Yoseph Kelen, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Officials from Kupang district and neighboring Timor Leste met on Tuesday to discuss enforcing security along a particularly porous section of their shared border.

Felixiano da Costa, the Timor Leste consul in Kupang, conceded that the situation on the border between Oepoli ward in Kupang and Oeccuse ward in Timor Leste was "quite complex" as it entailed longstanding cultural and family ties.

Ayub Titu Eki, the Kupang district head, said that due to the border splitting a community that for decades had lived together, simple enforcement of border integrity was not the best solution for addressing the high number of unauthorized crossings, intermarriages, social interactions and even property transactions.

"We can't rely just on the prevailing rules and regulations to resolve this border problem," he said. "We have to ensure that families split by the border can still meet one another."

The Oepoli-Oeccuse border runs through farmland along the Noel Besi River that is technically considered terra nullius – a Latin term meaning "land belonging to no one." Residents living there continue to freely pass between the two countries.

"For instance, there are cases of Oepoli residents farming in Oeccuse, and vice versa," Ayub said. "You also get people from one side getting married to someone from the other side, and similarly people who die in the area are sometimes buried on the other side of the border."