By FRANK SENGE KOLMA
ENGA is the home of brother judges, Sir Salamo Injia DCJ and Ambang Kandakasi J.
Yet it was the Sepik, Justice Moses Jalina, who made it his home for the last seven years.
The sentence is written in the past tense, for Justice Jalina died last week.
As with all judges, Justice Jalina was well-known by his work but a very private individual.
In a very rare disclosure once, he talked about his work in Enga, which he claimed was his most-rewarding and which we now know to have been his last.
A little of Jalina, the man, came through in that conversation which I held with him in 2005.
Justice Jalina went to Enga in May 2000, filled with dread, he said, and fearing for his own life and that of Kessie, his wife, and their young children.
And why not?
Everybody else not Engan dreads the place and fears its people.
Enga’s reputation for homicide reaches far and wide and few want to volunteer postings or investment in the province.
The Judge was in for a pleasant surprise.
“I find myself more secure in Enga than anywhere else I have been,” he said.
“You fear Engans for nothing.
“They know who their enemies are.
“They do not attack outsiders.”
A tremendous vote-of-confidence in Enga from their judge, who once pronounced the death sentence upon a prisoner and in the same evening, was seen dropping off members of his congregation to their homes without police escort to the consternation of all.
He has driven through warring clans and has had armed people step aside to let his car pass and then continue their grisly business.
The people’s sense of justice is acute, he said.
“As long as justice is fairly dispensed there are few who argue.”
Enga’s reputation for high homicide incidences is true, he said.
Murder, willful murder, and grievous bodily injury comprise the bulk of cases which came before his honor at the Wabag National Court.
Most of these related to payback killings or to domestic violence, mostly between feuding wives.
None of these related to killings in tribal fights.
In those cases the people tend to settle the matter out of court in the age-old way or through mediation and “which pays far more dividends than if the matter were to be brought to court” according to Justice Jalina.
The Engans provided another surprise for the Judge.
Here, he faced the least number of rapes, break and enter cases and other criminal acts which he had encountered in all the other postings he had around the country in the 18 years of service to the judiciary as a judge.
Whatever the case, he dispensed justice as he had always done –firmly and fairly - after he had digested all the evidence before him.
Slowly at first, and then in increasing numbers, the people of this province responded.
From a mere trickle of cases in 2000, the cases grew until soon it became necessary for the Judge to dispense justice in selected districts, beginning in Porgera.
In this manner, Justice Jalina slowly brought the court out to the people in a province where previously, such an act was considered foolhardy.
“One thing I would like to see people do here is to bring law breakers to the court,” he said.
“And since they are hesitant to do that either because they do not see the use or are unaware of the law, I bring the court out to the people.”
“It would help if educated Engans were to return home and assist in this education process.
“It is one thing for us outsiders to tell them but it would be so much more effective if educated Engans were to tell it to their people in their own language.”
A general comment, to be sure, but its underlying meaning will not be lost on Enga’s two judges and its many lawyers.
Justice Jalina worked hard with the community on another level which also endeared him to many Engans.
He wanted to build inner peace within the individual and among communities through his work with through the ministry of the Association of Local Churches.
“One thing that keeps me here is that I have been a born-again Christian for a long time,” he told me.
“It gives me peace to be here. I want to do my bit to help these people change.
“I want them to have inner peace which will manifest itself outwardly in a law abiding person.”
l Footnote
Engans showed the respect and admiration they had for Justice Jalina in a big way on Christmas Eve.
Tears flowed freely for most, a moment they shall never forget, as the body of their late Judge travelled in a motorcade from Mount Hagen to Wabag.
In emotional scenes, mud-covered people from nearby tribes and church denominations came in droves to mourn Justice Jalina in typical Engan style.
They freely contributed what little money they had to his family.
His wife and children, brother Judges and Engan leaders all joined in the mourning for a man, who although not from the province, came to be regarded as a true son of Enga.
Perhaps the saddest words from came the Judge’s adopted son Ron: “I haven’t seen anywhere where people cry like you did today.
“You have broken my heart.”
A State funeral will be held in Port Moresby today after which the body will be flown to Rabaul tomorrow to be laid to rest at wife Kessie’s village.
Justice Jalina collapsed and died at 10.30am at Kagamuga Airport near Mt Hagen on arrival from Port Moresby on December 18.


 

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