JAKARTA – Acting Governor of Papua M Ridwan Rumasukun accompanied by Papua Regional Secretary Derek Hegemur led Papua Contingent directly at the Opening of the National Level III Catholic Church Choir Party (Pesparani), which was held at Beach City International Stadium Ancol, DKI Jakarta, Saturday night (10/28/2023).
The Governor was accompanied by the Chairman of the MUI Papua Province Saiful Islam Al-Payage, and the Chairman of the Family Welfare Empowerment Driving Team of Papua Province Linda Onibala.
The presence of the Acting Governor of Papua with this entourage, in addition to his capacity as a regional head, and as Chairman of the Papua Provincial Contingent at the Catholic Church Feast.
At this event, Papua Province descended with the full strength of 289 participants along with officials who participated in all the subjects contested.
During the defile of participants, the Pesparani Papua contingent accompanied by the song Yamko Rambe Yamko, a folk song from Grime Nawa that has become legendary, was greeted by boisterous applause from all invited guests who crowded the Beach City International Stadium Ancol and even they were without being commanded to sing together as explained by the Chairman of LP3K Papua Province, Elpius Hugi, that the presence of Governor Ridwan Rumasukun, was present with the Chairman of MUI Papua Saiful Islam Al-Payage who is actually a Muslim.
It shows that tolerance between religious communities in Papua is very high. Where Muslims and Christians always live side by side. Elpius said previously Papua had only participated in 12 competitions after the Gregorian Choir of Jayapura Regency was forced to be eliminated due to minimal financial constraints after various attempts were made.
Finally, the Gregorian Choir left for Jakarta, following other colleagues who had already arrived in the capital of the Republic of Indonesia. "We went down with a full team. Papua is a complete team and we are the most complete team," he explained.
The Gregorian Choir will arrive in Jakarta on Sunday by Batik Air flight. There are 13 branches that will be contested in the Pesparani III. These 13 branches aredividedintofourcategories: choir, psalm-singing, spiritual discernment, and scripture speech. Gregorian Choir for male youth and adult levels. Papua Province also competed. ***