Clan wants church to stop claims

By BRADLEY MARIORI

THE Ong clan of Yanga village in Lae are calling on the Evangelical Lutheran church of PNG (ELCPNG) to stop claiming rights to land at Malahang in Lae.
Spokesman Karo Hengalu said the clan was preparing to reclaim 500 hectares of land at Malahang (portion 271) which their forefathers had given to the church upon the request of Lutheran missionaries.
“Our ancestors gave the first land, which is Ampo and Balob, to early missionaries upon their arrival and later, upon request from missionaries, gave 500 hectares of land at Malahang in 1914 for the purpose of cattle grazing and farming to sustain themselves while ministering the Word of God,” he said.
He called on ELCPNG secretary Bernard Kaisom to focus on Nagada land assets in Madang and other centres in PNG and not the Malahang land. “The terms of 99 years lease, according to the land law of this country, has expired,” he said.
“From 1914 to 2020 is 106 years.
“The lease is already over.
“We want to assure the ELCPNG secretary that the Ong clan is now, based on the principal document from ELCPNG’s highest ranked member, late Bishop Dr Wesley Kigasung, who stated on the document that all Malahang undeveloped land would be returned back to the Ong clan, the principal landowners.”
In a letter cited by The National dated Sept 2, 2013, the then acting secretary of ELCPNG’s lands and properties department Sesengo Narangeng stated that land portion 271 was originally the Ong clan’s according to German (missionaries) documents of 1914.
ELCPNG secretary Bernard Kaisom said 400 hectares of the 500 hectares of the Malahang land had been given back to the landowners some years ago by the church.