"Dad went to fight for Papuan independence"

A child asks his mother,

"Mommy, where's Daddy?"

The mother replies to her son,

"We'll wait. Dad went to fight for an independent Papua."

The child asks his mother again,

"Mommy, where's Daddy?"

The mother replies to her son,

"We'll wait. Dad went to fight for an independent Papua."

Daddy, fight for Papua.

Papua must be free!

Daddy, fight for Papua

Papua must be free!

These refrains were sung during Indonesian military operations in 1977. Thousands of indigenous people in the highlands of central Papua were massacred: the Hubula, Walak, Lani, Yali, Nduga, Damal, Amungme and Mee.

According to the 2013 AHRC (The Asian Human Rights Commission) report, around 14,000 Papuans from these tribes lost their lives.

Benny Wenda, president of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), witnessed this military operation. He was still a child at the time. But the horror left an indelible mark on him.

 

Quoted from bennywenda.org:

"As a young child in the 1970s, Benny Wenda’s world was his village in the remote highlands of West Papua. Life consisted of tending gardens with his mother among the Lani people who, he says, ‘lived at peace with nature in the mountains’. In 1977 that life changed dramatically. That year, the military appeared in his village. Now, every morning on the way to their gardens, Benny and his mother and aunties would be stopped and checked by Indonesian soldiers. Often the soldiers would force the women to wash themselves in the river before brutally raping them in front of their children. Many young women, including three of Benny’s aunties, died in the jungle from the trauma and injuries inflicted during these attacks."

Markus Haluk, Executive Director of ULMWP recalls:

"Every time we hear this song, with its rhythmic looks and scrapes, it always brings tears to our eyes and evokes the spirit of Papuan patriotism. The Lord Jesus will always be the commander, teacher and shepherd of the Papuan nation."