I am writing as a past
officer of the Australian Army who served two years (1975-1977) at the Joint
Services College of Papua New Guinea that had an abortive plan to give joint
training to the RPNGC, PNGDF and CS.
It failed badly within
4 years due to an inability to design and implement a common curriculum for
three services. The problem may still exist with the return to joint training.
Police did not want to
have their cadets trained in search and destroy techniques when they just
wanted them to raid a night club.
The discipline of the PNGDF and RPNGC has severely
declined in the last 30 years for reasons that are not the fault of any one
person.
There is a serious lack
of discipline the result of the officers and non-commissioned officers being unable
to control the rank and file in military units and police posts.
They set up their own
justice system implemented with violence and destruction in the
community.
Very few convictions
result giving the signal to the rank and file that their actions are
acceptable.
Some attacks on the
public and police have been carried out at the hands of officers who may be
trying to show they are fight leaders to be respected in an era of no wars. The PNGDF may suffer from daily boredom.
There was a semblance
of order with Australian officers and NCOs holding command posts but all that
disappeared in later decades as positions were taken over by the PNGDF and
RPNGC.
There was once strict security on service bases and control over use of weapons and vehicles.
The early commanders
were given a rush training experience that complied with the demands for independence
by the United Nations from the mid-1960s.
With no criticism
intended, Lt Diro became Brigadier within 6 years. Soon after that he was
visiting the commander of the Papua Merdeka General Seth Rumkorem who was flown to Moem
Barracks in Wewak for talks. That caused a political crisis.
The Bougainville conflict began the break-down of
discipline as soldiers pursued their own private wars and vendettas against the
civilian population.
To the credit of
certain officers, the Sandline campaign was scrapped, preventing wholesale
massacres of innocent Bougainville people. It was a plan the nation would prefer to
forget.
But there is now a
practice of any soldier or policemen in calling out his mates for vengeance on
some civilian, police officer or organization. It is a matter of resentment for
the PNGDF that all rank and file police have the power of arrest.
A soldier may be
evicted from a nightclub for drunkenness or violence. So he goes back to his
barracks to raise a group of soldier mates to come back to bash the security guards
at the nightclub and wreck the establishment.
So much of this
violence is ignored by the PNGDF which may give the impression that such breach
of discipline is acceptable. Some soldiers conduct themselves with the
viciousness of the Idi Amin goon squads. The media recently reported no disciplinary action in past breaches.
It is a problem that
most soldiers of the PNGDF and Australian Army have never been to war.
There
was a serious incident at Igam Barracks several years ago during the
Bougainville conflict when PNGDF officers refused to participate in combat
training by Australian officers who had never been to war when most PNGDF
officers had suffered on Bougainville.
Today, most Australian
officers have never had combat experience. There are now serious discipline
problems reported in the Australian media particularly on sexual violence.
There are more serious
problems in the PNGDF with the old animosity against the RPNGC remaining deep
despite a return to joint training at Igam Barracks.
The CS are just the
poor cousins who like the other services suffer on retirement from a lack of
pension money.
It is sad that serving officers are required to retire on the
date set down but are not given pensions and required to
leave their married quarters to live in poverty. Families starve.
It may be the wantok
system is the major cause of break-down of discipline within the rank
structure. Officers and senior NCOs are afraid to discipline soldiers for fear
of reprisal for them and their families.
In earlier times, there
was a formula for recruitment province by province. This may well have gone by
the wayside with recruitment from a few favoured provinces.
We used to be told that
if there was a serious external threat, a battalion of Australians would arrive
to take command. That may now be an aging pipe dream.
We read of the slow
jihadist moves in Indonesia. Radical high school and university students are starting
to support a jihadist caliphate in Indonesia. Sharia law exists in the province of Aceh.
Time will spread the
jihadist message over the Indonesian nation within a decade and push through
West Papua to Papua New Guinea. Moem Barracks in Wewak may be a prime target.
A major problem in the PNGDF and RPNGC is the level of domestic violence. So many married servicemen do not have accommodation.
In the past, soldiers would bring families and girl friends to live in the soldiers' quarters at Murray Barracks. That would be hell on earth with violence and sex abuse throughout the quarters. Sons of police have been known to be criminals.
Australian Army (retired)
Training Officer Igam Barracks 1975-1977
