Papua New Guineans should not panic but take this time to reflect and come together as a country
By DAVID EPHRAIM
Papua New Guineans should not panic but take this time to reflect and
come together as a country to address many issues affecting our country
at the moment.
The report by Post Courier is long over due, however one wonders why it took so long for Australian sources to provide the information to Post Courier to be published. Post Courier will deny my claims outright but if you assess the information provided by Post Courier; it clearly shows that information came from an Australian source who might use another 'cut out' - third party individuals who feed (intel) information to intelligence officers - to provide these information(s) to Post Courier.
Whatever the intentions are; firstly let's observe global events/important geopolitical developments within our region. Let's calculate political and security climate within the region.
Why now after 10 years? Is it because they could not link up the suspects or is it because it never posed any threat to Australian interests? Whatever the questions are we need to keep asking.
We cannot deny facts that Papua New Guinea remains potential and is already noted as a transit zone especially in the area of human, firearms and drug smuggling.
Without decrying efforts of our law enforcement especially Defense Intelligence of PNGDF and National Intelligence Organization of Papua New Guinea; the breakdown in counter intelligence operations is partly blamed on political meddling into administration and operative executions of these institutions.
At the moment; Australia is keen on protecting her borders from any form of immigration or any form of threats that could undermine her interest both in Australia and in nearby security zones.
Australian Islamic radicalism is not new. It's been going on for years; but why would Papua New Guinea fall into these sphere of interest, (maybe) source of financing global terrorism (enterprise)? The facts are obvious; weak system of governance, systemic corruption, weak border protection and lack of counter terrorism laws and mechanism to detect and counter at earlier stages.
Papua New Guinea does have well trained personnels in area of intelligence, counter terrorism operations and related but the fact of the matter is that terrorism seem to be a distant interest to PNG politicians who mainly like to associate it to religious conflict rather than seeing it as organized criminal network - working in disguise of religious mechanism and political idealism.
What can be done at the moment?
It seems to be a well calculated move to influence public opinion and reaction from PNG government by whoever supplied the information to Post Courier.
Firstly, we need to look at the content and go after the 'mole' who supplied this information. Once we establish those facts than we can work out why now and how can we work to mitigate such threats at early stages as possible.
Secondly, people should not panic but people should come forward with credible information to help law enforcers deal with the claims - which could turn out to be a long process. At the moment it seems to be genuine business interest. They also need to tap the money (transactions) trails from PNG to Australia and if necessary establish facts to determine if truly these funds are supporting terrorism.
Thirdly, it's a wake up call for PNG government to stop politicizing law enforcement and work to empower and equip front line agencies to safeguard national interests.
Just final thoughts; I think because of possible ceasing of Australian Federal Police deployment to PNG and also possible closure of Manus Island Detention Center; including possible diversifying of PNG's foreign policy interests; this could be a plot to keep a grip on PNG's national security interests by foreign interests.
It could also be a tactic to capture political attention and to finally get politicians to seriously look at our national security mechanism.
All in all the times and tactics have changed. Employment of ancient method of warfare and intelligence are changing into cyber warfare, cyber or online social media espionage. We need to work in those areas to counter exploitation of our populace into radicalism and becoming moles for transnational activities. We already have huge drug smuggling bust by Australian Border Security and Federal Police with flights coming in from Port Moresby and also our own Law enforcement busting criminal networks in Papua New Guinea.
Terrorism is the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. (Oxford Dictionary)
In other words it's an act of radicalizing individuals in pursuit of political or religious, ethnic, tribal or national aims against others.
Please share your thoughts and let's have some open discussions and engage those in areas of influence to assess and advise our government to be more prepared and able to mitigate any potential future threats caused by such activities or by use of information publication for the public by those who have an interest over the outcome and reaction from our government and people.
 |
| Source: POST COURIER |
The report by Post Courier is long over due, however one wonders why it took so long for Australian sources to provide the information to Post Courier to be published. Post Courier will deny my claims outright but if you assess the information provided by Post Courier; it clearly shows that information came from an Australian source who might use another 'cut out' - third party individuals who feed (intel) information to intelligence officers - to provide these information(s) to Post Courier.
Whatever the intentions are; firstly let's observe global events/important geopolitical developments within our region. Let's calculate political and security climate within the region.
Why now after 10 years? Is it because they could not link up the suspects or is it because it never posed any threat to Australian interests? Whatever the questions are we need to keep asking.
We cannot deny facts that Papua New Guinea remains potential and is already noted as a transit zone especially in the area of human, firearms and drug smuggling.
Without decrying efforts of our law enforcement especially Defense Intelligence of PNGDF and National Intelligence Organization of Papua New Guinea; the breakdown in counter intelligence operations is partly blamed on political meddling into administration and operative executions of these institutions.
At the moment; Australia is keen on protecting her borders from any form of immigration or any form of threats that could undermine her interest both in Australia and in nearby security zones.
Australian Islamic radicalism is not new. It's been going on for years; but why would Papua New Guinea fall into these sphere of interest, (maybe) source of financing global terrorism (enterprise)? The facts are obvious; weak system of governance, systemic corruption, weak border protection and lack of counter terrorism laws and mechanism to detect and counter at earlier stages.
Papua New Guinea does have well trained personnels in area of intelligence, counter terrorism operations and related but the fact of the matter is that terrorism seem to be a distant interest to PNG politicians who mainly like to associate it to religious conflict rather than seeing it as organized criminal network - working in disguise of religious mechanism and political idealism.
What can be done at the moment?
It seems to be a well calculated move to influence public opinion and reaction from PNG government by whoever supplied the information to Post Courier.
Firstly, we need to look at the content and go after the 'mole' who supplied this information. Once we establish those facts than we can work out why now and how can we work to mitigate such threats at early stages as possible.
Secondly, people should not panic but people should come forward with credible information to help law enforcers deal with the claims - which could turn out to be a long process. At the moment it seems to be genuine business interest. They also need to tap the money (transactions) trails from PNG to Australia and if necessary establish facts to determine if truly these funds are supporting terrorism.
Thirdly, it's a wake up call for PNG government to stop politicizing law enforcement and work to empower and equip front line agencies to safeguard national interests.
Just final thoughts; I think because of possible ceasing of Australian Federal Police deployment to PNG and also possible closure of Manus Island Detention Center; including possible diversifying of PNG's foreign policy interests; this could be a plot to keep a grip on PNG's national security interests by foreign interests.
It could also be a tactic to capture political attention and to finally get politicians to seriously look at our national security mechanism.
All in all the times and tactics have changed. Employment of ancient method of warfare and intelligence are changing into cyber warfare, cyber or online social media espionage. We need to work in those areas to counter exploitation of our populace into radicalism and becoming moles for transnational activities. We already have huge drug smuggling bust by Australian Border Security and Federal Police with flights coming in from Port Moresby and also our own Law enforcement busting criminal networks in Papua New Guinea.
Terrorism is the unofficial or unauthorized use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims. (Oxford Dictionary)
In other words it's an act of radicalizing individuals in pursuit of political or religious, ethnic, tribal or national aims against others.
Please share your thoughts and let's have some open discussions and engage those in areas of influence to assess and advise our government to be more prepared and able to mitigate any potential future threats caused by such activities or by use of information publication for the public by those who have an interest over the outcome and reaction from our government and people.
