A matter of conscience

COVER STORY

FORMER Papua New Guinea Defence Force Commander Major General Jerry Singirok has finally written a 600-page memoir on the famous Sandline affair happening within the decade-long Bougainville Crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s.
A Matter of Conscience, Operation Rausim Kwik is in fact two books in one – a personal account by the commander who ordered the military operation – and an autobiography.
On March 17, the 25th anniversary of the eventual expulsion of Sandline International executive Tim Spicer, Singirok presented the ‘author’s copy’ of the book to the media and friends including his inner circle of men who carried out the special operation.
With him were Koisen Boino, Walter Enuma, Chris Mora and Wally Herbert. All except Boino have left the army after the Bougainville crisis.
Here is an invaluable publication for anyone interested in history, student or academic. It has been 25 years in the making and is the culmination of reflection by the crisis-era general
The Bougainville Crisis and the Sandline affair have been earlier chronicled by various other authors like Stanley Liria and Sean Dorney.
Sir Julius Chan’s recently published autobiography Playing the Game would no doubt have special reference to the crisis as he as prime minister and the army commander had been at opposite ends of the Sandline affair.
That chapter of national history is now, well, history. Old wounds would have gradually healed through and following numerous Melaniesian-style reconciliations by various players in the crisis; by Jerry Singirok and Julius Chan, Jerry Singirok and Ishmael Toroama, and by the PNG and Bougainville governments, among others.
Singirok tells the story from his perspective as commander of the special tours of duty to Bougainville, as commander of the First Pacific Island Regiment of the PNG Defence Force and later as Brigadier General Jerry Singirok, commander of the army.

The book has been given positive reviews by two Australian National University academics.
Parts of the reviews are printed here.
Singirok’s autobiography will be of interest to those who try to follow Papua New Guinea politics, to those who seek to understand the dynamics of the Bougainville conflict and its aftermath, to those interested in military matters, and to those who enjoy reading the biographies of significant people.
The Sandline affair has been the subject of three books (Dinnen, May and Regan 1997; Dorney 1998 and O’Callahan 1999) and Chan has given his side of the story in his recent autobiography (Chan 2016); nevertheless, there are new insights to be gained from Singirok’s carefully documented and engaging account, which should find a ready readership within and beyond Papua New Guinea.
Chapters 13 to 18, which detail Singirok’s military career from 1989 to 1994, are essentially autobiographical but provide the only detailed account, as far as I am aware, since Liria’s book in 1993, of the military side of the Bougainville conflict, as well as some commentary on the politics of the government’s responses. And chapter 19 contains a good account of the PNGDF and national politics during Singirok’s reappointment as PNGDF commander 1998-99.
The main issue with the manuscript as it stands, however, is that it begins with the Sandline affair (chapters 1-9), then switches to the chronological life story of the author, minus Sandline. I have no doubt that the manuscript should be published as a whole, with the present chapters 1-9 slotted in to where they belong in the chronology. I wouldn’t see any need for further editing to do that, but given the likely greater interest in the Sandline material, particular thought might be given to an appropriate title.
That said, the book would gain from a good editing. Though generally well-written, there is some unnecessary repetition within and between chapters, and, maybe, sometimes more detail than most readers might want (military historians perhaps excepted). Also, Singirok doesn’t wholly pull his punches in his comments on other officers and politicians, and perhaps it might be useful to run the manuscript past a lawyer.”
…
Quite apart from the insights it provides into government, politics and the Defence Force in PNG, and the challenging relationship between Canberra and Port Moresby, the Sandline Affair is a compelling story in itself with all the ingredients of a fast-moving thriller with multiple twists and turns. Its cast of outsized characters included Tim Spicer, the former Scots Guards officer and frontman for the London-based military consultancy, Sandline International; Spicer’s associates from the shadowy world of private military contractors, including mining and finance figures, with mainly African experience and little knowledge of Bougainville, PNG or the South Pacific; PNG Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan and a small number of senior ministers and government officials who were active promoters or otherwise privy to the secretive Sandline deal from its inception; and, of course, Brigadier-General Gerry Singirok himself and his fellow officers in a defence force that had fared badly on Bougainville and many of whose members were thoroughly demoralised by lack of government leadership and material support.
There was also the broader PNG public, including key civil society actors, who reacted strongly once they were alerted by Singirok’s dramatic public announcement of his unilateral decision to ignore government orders, abort the Sandline operation and deport the foreign mercenaries. The public narrative, largely responding to Singirok’s skilful media messaging, revolved around concerns over the humanitarian consequences of sending mercenaries equipped with devastating firepower into Bougainville, as well as widespread perceptions of corruption on the part of those PNG elites advocating the mercenary option.
“While playing out largely in Port Moresby, the Sandline Affair was the first incursion in the South Pacific of a private military contractor in an offensive capacity and as such caused major concern among PNG’s regional neighbours. Nowhere more so than in Canberra, given Australia’s longstanding national interest in ensuring the security, stability and wellbeing of its northern neighbour and former colony.
Dr Lance Beath, a colleague and friend chosen by the author to assist him in telling his story wrote:
“On Jan 31, 1997 the Government of Papua New Guinea, frustrated with its inability to win a nine-year long civil war on Bougainville, signed an extraordinary contract with UK-based Sandline International to bring in a force of African mercenaries to defeat the rebels and reopen the Panguna Mine.
“Opposing the government was a brilliant young Brigadier General, Jerry Singirok, Commander of the Papua New Guinea Defence Force, chosen for his ability to hit the rebels hard. The first commander to lead his troops into Central Bougainville, his three operational tours on Bougainville, including good men lost and injured and personal injuries sustained, convinced him that there was no possibility of winning a military victory on Bougainville.
“Known as the soldiers’ commander, Jerry set out to arrest and deport the Sandline mercenaries and their British and South African command team and demand the resignation of the Prime Minister and other key Ministers involved in the Sandline Affair.

“This book tells the inside story for the first time. It is a textbook example of how to plan and execute a military operation. Drawing on lessons learnt while he was a lecturer in strategy and tactics at Australia’s leading Land Warfare Centre and on an attachment with the US Army’s Tropic Lightening Division, Jerry was the only man with his selected junior officers and troops who could stop what Sandline had marketed as Operation Oyster.
“The book outlines the struggle with his conscience and the personal consequences of Operation Rausim Kwik, along with the plan that he devised to strike at the mercenaries and their command team. As Jerry puts it, sometimes life just gives us bad options. How to choose the least bad option, the mistakes made along the way and lessons learnt, is the theme of this compelling book.”
Prime Miniser James Marape will be launching Singirok’s book soon. It will be available in hard cover, soft cover and e-book formats.
Outline of the book
BOOK A
Chapter 1- Background of Sandline Engagement
Chapter 2- Crisis Deepens
Chapter 3- Military Appreciation Process (MAP)
Chapter 4- The Planning of Operation Rausim Kwik
Chapter 5- Decision Made
Chapter 6- D Minus 1 16 March 1997
Chapter 7- D Day 17 March 1997
Chapter 8- Sandline Expelled.
Chapter 9- Aftermath of Operation Rausim Kwik
Chapter 10- Lessons Learnt
BOOK B
Chapter 11- Early beginnings.
Chapter 12- Army Career. 1975-95
Chapter 13- Bougainville Crisis 1989
Chapter 14- Training and Overseas Post 1991
Chapter 15- Bougainville Operations 1RPIR- 1993-94
Chapter 16- Commanding Officer 1RPIR 1994
Chapter 17- Commander PNGDF – 1995-97
Chapter 18- Reappointment as Commander 1998
Chapter 19- Life Beyond the Army
Timing of the book
Why wait 25 years before telling the story?
“This is a release point,” the author replies.
“It is part of the ongoing reconciliation process. I have got to tell my story. In fact, it is everybody’s story.”
Singirok says his interest in reading and writing goes back to primary school days in a remote Karkar Island village in Madang “where books were rare and priceless.”
He attended Sogeri Senior High School and would have pursued a university degree but instead went for officer training at the PNG Defence Force Igam Barracks in Lae.
Asked about his relationship with the PNG media during his term as commander of the army, Singirok says he remembers working very well with journalists. He specifically mentions John Eggins Neville Togarewa, Joseph Ealedona and Timothy Masiu among those he had worked with in the Bougainville crisis. (Masiu is now South Bougainville MP and Minister for Communication and Information Technology.)
As a soldier Singirok was always eager to broaden his knowledge and now retired, wants future soldiers to be educated to a certain level. An uneducated soldier is a danger to his own army, he says.