Outlined by beautiful shorelines from where Markham River meets the sea to the white sandy pineapple beach, yet what lies beyond the coast of Salamaua is troubling.
A call for justice continues to disappear in the misty mountains of inland Salamaua, a place described by a local Kiap as “outlaw” in Huon Gulf district of Morobe province.
Recently two houses were burnt to ashes in Yamap village following an argument over gardening space where a man strikes his brother in the head with a bush knife.
The injured person (name withheld) survived the attack and was compensated with a live pig, facilitated by a local pastor. However, the following night the victim retaliated and burnt down his brother’s house, living nothing behind and to date the tension is high while the suspects roam the village freely.
A local Kiap in the area, Cleopas Mupang said rage of criminal activities continue to happen in the area where offenders at most times never get punished.
“Us in Salamaua inland, a lot of cases happen, even murder. But it is hard for the police to access the area because of the geographical challenges,” Mupang said.
“Where we live in is outlaw. The villages are right in the mountains and locals do criminal activities like growing marijuana, smoking it, killing and stabbing people freely at their own will.”
“Most times, I use my village court officers to do arrest and move the suspects through the jungles to the coastline and take them to Lae. At times, harmful weapons like knives and guns are used while under the influence of marijuana, making it even tougher for the village court officers to handle.
“Despite our efforts in solving some matters through village court with compensations, many serious cases remain unsolved. An injustice to the victims.”
He said many times police operations are announced, but they only patrol the coastline villages.
“They tell us about police operations; those police operations happen only along the coastlines of Lababia and Busamang areas. When you talk about police assistant it’s about the coastline villages.
“These are some of the things we the inland people of Salamua face. Our leaders need to look at this and try to help us to address the law-and-order issues here,” Mupang said.
Kiap Mupang was at Hote village on foot to reach Yamap the village where the recent burning of houses incident happened, to address the issue when this newsroom reached out to him. He walked for over five hours to reach the inland villages.
The locals are now hopping and calling on responsible authorities and leaders to work together in solving the ongoing issue in the area.
