The story of the Flagpole Climber in the 73rd Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia Children Integration Fighters
Hello everyone, lovers of steemit all over the world have also shared the stories of Indonesian children that Joni Gala, a flagpole climber during the 73rd Indonesian Independence Day ceremony in NTT turned out to be the son of a pro-integration East Timorese fighter.
Silawan Village Head, Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Ferdi Mones Billy suspected the courage of a junior high school student by the full name of Yohanes Ande Kala Marcal to climb the flagpole was influenced by his father, Viktorino Fahik Marcal.
He said Joni's father was a former combatant of East Timor's integration into Indonesia. "His father was a red and white defender," Ferdi said, contacted on Saturday, August 18, 2018.
Ferdi said Viktor was a former fighter from a group that was pro-integration with Indonesia. This group was driven by two parties namely the Democratica Timorense Associacao Popular (Apodeti) and the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT). On the other hand, there was Frente Revolucionaria Timor Leste (Fretilin) which was pro-independence in East Timor.
The government finally held a referendum on East Timor's independence in 1999. The result of the referendum was 94,388 people stating that they wanted to join Indonesia, while 344,580 said they wanted independence.
Ferdi said Viktor was one of 94 thousand people who wanted to join Indonesia. Therefore, they must move to Indonesian territory. They got a quota of land in Silawan which borders East Timor. "He moved to Silawan and was given land, Joni was his youngest child," said Ferdi.
Six years after moving to Indonesia Viktor's wife, Lorenca Gama gave birth to her ninth child, Joni. At the August 17 ceremony, Joni performed heroic action by climbing the flagpole. The seventh grade students of Silawan State Junior High School climbed a pole to pick up the strings attached to the flag.
Even though at that time the flag ceremony welcomed the day of the proclamation taking place at Motaain Beach, Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). The flag raisers had even spread red and white, the ceremony participants had also sung the Indonesia Raya song. However, the flag cannot be hoisted up because the straps are loose and are attached to the end of the pole.
At that time, according to Ferdi, Joni suddenly came out of the line and immediately climbed the pole with a dozen meters high. At the end of the pole, Joni took the rope that was stuck, biting it and immediately dropped down. "The rope he gave to Paskibra and finally the flag could be raised," said Ferdi.
Because of his heroic action, Ferdi said Joni Gala and his parents were invited by the Youth and Sports Ministry to watch the opening of the Asian Games in Jakarta today.
