Jessie's House of Needles

by John Algate

  They were prescient comments. For it was not only the young that felt alienated in their own lands. Nor was it only the arrival of missionaries that disrupted the balance of traditional Papuan life, for the missions also felt threatened by the encroachment of Indonesian authority across Papuan territory. A fledgling Papuan nationalist movement emerged in the immediate aftermath of Indonesia’s takeover from the Dutch. Discontentment simmered as Nationals found themselves locked out of many of the better paid official government jobs. When they looked longingly across the border to Papua New Guinea which gained full independence from Australia in 1975 the Indonesian yoke grated even more harshly. Jessie shared some of their concerns.

  Next year, 1977, may see changes here as Indonesia will again be plunged into elections. The Muslim party is desperately trying to gain control and if they do, it may mean the end of evangelical missions and freedom of religion in Indonesia.

  As the election approached, tensions rose.

  Do pray for Indonesia in the days ahead as the elections loom closer to us. It is a time of much unrest and tension. We will all need the love and wisdom from the Lord to cope with the many new demands that will be made upon us. (April 1977)

  The rebel movement, known as the Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) or Papuan Independence Organisation, asserted itself, raised its profile and began a vigorous recruitment drive. There was a groundswell of local support, particularly among the disaffected young. Les Henson provides the background:

  ‘The rebels were largely made up of people from the north coast of West Papua and many Danis mainly from the Australian Pacific Christian Mission (APCM) and the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) areas of work and ministry. During late 1976 and 1977 there was incredible turmoil throughout the greater Dani region as the OPM began to recruit people to their cause. Those who stood against the movement were often killed and mutilated. By the end of 1977 the movement was dying out in the Dani region. Many of the missionary leaders and church leaders spoke against the movement because of the false hope of independence from the Indonesian government and forces, it presented.’

  Jessie informed both her family and prayer network of the troubles, though she seemed to understate, rather than overstate the risks and dangers involved.

  I guess you have heard about some of our troubles up here. (Fighting between the tribes). We were all evacuated by helicopter three weeks ago but have since been able to return. Most of the unrest and tension has settled in our area although other areas are still unsettled. (May 1977)

  Things have settled down here again and we hope for a while but one never knows. We haven’t been in any danger from the people but were evacuated because they thought we might get caught between the two opposing parties. (June 1977)

  She was clearly struggling to make sense of the complex situation, a potent cocktail of politics, religion, power structures and ambitions.

  We are back into the swing of everyday work. Do pray for other areas that are not back to normal and where there is much turmoil and strife. Many unbelievers and some weak believers have gone back to fetish making and spirit appeasement. The heathen have used this situation to get their own back on the Christians and have caused much heartbreak and loss. I will continue to supervise and work in the baby and antenatal clinics. Do pray for wisdom in diagnosing and treating these little ones now that the children have come back after they all fled to the forest for those weeks of trouble. I will be starting the children’s program again on Tuesday. (August 1977)

  On 27 December 1977 Jessie was taking a break at Lake Holmes, a humid, hot, but not unbearable location. In a family letter she wrote;

  We had been rejoicing that the rebels were about all gone when we heard that they had come back into the APCM Bokondini area and killed 16 Dani Christians because they wouldn’t join their rebel activities.

  On 23 January a further update.

  When I returned from Lake Holmes everyone here was carrying weapons. After the massacre our folk started patrolling the trails just in case they came this way. All was quiet until New Year’s Eve when the cry went up that they were close by. So John (presumably mission administrator John Dekker) and I had to sleep at Winnie’s house for the night. We celebrated the New Year waiting for an attack that never came. A boy has just come to the door to say they are off on the track of some more rebels four hours in the other direction. I am glad they can see where they are going. I would be sure to fall off a cliff at this time of night.

  In her February prayer letter Jessie gave a fuller account of the Bokondini massacre where 75 people died. Presumably the 16 Dani Christians mentioned in her earlier letter were among those killed.

  This really roused the people into drastic action to rid the area of the rebels. Clan ties were forgotten as they realised the danger to their women and children. Some 500 warriors from here went to help the Bokondini people chase them out. A week later they returned home and created much excitement by performing a victory dance on the airstrip to let off steam and some of their feelings. We trust that this means the back of the rebel movement is broken in our area, although the people say there are still rebels hiding in the forests on the top of mountains. For this reason all of the people are still carrying their bows and arrows. Their weapons are never far from them as they work. There are still some areas that have not yet surrendered.

  The last few Sundays the churches have been mainly filled with women, children and old men, while the younger men have stood guard outside in case of a surprise attack. But today the church came back to normal. There has been some talk in some areas of ‘payback and revenge’ by the non-Christians for those killed. I am also treating a lady who got mixed up with the rebel activity. She got a big gash in her thigh from an axe, a spear in her side (spear was deflected from her rib and amazingly caused no real damage) and about 10 arrow wounds in her back as she was running away. Her baby was grabbed off her back and killed as she fled.

  Les Henson also recalls the massacre and its aftermath.

  ‘The Bokondini massacre was one of the final events of the movement before the Indonesian government gained control of the area and many of its members became disillusioned and began to leave in droves. The remaining group of OPM members filtered down into the northern lowlands and into the Lake Plains area. But from that time the OPM was discredited among the Dani peoples. I remember being at Karubaga over the Christmas and New Year period building the penstock (main pipe) for the Hydro. The Dani men who worked with me carried their bows and arrows and had lookouts in case of attack from the Bokondini rebels.’

  While Jessie often refers to the rebels she never mentions the OPM by name. Les Henson, knowing well the sensitivities of the times and the precarious position of the missions, surmises why:

  ‘Part of the reason Jessie would not refer to the OPM would be that letters may have been monitored by the Indonesian Government. Thus she needed to be careful what she wrote and any reference to the OPM could not be direct. Also the OPM did not impact the Swart/Toli valley to the same extent as other mission areas, because of the stand taken by RMBU’s John Dekker and the local leaders against the movement.’

  Les also recalls how Jessie responded to John Dekker’s attempts to impose a night curfew during the period of heightened tensions in Karubaga. She simply ignored it on the basis that no rebels going to dictate to me what I can and cannot do.

  Once the OPM issue settled, life returned to normal, but normal in the highlands could also have a dangerous edge, and the ever present threat of local justice, known as payback.

  Yesterday I had just laid down after dinner for my siesta when Bill (MAF pilot) came to the door and said that one of the outposts had called and said that a fellow there had been hit with a bush knife and was bleeding to death. So I rushed around and grabbed my box of supplies plus a lot of extra bandages and we took off. As we landed there were people along the sides of the airstrip jumping up and down, all painted up, with their bow and arrows. They told
us when we got there that if the man died there was going to be a full scale war and they were biding their time. He had two big slashes across his back and they were dripping blood. The teacher had tried to bandage him up but the relatives kept taking off the bandages!! So I bandaged him up and brought him with us on the plane and gave him a talking to about removing the bandage. Gave him a whopping dose of penicillin and trust it will heal. So one never knows what will happen next. (January 1979)

  The West Papuan independence movement remained active. The mass transmigration of Indonesians from Java and other Indonesian islands which have little in common with the Melanesian Papuans aggravated local concerns, resulted in regular uprisings and outpourings of nationalist sentiment. The taking of five western hostages in 1996 again focused international attention on the plight of Papuans.

  Of course, you have all heard about the hostage situation. It is situated about one hour flying from here and many miles to walk through jungle. We have not been affected but MAF and C&MA have been very involved. (February 1996)

  Thank you for praying for the release of the hostages who have been held for the past five months. We were thrilled when it finally happened. We were saddened to hear that two of the National hostages had been killed by the rebels. We believe they were Christians. Two months before their release they had asked the Red Cross to get Bibles to all the captives. The folk at Wamena had supplied them with English, Dutch, German and Indonesian Bibles. (May 1996)

  While the taking of European hostages made international headlines, Jessie’s prayer letters also kept her network informed of the more routine business of tribal violence and payback.

  Just before Christmas, we received news from Deibula that two men were presumed drowned after they failed to return from a hunting trip. Their dog came home without them. They searched for days along the river for their bodies and finally found them minus their heads. That put a very different complexion on the story. Foul play, but who was the culprit? Then a lady confessed that she had come across the place where they had been killed, but was too scared to tell anyone. They now know which village was responsible, but not who or why. The two villages involved have been busily employed in making bows and arrows. The hotheads in each place want to fight. The elders are trying to keep it under control. They do not want the payback system to start again – just the right people brought to justice. (March 1999)

  Each year between Christmas and New Year the young people have a volleyball competition. In the Sela Valley one of the high school boys did not agree with the referee and punched him on the nose. Of course there was retaliation and before long all the spectators were involved. It then escalated to the whole village in the thick of it with bows and arrows, sticks and stones flying around. Some 60 people kept the clinic busy. The three main villages of Mondon, Gwarangdua and Megnum were caught up in the fighting and of course the non-believers had a field day. Now the elders and pastors are trying to sort it all out and repair the damage done between fragile relationships. (March 2000)

  29. Rising expectations

  The new millennium slipped in here at Korupun without any fanfare or fireworks. I wonder what this New Year will hold for our people of Irian Jaya. So many hopes and expectations are in the air.

  As Jessie approached retirement she wrote more and more often about the rising tide of Papuan hopes for independence, with all the ambiguities and complexity it entailed. The main centre of Jayapura, and closer to home, Wamena, were at the heart of local agitation. From the relative calm and safety of Korupun, Jessie kept her network informed of developments with the growing Freedom Movement which was quite literally rallying around the Papuan flag, the powerful symbol of independence. Her potted history gives a real sense of the excitement, tensions and barely suppressed violence that were sweeping the highlands.

  Special gatherings, rallies, marches plus the raising of the new flag have kept excitement and tensions high in the towns. Underneath the reasonably calm exterior things are bubbling and it could easily erupt given the right provocation. Pray for the leaders and the pastors as they endeavour to keep a tight rein on emotions that are riding high. The military have given a show of strength in the larger towns over the past months, especially in December when they put up the flag for a day. The pastors took the opportunity to preach to the crowds who were sitting around the flagpoles to explain what real freedom really means. It is freedom of the spirit towards God which does not rely on circumstances or flags. The government was impressed by the orderly way it was held. When they had a problem in another area they asked the pastors to go there and preach to the people. The next ‘BIG’ day was to be the 2nd of May but we have just heard it has been changed to December. (March 2000)

  ‘Meredeka, Freedom, Meredeka, Freedom’ was shouted from hundreds of throats as people converged on the city of Jayapura waving the new West Papuan Flag. They circled the city seven times and then sat peacefully outside the government offices. The expectations of the Freedom Movement plus the raising and lowering of the new flag so many times in the last three months has triggered off great excitement for independence. The church leaders have been trying to restrain the people from doing anything rash, but many will not listen to common sense any more. Praise the Lord that riots have thus far been avoided, mainly because the local people couldn’t be bribed to start a ruckus. But thwarted hopes may boil over in the weeks and months ahead. In spite of all the marches and meetings etc. in the towns, life at Korupun has gone along quietly and steadily. (June 2000)

  By now Jessie seemed more sympathetic to the independence movement then she was in earlier times though her biggest concern, as always, was to stop the violence.

  The promised upheaval took place in Wamena three weeks ago when the people were told to take down all the new Papuan flags which had been proudly flying for several weeks. They refused to take them down, and when someone tried to do so, it was the spark that ignited the explosion. There was war on the streets of Wamena as people vented their frustration on people from other islands who were not Papuan. MAF quickly and smoothly moved into evacuation plans. All mission personnel were sent out to Sentani. MAF migrant workers were also flown out leaving a skeleton staff behind. At noon just when things were becoming very heated and MAF extra busy with 100 people wanting to be moved out a group of 20 tourists suddenly arrived at their door demanding to be evacuated immediately which added to the confusion. They were taken to a nearby airstrip out of the danger zone until they could be moved the next day. The Papuans went wild and chaos reigned. Houses were burnt, people killed and wounded and homes looted.

  The helicopter was busy helping with the evacuees as well as shuffling the wounded from the other side of town across the fighting zone to the hospital. Unfortunately most of the doctors and hospital staff had fled except for two local doctors and clinic workers. The doctors were not surgeons. The Hercules air force planes were shuttling troops from Jayapura to Wamena. The situation continued to deteriorate later in the afternoon and it was thought wise to move the MAF planes to a safer location for the night. The helicopter stayed on the mission compound but was ready for a quick take-off with the four male missionaries who were left behind. The military were lenient and tried to only wound and not kill people, but if it comes to a real war things will dramatically change.

  Things are now quiet again in Wamena, but for how long nobody knows. Do pray for the volatile situation there. The churches are pleading for their people to stay calm and not get involved but of course the mob spirit is contagious. The leaders have asked for a day of prayer and fasting this week. Pray for the church as a whole. Many now have hatred and bitterness in their hearts over what has happened and it is going to take a long time to heal and be forgiven for the wrongs on both sides. Many people are living in refugee camps because they are too scared to go home as many homes were looted.

  The missionaries and church folk have been going out to far away villages to buy food for them. The markets and shops were clos
ed. Most of the bridges were torn out so there are no taxis going to the outer areas. Praise the Lord that things are almost back to normal.

  For several weeks there have been no planes flying in or out of Wamena as it is still too tense. Then one of the MAF planes was making a normal run to Ninia and he crashed on landing. It would seem the pilot couldn’t really concentrate after all the horrors he had witnessed in Wamena and therefore made a mistake on landing. In the midst of this upheaval life went on as usual here in Korupun except for the rumours and speculation and maybe the need to send 200 young men from this area to help in the fighting. I was thankful when that was vetoed. (December 2000)

  Jessie retired to Australia soon after this report, but her ‘bush telegraph’ kept her well informed on developments which she enthusiastically passed on to others.

  News from West Papua is good at the moment. Things are quiet. One piece of information is that the government is cracking down on riots and rioters. Anyone carrying a gun, knife or other kind of weapon in the streets is immediately put in jail. Anyone wanting to serve with an overseas army (This comment most likely refers to OPM guerrilla forces operating from across the border in Papua New Guinea) will automatically lose their citizenship. Strong measures, but very needful at this time. The people still want their freedom, but it would appear that they are now more willing to negotiate, although there are always the hard headed ones who want to go about it with weapons and a ‘freedom at any price’ attitude. Continue to pray for the pastors and elders that they will keep their priorities straight and their eyes on Jesus instead of material things.

  I was thankful to receive this report of the situation in Wamena: ‘There is peace and tranquillity in Wamena again that has been missing since the troubles last year. People are smiling again, schools packed with kids, new businesses opening up and the church has activities that include all the church areas.’ (December 2001)