the man from the Lutheran enclave in Karkar Island, Madang Province, was a career soldier who had risen through the ranks of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF), including a time as commander of the forces on Bougainville. He began his Career at Moem Barracks in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea (PNG) as an Infantryman on The 1st Royal Pacific Islands Regiment (1RPIR). After military service there he was rotated to Lae, Morobe, Igam Barracks Joint Officer Service College where he trained as a commissioned officer. Singirok trained and lectured in Duntroon military academy in Australia on Land Warfare Tactics in Military Science before being requested back to the PNGDF on strict orders during the height of the Sandline Crisis with the rank of captain. In the mid-1990s, he was promoted to Brigadier-General, and given the rank of commander. He was later promoted to the rank of Major-General of the PNGDF in the late 1990s during his second stint as commander.
In 1996, Tim Spicer, an ex-Colonel in the Scots Guards, who had recently founded the mercenary firm Sandline International, met with Singirok. Spicer attempted to persuade Singirok to support a package of military support that Spicer had negotiated with then-defence minister Mathias Ijape. Singirok declined, but the deal went ahead anyway, with the support of Ijape, Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Haiveta.
It is unclear just how much Singirok knew of the events in between that meeting and the leaking of the affair to the international media on 10 February 1997. When the story broke in _The Australian_ newspaper, Singirok was in the Philippines, and the mercenaries were already in Port Moresby. When he returned on 27 February, his mind was made up. He condemned the government for leaving him, as head of the PNGDF, out of the loop, and condemned Spicer for having more access to the government than he did. Over the next week, he made plans for Operation Rausim Kwik (Tok Pisin for 'get rid of them fast'). On 8 March, he asked Major Walter Enuma and Captain Belden Namah to take charge of the operation
*Operesen Rausim Kwik*
Again the credit goes to the PNGDF for a swift commando operation like the ones we see in the movies that landed the highly trained boss of the blood thirsty Sandline ‘guns for hire’ Col Tim Spicer on his back so hard on a hard cold concrete floor and his men rounded up in Moem Barracks and airlifted that same hour.
An intriguing tale of thrill and adrenaline rush better told by the man himself, Major General Jerry Singirok.
“I am General Jerry Singirok former commander whose conscience was clear and refused to execute government’s executive orders to deploy troops with African mercenaries into the island of Bougainville using ex-Soviet attack helicopters fitted with missiles and rockets in order to destroy rebel targets and re-open the largest open cut copper and gold mine.
“Instead, I selected the best junior ranking officers supported by members of the Special Forces Unit and executed Operation Rausim Kwik with the mission to Detain, Expose and Expel mercenaries from Papua New Guinea.
“It is 7pm, Sunday March 17, 1997 and Spicer opens the general's office when he is confronted with a lean and mean looking major called Major Walter Enuma looking straight into the barrel of Enuma’s pistol.
“Enuma yells at Spicer HANDS UP, THIS IS AN OFFICER’S COUP. Spicer is shocked and advances towards Enuma.
“Enuma yells Skull. Skull is the nickname for Captain Namah who jumps out of the hide with two other officers and executes a hard forbidden Japanese Judo throw called Ushi Matta and smashes Spicer on the concrete floor.
“Spicer is now in gaga land with blood oozing out from his mouth. Scattered on the floor around Spicer’s motionless body from his briefcase are copies of the government contract, overlays and thousands of US dollars.
“The Judo throw ended all prospects of being a millionaire. Spicer is handcuffed by the members of the crack force and is thrown at the back of the SUV and driven to a waiting naval vessel.
“The mercenaries are subsequently expelled and the Prime Minister and his two senior Ministers stood down from their office.
“ Sir Edmund Burk once said: All is necessary for triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
“We are all good men who upheld our motto to defend our country, duty, honor and country.
Today, there is freedom in Bougainville and no prospects of African mercenaries in the Pacific.”
*_Post Courier, March 6, 2023_*
*‘The Skull’ Captain Belden Norman Namah*
Captain Belden Namah is the man who executed the special forces forbidden judo throw that ended the million kina contract of mercenary boss Lieutenant Colonel Tim Spicer and saved a blood bath on Bougainville.
Captain Namah, like his compatriot Major Enuma and other officers named in Sandline Affair was never involved in the wheeling and dealing happening at top involving their superiors. They were loyal soldiers trained to obey orders and dedicated their lives to serve the country.
Born 30 December 1968 to a Seventh Day Adventist family, father a devoted pastor, Belden grew up in discipline and nurtured in Christian values.
Young Namah learned servitude at an early age. In the absence of his elder siblings who left home early for school and life respectfully, Namah took the job of ‘the man of the house’ to fend for his little ones and contributed to the family’s upkeep in doing every domestic chores. He became resourceful, loving and caring.
It seemed God already chose Namah’s path to serve his country as a soldier and a leader. And fulfil the army’s mantra of a Soldier and a Gentleman.
After completing High School in Vanimo in 1985-86 and Sogeri National School in 1987-88, young Namah joined the PNG Defence Force cadet training in Igam, Lae.
He later graduated from Australia's Royal Military College in Duntroon, trained in intelligence and prepared for special-forces unit (SFU).
Upon returning to PNG, he was promoted to lieutenant and placed in command of a platoon.
Namah saw action in Bougainville but much in intelligence gathering and soon prompted to Captain.
Deep in the mountains of Paru Paru village not far from Panguna mine - the village of the late secessionist leader and first president of Bougainville, Joseph Kabui – a delicate military action was underway.
Defence Force helicopter pilot, Captain Charlie Andrews, was ordered by PNG Defence Force Commander Brigadier General Jerry Singirok to get Captain Belden Norman Namah out of there.
The terrain was in enemy territory and under the control of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army. But there was no place for a chopper to land.
Captain Namah – in a daring display of bravery – was airlifted from the bush by hanging onto the skid of the chopper. Only a very strong and highly skilled man could do that. Namah was a highly trained Special Forces Unit commando.
During the Sandline affair, Namah was one of five PNG Defence Force (PNGDF) officers who arrested Sandline International founder Lt Col Tim Spicer.
The SFU, under the direction of PNGDF commander Jerry Singirok, took the Sandline contractors hostage and announced the cancellation of their contract. Namah and his fellow officers were convicted of mutiny and jailed for six years.
The following is how Namah describes the episode:
“In 1997 when Sir Julius Chan’s government contracted the Sandline mercenaries to wipe out the entire Bougainville people, I demanded Sir Julius to step down and deported the
mercenaries from Papua New Guinea. I knew the consequences… For my country I served six and a half years in prison for which I have never asked the people of Bougainville for anything or claimed credit for my actions”
(quoted by Post Courier May 28 page 3)
However, on good behavior Namah spent 2 and half years in jail and was pardoned in 2005 by the Governor General Sir Silas Atopare.
After being pardoned, Namah returned home and got involved with his people in logging business. And with the same passion of paying attention to details, inquisitive in obtaining information and getting things right Namah ended up managing a successful entrepreneurship.
In 2007 Belden Norman Namah contested the Vanimo Green River Open seat and like his fellow digger and compatriot Ted Diro, he became a politician. Even in politics Namah’s trademark patriotism, meticulous planning, heart for his country and people and the dying hunger to serve is unmistakably present in everything does.
END
*"If they ever tell my story, let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.*
*We will never be here again."*
Odysseus,, _The Iliad and the Odyssey_
