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Wawan Asso: Promoting religious harmony & Islam in Papua
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The people of Papua are basically very friendly, always maintaining unity and loving peace, with no clashes taking place since Papua became part of Indonesia on May 1, 1963.
Haji Robi Wawan Asso, a Papuan Muslim figure from Jayawijaya, Wamena, now residing in Jayapura, the provincial capital of Papua, made the statement when asked about the religious conflict in Tolikara regency in July.
Tolikara is located west of Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya regency. Wawan was describing the long-standing religious tolerance in Papua with the unique relationship among believers, while he was in Jakarta recently.
According to Wawan, indigenous Papuans, Muslims, Catholics and Protestants all have a high degree of religious awareness in spite of their different beliefs, so that they preserve their interfaith harmony.
'As believers we don't have a religious monopoly, but we give mutual recognition. Religions effectively motivate and unify people, because more than just secular ideologies, religions serve as a system of overall integration,' he explained.
Therefore, Wawan sincerely hopes that no more discord over religious difference will happen in Indonesia, especially in Papua, like the recent brawl in Tolikara. Diversity is a blessing that should be accepted with gratitude.
Born in 1971 in Welesi village, now a district of Jayawijaya regency, Wawan comes from a Muslim family. Papua's indigenous Welesi community living in the Jayawijaya Mountains has a majority of Muslims.
'Papua is indeed known as a large island with its population's faiths being brought in by missionaries a long time ago, so that outsiders consider the Papuans to be Christians. They're sometimes surprised to see Muslims in Papua,' said Wawan, who often gives religious lectures.
'Actually the presence of Papuan Muslims is nothing new, especially in the western and southern coastal areas like Raja Ampat Islands, Sorong, Bintuni, Fak-Fak and Kaimana, because of the past influence of the Tidore Sultanate,' added Wawan.
As for the Islamic entry to Welesi, he noted that around 1965 local residents had acculturated with teachers and migrants from Java as well as traders from South Sulawesi, who embraced Islam. Apart from mosques, Welesi also has an Islamic boarding school and an Islamic center today.
Situated at an altitude of about 2,000 meters and some 6 kilometers south of Wamena, Welesi is a hilly area with beautiful scenery. Frequently engulfed in mist, the district has a well-maintained forest ecosystem.
Wawan, a custom chief in his village who originates from a poor family, received educational support from various entities until his college study.
In the absence of a madrasah ibtidaiyah (Islamic elementary school) in Welesi, he attended a Catholic education foundation's elementary school at the age of eight. 'In 1982, as a fourth-grader, I moved to Madrasah Merasugun Asso in Assolipele hamlet and had to join the second grade at 11,' he smilingly recalled.
Yet he quickly made headway. His two teachers at Merasugun Asso from Yogyakarta, Walidan and Basori, sent Wawan to represent the madrasah at the regency's Musabaqah Tilawatil Quran (MTQ) or Koran Recital Competition.
'I was very much convinced of Wawan's capability, and he did emerge as champion. As a fifth-grader, Wawan and the regency MTQ's runners-up participated in the provincial-level competition, and he still managed to clinch the second place,' said Walidan.
In 1986, Wawan entered the Islamic Education in Papua Foundation (Yapis)'s junior high school in Wamena. But after five months, a tribal war between the Welesi and Wukahubi ethnic groups halted his study for two months. 'Later I was taken to Jayapura to join the same school at the expense of the Islamic center,' said Wawan.
While in Jayapura, he was also active in mosque activity, which attracted the attention of mosque manager H. Ahmad Ruskandar from South Kalimantan. The head of the Jayapura Logistics Depot adopted Wawan as his child.
In 1990, Ahmad Ruskandar's term of office in Jayapura ended, and he returned to Jakarta along with Wawan, who was then sent to the famed Suryalaya Pesantren Islamic boarding school in Tasikmalaya, West Java, and finished his study in 1992.
Wawan returned to Jakarta and studied at As-Syafi'iyah Islamic University in Jatiwaringin, Pondok Gede, East Jakarta. But he could only follow lectures from 1993 to 1994.
'My parents were sick in Welesi, so I had to go home to Papua. After one month, in Welesi I returned to Jakarta, but I didn't continue my studies. I asked the permission of my adopted father Ahmad Ruskandar to work,' related Wawan.
He spent a year teaching at an Islamic foundation in Cilandak, South Jakarta, near his adopted father's home, before doing casual jobs in Tangerang, Banten. In mid-1995, he was unexpectedly invited by the Religious Affairs Ministry to become a contract worker for the civil service.
After working under contract for two years, Wawan became a full time civil servant in 1998 at the Religious Affairs Ministry's regional office in Papua. Since 2011, he has been head of the Madrasah elementary education section, concurrently chairman of the Indonesian Mualaf (Converts) Development Association of Papua.
As a civil servant, the man who idolizes Indonesia's former president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid also furthered his studies from 2001 to 2003 for his first degree at Yapis Islamic University in Jayapura. In 2003, Wawan went on his haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
'Back home from the pilgrimage, I met my future partner while handling documents for my master's degree in human resources. Interestingly, she came from a family of Catholic adherents from Wamena who moved to Jayapura in 1995,' added Wawan, putting his palm on his forehead.
Yuli Siep, his then-fiancée, earned her bachelor's degree in economics in 2006. Wawan, highly appreciating the wisdom of Yuli's parents, got married in 2007 with Yuli Siep, who then converted to the name of Yuli Fitriyah Siep. They have a daughter, Najwa Makkiyah Asso, who is now 8 years old.
