More eyes on our borders

 BATAS Market at the PNG-Indonesia border outside of Vanimo town in West Sepik was a trading hub before skirmishes between the Indonesian armed forces and West Papua rebels forced its closure.

The market attracted people from the Momase and Highlands regions who went there in search of cheap Indonesian or Asian products for their personal and commercial needs.

It can be said that households and small business in those provinces are better off now because of the opportunity provided by this trading post.

Confrontations between the OPM militants and Indonesian soldiers early in the year which also involved PNG Defence Force soldiers have unfortunately forced the closure of the Batas Market.

However, the closure of Batas has not deterred people living in the border province or those who had travelled there from going after an easy source of trade items.

In fact, people had already seen the advantages of such trade and would take any risk, with the cooperation of those locals who own boats that ply the waters between the two border towns.

In doing so, they not only violate customs and quarantine laws of both countries.  Papua New Guinea faces the greater threat of having illegal items or even life threatening diseases from across the country.

For example, for some time now, the National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority (NAQIA), in partnership with other agencies, has been engaged in an on-going battle against the bird flu diseases.

The free, undetected movement of people across the border makes its efforts to control or eliminate bird flu disease a whole lot more difficult than what they have already have to deal with.

Likewise, the entry of foreign products like food, liquor, medicines pose health and safety risks for people who take them.

It is also a known fact that dangerous firearms have also entered the country’s porous border without detection.

According to reports 

from West Sepik provincial police commander Robert Gesa, people travelling by sea to Jayapura to purchase goods 

Gesa raised concerns this week over the movement of people into and out of Jayapura without detection or being checked by relevant government authorities including police.

He has rightly pointed out the risks such movement and trade poses to themselves and others in the country.

Furthermore, the police, Customs and quarantine officials have no knowledge of what people were bringing into PNG from across the border.

It appears that people have simple defied police warnings against border crossings because of the tensions between Indonesian military and Papuan militants. 

The lack of resources available to police to properly monitor cross-border movement and trade has once been raised by the provincial police commander.

The oft-repeated plea to adequately resource officers of Royal PNG Constabulary, PNG Customs and NAQIA at our border provinces sounds already like a playing faulty music record.

Controlling and stopping people from travelling across the border for trade reasons will not work and could negatively affect businesses in the Sepik region who 

trade goods from across the border.

What is required though is for people travelling between Vanimo and Jayapura to cooperate with government officials to operate within the country’s laws and continue in business.

In a meeting on Monday between police, PNG Customs and NAQIA officials hit was resolved that checks on boats would be done along the Vanimo coastline in early morning hours and late nights.  

Without the cooperation of people like small businessmen, government agencies are made to stretch their resources and appear to be preventing the free movement of people and trade, which is not what they are there for.

Instead the conduct of their mandated duties would only protect lives and promote the safe and legal conduct of business.

Risks associated with dealing with illegal goods, some labeled only in foreign languages are real and a recent directive from Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) to remove all such items from shop shelves is welcome.  

The least the provincial police commander and his colleagues in Vanimo expect from the public and concerned business is for them to cooperate.