A Papua church leader says media reports about the recent burning of a small mosque in Tolikara have largely mis-represented relations between different faiths.
Reverend Dormon Wandikbo, is a leading member of GIDI, or Gereja Injili di Indonesia, a Protestant church which, unlike other leading Protestant churches in Papua, has a presence in other parts of Indonesia.
Reverend Wandikbo was in Jayapura this month to meet with representatives of the GIDI church from Jakarta to foster economic empowerment by members of their church.
He says the Tolikara incident was not a conflict between Muslims and GIDI Christians as reported by mainstream media.
Because Muslims and GIDI people there, they don't know what happened there. There's another people who created the conflict. Because we know during twenty years, nothing happened there. But last incident, in July, it happened and we know that it was created by other people there.
Reverend Wandikbo says the two faiths generally co-exist well in Papua. He adds that two teenagers arrested for the incident should be freed.
Meanwhile, he admits that the Papua region does have isolated cases of religious extremism which had the potential to cause problems for society.