Memories of a fading police officer

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
THE years from 1970 to 1980 were the formative years of Papua New Guinea’s nationhood with the Royal Police Constabulary proudly standing out as one of the important government agencies that helped mould the country into oneness when Independence sailed by in 1975.
Retired Sergeant Koniel Suagu, 64, from Kwahuie village Yangoru, East Sepik was one of the brave policemen who was around at that time. Young and tough, they were required to enforce law and order that was basically an order to unite the different tribes within an area or a district. These policemen, and there were only men then, were Papua New Guineans from different backgrounds and tribes who came together to try to bring some cohesion into the fabric called PNG whose people of different groupings were scattered throughout the rugged and isolated mainland and coastal areas and islands. Many of these people and tribes had had a disdain for one another.
Suagu graduated from the Bomana Police College in 1971 and during his time in the police force was involved in the case of Rabaul District Commissioner Jack Emmanuel who was murdered during the Mataungan uprising. He also took part in the first and second Bougainville crises, helped crack down on the numerous tribal fights that was sweeping highlands region and even encountered Operation Papua Merdeka (OPM) rebels along the PNG-Indonesian border.
“Those were confusing but exciting days leading to our independence and there were separatist movement calling for regions to break away from a proposed united PNG. There was the Papuan Besena movement in the Papuan region, Hahella movement in North Solomon’s (now Autonomous Region of Bougainville), Oro for Oros in the Northern and the Mataungan Movement in ENBP.
“We the newly graduated constables were in the thick of the action and trying to crack down on those separatist movements”.
Suagu, a fully fledged riot squad (now mobile squad) officer, retired in 2008. He was recruited at the tender age of 17 in 1970 while doing grade nine at the then Brandi High School (now Secondary) in ESP. After undergoing six months basic police training in 1971, he was sent for another 10 months of riot police training at the Tomaringa police barracks in East New Britain. While still undergoing that training, he was involved in the arrest of the murderers of Jack Emmanuel.
Suagu said that the late Emmanuel was killed by members of the Mataungan Movement during an uprising in 1971.
“My Squad 10 under the command of an expatriate by the name of Ramsley was deployed to the area to find the suspects who by then had escaped and gone into hiding. But due to the gathering of intelligence and assessment of the situation, we were taken to an old dug out tunnel used by the Japanese army during world war two at Kambaira Bay.”
“We carefully searched the dark tunnels (just like you see in Vietnam War movies) with torches and armed to the teeth as those suspects were also armed. It was a very tense situation as there were old war time stock piles of explosives in the tunnel. Don’t forget that it was during those separatist days and these suspects were fully indoctrinated to fight against the State.”
To cut a long story short, the suspects were spotted deep in the tunnel, hiding with their women and children. They had been there for two weeks after the murder. Police used a loud hailer to coax them out of where they were hiding and they bundled out. Men, women and children.
Nineteen suspects were arrested and brought to Rabaul police station where the court later found guilty.
“I think four of them served lengthy prison terms. Our action also broke up that uprising (Mataungan). This incident is part of the nation’s history and I was part of that history”.
After that successful operation Suagu was transferred to Riot Squad Three and deployed to Mt Hagen in Western Highlands to take care of the unceasing tribal fights in the area.
“In 1973 there was a heavy tribal fighting in Tsak valley in Wapenamanda, where we arrested 300 warriors who were all charged under the newly-introduced Inter Group Fighting Act. This Act was also used for the first time in the nation’s history in the case of these warriors.”
From Mt Hagen, the squad moved to Wabag, in Enga and was based there.
“We were then deployed to Bougainville in 1978 for the second uprising, where landowner militants took against BCL. The first crisis was in 1972 when locals threatened to burn down the Government administrative building called the White Haus in Arawa.
The White Haus was viewed by the people as a symbol of the PNG Government and they wanted it burnt down so that they could form their own Government. They were using catapults to stone the policemen with the latter responding tear gas and batons. Police were careful to only confront the ring leaders and members of their group.
After things simmered, Suagu and his colleagues returned to Wabag. Up till then Suagu was always sure about his ability to uphold the law and never backed off in his line of duty.
“However the only time I was so frightened in my 37 years of serving the Queen was my encounter with the OPM rebels in Imonda, West Sepik on Christmas Day in 1981. I found myself in the thick and mountainous tropical rain forest along the PNG-Indonesian border in the company of PNG Defence Force soldiers who were there to try to prevent OPM rebels from using PNG soil to fight against the Indonesian Government.
The rebels were from Irian Jaya (now West Papua) a province of Indonesia and were fighting for independence. During their skirmishes with Indonesian military, the rebels frequently crossed into PNG side making Indonesia suspicious that the PNG government could be harboring them. While on patrol that day, Suagu and his military friends intercepted and arrested three OPM rebels in PNG territory at Pendassi village.
Being the only policeman there, he was instructed to take the trio to Imonda station where they would be airlifted to Vanimo to be charged while the soldiers continued on with their patrol.
It was a 50km trek back with thick jungle all around and Suagu with the three captured rebels.
While crisscrossing in the deep jungles with the three men, Suagu was suddenly confronted by other rebels who came out of the bushes at Wasengla place.
“It was around 6.20pm, when I was held up by 10 armed rebels and they took my rifle. Now shaking and sweating profusely, I was asked where I was from. I answered Sepik. I was further interrogated by the leader asking which part of Sepik. East Sepik, I replied. He stood in front of me and said lucky yu blo Sepik. Nogat bai yu dai.”
The capture rebels were taken by their comrades who gave me back my Mark 4 rifle. He was told to return to Imonda station and to forget what had happened.
After his border assignment to the border, he returned to the highlands and transferred to general duty. After being a riot squad officer for 11 years, he was posted to Aiyura police station in Eastern Highlands and then moved to Moreguina Police station in Abau District, Central in 2004. That was his last posting until his retirement in 2008. Suagu lives at his temporary home at Eight Mile settlement in Port Moresby on a monthly pension where he still awaits repatriation to his village.
Despite not being recognized for his services to the country and constantly being given the run around by the police headquarters, he is proud to have been a part of the early history of PNG, and even prouder to have served with “distinction” during his 37 years of service.