Written by: Anak Tanah
Jayapura, May 3, 2025 – Amid the mountains and bays of Nafri on the northern coast of Jayapura, a small symbol continues to endure: a flag with the image of a ball, once the emblem of the village’s soccer legacy.
More than just a sports logo, for the people of Nafri, this symbol represents identity, memory, and heritage.
They have held onto this emblem, even as waves of history swept through, erasing and replacing much—including when the Dutch hastily departed from Papua.
Mr. Fredi Numberi, a senior Papuan figure and former Minister under President SBY’s cabinet, once said on his YouTube channel that what happened in Papua isn’t merely about local politics, but an unresolved colonial legacy.
“The Dutch never granted Papua independence,” he stated firmly. “They just left behind symbols. One of them: the Morning Star.”
According to Fredi, when the Dutch were preparing to leave Papua, they quickly designed cultural symbols as parting tokens—one of them being the Morning Star flag. The image of a ball, once used by the local people, was replaced with a star and then named: “The Morning Star.” It was a move that seemed symbolic at the time, but later ignited a prolonged conflict.
“While we’re shooting each other here, the Dutch sit comfortably and watch from afar,” Fredi remarked in one of his reflective videos.
The Morning Star, first raised on December 1, 1961, was not initially a national flag, but a land vlag—a territorial or cultural flag—granted by the Dutch to the Papuan people. However, due to its complex history, the symbol later became associated with the independence movement.
“Every Papuan who fled to the Netherlands due to the political conflict was rejected,” said a youth leader in Jayapura.
“In fact, it was the UK, Vanuatu, and Australia that received Papuan refugees. Meanwhile, the Dutch just sat quietly and watched the conflict unfold in Papua.”
Fredi Numberi again emphasized that, under international law, one country cannot grant independence to another.
“The Netherlands is a sovereign country. It should have been the UN that approved the establishment of a new nation, not the Dutch,” he said.
And in reality, the United Nations, through Resolution 2504, officially recognized Indonesia’s sovereignty over Papua in 1969 via the Act of Free Choice (Pepera).
Today, decades later, Papuans still live in disagreement—some see the Morning Star as a cultural symbol, while others view it as political. But for villages like Nafri, which still hold onto their original soccer emblem, history isn’t just about symbols. It’s about who tells the story, and who continues to guard the memory.
“And we’re still here,” wrote a Nafri youth on his Facebookj post, “not to take up arms, but to remember who we truly are. It’s about the Nafri soccer ball.”
Another Nafri youth expressed his hope, “Return our right—the Nafri soccer flag. Don’t misinterpret it as a political banner. Remove the star and bring back the ball as Nafri’s soccer flag.”
Herma Yoku, a former member of the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB), also acknowledged this truth. “That was a soccer flag from Nafri, not a political flag. The Dutch removed the ball and replaced it with a star. We’ve been deceived—fooled by Dutch politics. Now they sit quietly and watch the conflict in Papua in silence.”
