Ting-kuei Alier Jongroor (Wrestler, Referee & Soldier): The Fallen Hero
By Kur Akech Thiek, Australia
October 27, 2015, (SSB) — Paying tribute is pivotal part of healing process. Garang Alier aka Ting-kuei killed in ambush by Murle cattle rustlers. He was the head of SPLA security unit in Jale which responded to the attack. Ting kuei was a great wrestler. He became famous from late 80s until when he retired in the late 90s.
I first became to know him in person in 2011 when I visited Junub. We organised wrestling tournaments among communities once engaged in deadly communal feuds (Mundari, Aliap, Bor, Atut & Jieng) to engage idle youth in wrestling sport which’s the archetypical pillar of their tradition.
Ting-kuei was unanimously nominated as the referee given his wealthy experience in the sport. Ting-Kuei brilliantly proved to the wrestling communities including the fans that he was incomparable. He equally treated all with fairness. Those who doubted him became his die-heart supporters.
Through him we were able to draft just rules to govern the conduct of the sport. He loved his people and I believe that immeasurable love was the driver which made him to join the SPLA.
No doubt his leader immense skills parachuted him as the head the SPLA unit on which most members perished with him in the line of duty.
No man can live forever, everyone comes & goes but what is most important is what a man had left behind for people to remember that you had lived.
No doubt he had left the footprint to show to the next generations that Ting-kuei became a great wrestler in his generation, he refereed memorable wrestling matches in which thousands of fans attended in Juba Stadium and Freedom Square in Bor.
And most strikingly, he heeded the call of his nation and joined the army and served his people till he met his death in the line of duty (the highest sacrifice of humankind) while fighting heinous crimes perpetrated against innocent civilians.
Lest we forget, May God Almighty rest you in Peace!
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