2) Papua churches say fundamentalists are a threat
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1) Tekwie laments PNG border weakness
Updated at 6:47 am today
PNG looks to beef up security at its border with Indonesia Photo: RNZ / Johnny Blades
A community leader in West Sepik province says Papua New Guinea needs help from Australia and New Zealand to bolster its border security capacity.
John Tekwie, who is a former West Sepik governor, is urging a regional effort to help PNG build up its defence force and border management agencies.
Mr Tekwie says due to its lack of intelligence-gathering capabilities as well as its proximity to Indonesia's Papua region, PNG is vulnerable to potential terrorist threats.
He says it's become easy for illegal elements to cross into PNG from Indonesia.
"We have had cases of some people coming across the border in PNG with no visas. For example, last year we had about a hundred people working in Bewani Oil Palm project. That project has been developed by the member for Vanimo Green, Belden Namah. And here is a project that the MP is promoting and under his own nose, these things are happening."
A former West Sepik governor, John Tekwie.
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2) Papua churches say fundamentalists are a threat
Updated at 6:47 am today
Church leaders in West Papua appear concerned about religious extremism in the region.
Father Neles Tebay of the West Papuan Catholic Justice and Peace Secretariat says all mainstream churches in Indonesia's Papua region, including Christian and Muslim faiths, are pushing for local police to keep a watch on fundamentalist groups.
He says there's currently no clear information about established terrorist cells in Papua, but they know about pockets of fundamentalists.
Father Neles says mainstream church leaders are in agreement about the threat.
"We all together encourage police to watch closely to identify religious fundamentalist groups. And once they are identified they should be expelled out of Papua because religious fundamentalist groups will destroy our effort to build Papua as a land of peace."
Father Neles Tebay.
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