THE STOWAWAY
Comming soon!
The English version of this book is under construction
The English version will soon be available. Please wait a few more days and check again soon.
I dedicate this book to
my parents who gave me life
my friend Leo who saved my life
my wife Fransien who gave meaning to my life
our children who filled my life with love
our grandchildren who filled my life with joy
and in particular my activist son
Jofrey
who encouraged me to write this book
and who left his life behind so early
Foreword
My name is Eddy Korwa, and I am a Papuan. For certain reasons, I left my country in 1964, fleeing as a stowaway on a Dutch cargo ship. Shortly after arriving in Rotterdam, I thought I should write down my story about the boat journey. However, I couldn't get around to it then, as my mind and hands were fully occupied with my new life as a stranger in the Netherlands.
Almost two years later, the plan to write came back to me, but I did not only want to tell about how we crossed the seas. I wanted to write a book about how the Papuans were abandoned, about how our country was handed over to Indonesia without any input from our own people. At that time, I didn't get much further than the title "Fleeing as a Stowaway" and the foreword:
On May 5, 1966, at 11:30 PM Dutch time, I started this book. It was a first attempt to write down our escape history, mine and Tony Rumpaisum's, in simple words. Everything written in this book is based on true events: the events during the period of the transfer of my country by the United Nations (UN) to the Republic of Indonesia (RI), all events after that transfer by the UN to Indonesia on May 1, 1963, up to the day we fled the country, and what Indonesia has done to the Papuan people and land since then. In conclusion, I hope these simple words will help the reader understand what I describe in this book.
In January 2013, I started writing again. The book was finally launched in August 2020. The next step was to have it translated in English, and to make it available on internet. The result is now on your screen. May this English translation of my book contribute to a greater awareness of the history of the Papuans and also keep the tradition of storytelling alive within the Papuan community.
- The author, Eddy Korwa -