Satu Tungku Tiga Batu: one furnace three stones

ABSTRACT

“One Furnace Three Stones” refers to religious tolerance practices among Indigenous Papuan tribes at FakFak, West Papua, Indonesia. The present poem has been inspired by my engagement with FakFak people during a community service program in 2013. During the program, I witnessed how the local people heedlessly practised religious tolerance long before the West introduced the concept of tolerance and multiculturalism. The poem tells us a story of a father and his son who have a different faith but living peacefully within their family. Through this poem, I tried to reflect on the nature of the religious tolerance among the Papuan indigenous people through some values that they hold. Finally, this poem is dedicated to sufferers of some intolerant attacks in Indonesia and worldwide. I hope the messages of religious tolerance from the Indigenous Papuan people represented in this poem contribute to creating a better and safer world.

KEYWORDS:

• Fakfak
• tolerance
• peace

Acknowledgements

My deepest thanks to Dr Muhammad Rais, who passed away in 2019, as the Head Center of Research and Community Service (P3M) of STAIN Sorong in 2013 and Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia for allowing me to involve in this project, to Mbaham, Ma’tta, Mor, Onin, Irarrutu, Kimbaran, dan Arguni people for welcoming and inspiring me to write this poetry, to my great mentor, Professor Handoyo Puji Widodo, for teaching me how to be a good writer, introducing and guiding me to publish the poetry as one of my contribution to a better and safer world.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).