by KEVIN PAMBA
Indigenous Madang folks want to have a say
The indigenous people of Madang town
and surrounding areas would become another Motu-Koitabu,
disenfranchised and landless, if they were not careful.
“We don’t want Madang to be a second Moresby,” Malagu Lalu, a
community leader from Bilbil village, said.
Mr Lalu was making reference to the predicament of the indigenous
Motu-Koitabu people of the National Capital District.
The Bilbil and Krangket are part of the Bel indigenous ethnic
group.
The Bel people, who share the same language, live along the coast
from Bilbil to the south to Sek (Alexishafen) to the north.
Mr Lalu said with the increasing resources development in Madang
province, the town was growing with an influx of people and the
indigenous Bel people cannot remain as spectators.
He said that the Bels must stop, take stock of their actions and
begin the journey for change starting with political leadership.
Mr Lalu was speaking at a ceremony on Krangket Island last Sunday
when the islanders handed over their son, retired judge Sir
Kubulan Los to People’s Labour Party leader Peter Yama to contest
the Madang Open seat in the 2007 elections.
Mr Yama said the rights of the indigenous Madang people must be
realised and it should start with them taking control of political
leadership.
The Usino-Bundi MP said the country was evenly divided into
provinces and districts where people can make use of the political
offices and services provided to them.
Mr Yama said while the constitution allowed for free movement of
people, the rights of the people of Madang must also be respected
by those coming in to live in the tourist town.
He said that the indigenous people of Madang had the right to hold
political office in their town but had been denied for several
Parliamentary terms.
Mr Yama made the comments in reference to the Madang Open seat
that has been held by non-indigenous Madang people.
This view, which was around in the 2002 elections, is once again
resurfacing but more intensively.
Samuel Aloi, the Pangu candidate for Madang Open also shared the
same sentiments at Sir Kubulan’s rally on Sunday.
Mr Aloi said the indigenous Madang people had themselves to blame
for not being in control of politics, business and the running of
activities of their provincial town.
He said people from other places received support from the local
people, who are easy going, to allow things to happen around as
they remain as spectators.
Mr Aloi said the Madang people had been seen as a gullible bunch
only good at accepting “lamb flaps carton and beer” from those
interested in politics and business.
The reference to “lamb flaps carton and beer” is the widely held
view that the local people of Madang can be influenced by gifts.
He said this culture of accepting lamp flaps carton and beer must
stop if the indigenous Madang people were to have a say in what is
happening in a town that is seeing an increase in business and
arrival of people.
The feeling of being “spectators in our own land” is a commonly
held sentiment among the people of Madang.
Recently, this column shared what one Bel community, the
Biliau-Uribu people, was doing to raise their profile from “being
spectators on our own land” and start doing something to benefit
themselves.
These people have incorporated themselves as an Integrated
Landowning Group (ILG) and registered their holding company, the
Biliau-Uribu Holdings.
The Biliau-Uribu people, the ILG and the holding company will give
them the basis to be proactive members of the political, social
and economic life of Madang.
The fear held by Bilbil leader Mr Lalu and his conclusion of what
the Bel people might become is not misplaced.
Successive governments had ignored the future of the Motu-Koitabus
over the years to an extent where it is now a thorn in the side
for any government.
The Ahis of Lae have been demanding due recognition as indigenous
owners of the land on which they city stands for some time.
Now the Bel people of Madang are adding their voice to the chorus.
The ball is essentially in their court. For the moment, the Bel
people have the population base unlike the Motu-Koitabu people who
are now an outnumbered minority in an ever-growing Port Moresby.
