John Kaputin

Sir
John Kaputin,
African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
Sir John Kaputin, African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
	In office; 1 March 2005 – 28 February 2010
Preceded by	Jean-Robert Goulongana
Succeeded by	Mohamed Ibn Chambas
Personal details
Born	11 July 1941 (age 82)
Nationality	Papua New Guinean citizenship

Sir John Kaputin,

CMG is a Papua New Guinean

athlete and politician.

Kaputin was born on 11 July 1941 on

Matupit Island, East New Britain Province

. After his primary schooling in the province, he proceeded onto Rockhampton Boys Grammar School in Queensland, Australia (1956-1959) where he completed his secondary school.

He represented

Papua and New Guinea as a sprinter at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.^[1]

He then qualified for a scholarship to study at the

University of Hawaii in Honolulu (1966 – 1968), after which returned home to complete his studies at the University of Papua New Guinea

in 1969.

Kaputin became an influential member and leader of the Mataungan Association in Rabaul.[2] The association was a local Tolai grouping that was angered by the alienation of land by Germans and Australian plantation owners.

Armed with the leadership skills he had honed, he contested and easily won the 1972 General Elections and became the member for Rabaul Open for Papua New Guinea's National Parliament. Kaputin was appointed

Minister of Finance under the Chan/Okuk Government in 1980.^[3] Whilst Minister for Finance, Kaputin was instrumental in crafting important legislation to establish Papua New Guinea's private company employees retirement fund, the National Provident Fund, which later became the National Superannuation Fund of Papua New Guinea NASFUND.^[4]

Kwila Insurance was also introduced under Kaputin.

Kaputin was the

Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1983 and Knight Bachelor

in 1997.

In March 2005, he took office as secretary-general of the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States

, holding the position until 2010.

In December 2011, Kaputin, alongside Edward Laboran, became the inaugural inductees into the Papua New Guinea Olympic Committee Sporting Hall of Fame.^[5]