The four most influential men

WHILE preparing to welcome the New Year, we will commemorate the lives and achievement of exemplary Papua New Guineas who were around at the time our country’s independence.
There are many Papua New Guineans who achieved many great things, but given the time and space we will only look at the famous ‘Gang of Four’.
The Gang of Four refers to a group of influential young civil servants who played a leading role in holding together public administration and public policy in the formative decade or so after PNG’s independence in 1975.
When there was a top bureaucratic, government or diplomatic post that became available, either one of the four would make it to the final cut.
They are; Sir Mekere Morauta, Sir Charles Lepani, Sir Rabbie Namaliu and Sir Anthony Siaguru.
We already looked at Sir Mekere Morauta and Sir Rabbie Namaliu in the preceding articles.
We will look at Sir Anthony Siaguru. Tony, as many called him, had a most distinguished career and in no exaggeration it is safe to say he was PNG’s renaissance man.
The place and time of his birth is sketchy but his illustrious career truly defines him in every aspect as a lawyer and statesman who shaped PNG’s foreign relations in the years after independence.
He was a torchbearer representing PNG at the Commonwealth of Nations as its deputy secretary-general. Sir Anthony was a corruption fighter to the core who started the PNG chapter of Transparency International and a business icon who started the Port Moresby Stock Exchange. He graduated in Law at the University of PNG and took further studies in Harvard, USA.
He received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1980, and as an Edward Mason fellow, was attached to the Harvard Institute of International Development.
Much earlier, Sir Anthony was a foreign service trainee in Australia in 1972 with subsequent short attachments at the Australian Mission in Geneva.
He became secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs when PNG gained independence in 1975.
Among his other achievements was the significant role he played in the negotiations between Pacific Island countries and Australia and NZ, leading ultimately to the establishment of Sparteca (South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement).
Sparteca, according to the Pacific Island Forum website, is a regional trade agreement established in 1981 to allow smaller, more economically-restricted South Pacific island countries tariff-free access for many of their exports into Australian and NZ markets.
It was Sir Anthony in his capacity as secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade who advised Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to establish diplomatic relations with China.
The relationship between these two countries has been cordial ever since then. He had a short stint in politics.
Sir Anthony entered Parliament, winning the Moresby North-East seat in 1982 and served as minister in various portfolios including as Minister for the Public Service.
Following his departure from politics after the 1987 election, he joined Blake Dawson Waldron as a senior partner specialising in commercial law.
In 1990, he was elected to a five-year term as deputy secretary-general of the Commonwealth. After this period of service, based in London, he returned home to Blake Dawson Waldron again before ‘retiring’ in 1998.
Sir Anthony was appointed chairman of the Port Moresby Stock Exchange in 1998. He represented PNG on the Apec Business Advisory Council. Sir Anthony was a member of the Policy Advisory Council of Aciar. He was a prolific and respected commentator on national affairs and columnist. Many of his essays and collections were compiled and later published as a book.
As foundation chairman of PNG’s chapter of Transparency International Sir Anthony launched the Integrity Pact concept, in which politicians were encouraged to sign an Integrity Charter at the time of the 1997 election in PNG, pledging themselves to institute good and transparent governance.
I remember the Integrity Pact concept was also adopted by the Independent Public Business Corporation to use across the State-owned enterprises for good and corporate governance. I pay great homage to Sir Anthony as our nation’s golden child.
Of the famous ‘Gang of Four’, he short-lived them all, yet his legacy is far reaching and monumental.
With the time and space, I could do no justice all the accolades of our great statesman.
As I conclude here, I quote part of the of Sir Anthony’s close friend Prof Ross Garnaut’s tribute: “He has been the decathlon gold medalist in Papua New Guinea’s national life since independence, earning points in each of many events.
“These essays have been selected from the weekly Post-Courier newspaper columns and from speeches in Tony’s years outside official life, mostly in the late 1980s and after the return from London in 1996.
“This is a highly-readable volume, clearly written, spiced with good humor and with points of reference drawn from the experience of the whole of humanity.
“It leaves the reader with a sense that, despite the difficulties, democracy is the most natural as well as the best of all the imperfect ways of organising the affairs of humanity in Papua New Guinea.”
Sir Anthony succumbed to cancer as he was undergoing treatment in Brisbane in April 2004.
He is survived by his wife Wilhemina, and three sons.

David Lepi
Port Moresby