“This is not just a poco-poco… it is more than a tango… it is sajojo!!”

The sajojo dance prioritizes the movement of the feet and hands, typically swaying with the body. Hands move and feet stomp in an alternating rhythm.

It’s the traditional dance of Papua, the largest and easternmost province of Indonesia. The sajojo is accompanied by the sajojo song, derived from a traditional Papuan language.

The sajojo song tells the story of a beautiful woman from a village, a woman loved by her mother and father, and adored the all the men in the village. She was so beautiful and desirable that every single man wanted to walk beside her, and want to be with her.

This dance symbolizes purpose and a hope — the hope of every man to be with the most beautiful girl in the village.

In the past, it was a dance that used a traditional Papuan hat made from the feathers of a bird of paradise or other animal feathers. This specific dance became popular in Indonesia several years before the turn of the millennium.

And now almost everybody in Indonesia dances this Papuan traditional dance. Some treat it as a dance itself, and some treat it as a form of gymnastics- like poco-poco or Senam Kesegaran Jasmani (SKJ — Gymnastics Physical Fitness).

Some of movements in this dance have been changed and adapted, depending on the dancer or the gymnast. This traditional Papuan dance has already been recognized by people of all ages and from every strata of society.

The sajojo has become part of Indonesian culture. You don’t have to be Papuan to dance it, and you don’t have to live in Papua also to sing the sajojo song. In recent years, Papuan is facing big dilemmatic problems as reports of violence continue to stream from Papua. There were a lot of factors for every conflict in Papua — conflicts with no way out, and with no solutions.

Many Papuans consider robbery has been taking place in their land. They have a great natural wealth — with the most productive gold mine in the world, one of the most prominent copper mines on earth, and with the great timber production.

They are rich but they can’t enjoy their wealth. Where have the revenues from their natural resource gone? The Papuans demand transparency in government because what they give to the government and what they get in return is disproportionate.

And they want the government to accept the responsibility to supervise, monitor and control the regional budget distribution in Papua so special autonomy funds can be enjoyed by all the people of Papua. You know it takes two to tango, the dance from South America. However, it usually takes more than two to do sajojo, because the sajojo is done in groups. The beauty of the sajojo lies in the compatibility and harmony of motion of the dancers as a whole. So the essence of this dance is the spirit of unity.

And like the sajojo, it is not just the government’s choice to make and create peace in Papua, but it is more than that. It involves all elements of Papuan society. The Indonesian government, tribal leaders, local officials, religious leaders, and all of the people of Papua must work together, doing the sajojo, for a unitary purpose and hope — for a better Papua.

El Viajero

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