Story Telling about Martha Christina Tiahahu

Martha Christina Tiahahu

It was a fine day out and Captain Paulus Tiahahu had just arrived home from his duty as a warrior in the war against the colonial cruelty of the people of Netherlands in the early nineteenth century. With a red band around the upper part of her head that she always wore, a young lady named Martha greeted her father in blazing pride. “How’s it like to literally work for the country?” she asked, to which she received the reply, “Everybody who does all their work life under the spirit towards the country’s longing to freedom is working for the country, Martha. Everybody.”

With all respect and inspiration towards her father, long story short, Martha was encouraged to be a part of the battlefield struggler. It was in the age of seventeen when Martha, along with her father and several others of the war leaders, came into a tight discussion in the midst of the dark wilds to make a strategy.

The Village of Ouw, in the southeast of the Saparua Island, was yet another victim. Another war. Another confrontation. Another fight means not one but many more strikes of swords, shouts of painful cries, bullets passing through the heads of the innocent, deeds with no mercy, homes exploding with heart-breaking fires, and lost children in desperate search for their mothers. The unforgiving, inhumane Dutch soldiers burnt the village until all its homes were as flat as the ground. Seeing this, With her father, Martha had sworn never give up. In the midst of the chaos; of the uncontrollable worry; in the midst of the Moluccas’ fall, Martha steadied herself. She looked around and shouted to the Village of Ouw, “This is our land! This is the land on which we were born! Don’t let those colonialists take it away from us!” And so the Moluccas were challenged to be fueled up again. They stood up for the sake of the land’s dignity and attacked back. Liberty or death, so was their motto that was known to keep them up. Martha focused on the women, the gender of her kind, that were helpless and told them to get back up. “We were born here, and therefore we shall be sacrificially willing to make our permanent ends on this part of the Earth. It’s much better to die in struggle against them than become their bloody slaves.”

But, Martha Christina Tiahahu and the fighters were successfully defeated by the foes. Some were killed, and some were thrown away to the Island of Java. How much more miserable it was for Martha to see that her father was one of the very people threatened to be killed.

From a distance, bordered by a barrier, she saw it all. How they beat his father and treated him in the most disrespectful ways. “Let go of my father!” she cried. “In exchange, let me be punished to death, Let me die for him…” she wept in her heart.

But to the Dutch, the life of a father to her daughter meant nothing. They had no feelings; no mercy. It was their job not to grant little Martha’s wish. In a matter of seconds, which was the most meaningful seconds of Martha’s life, the sound was finally heard. “BAM!” A bullet had gone past the captain’s head.

For a moment, she felt nothing. She saw nothing. She heard nothing. The young lady’s heart had been ripped apart. Did I just see that? It was a dream, wasn’t it? Why’s my father lying down there? Where did my great man go?

And so was the end to the hero that meant everything to Martha. The one who had taught her life, struggle, and faith could no longer be alongside her to tap her on the shoulders and say that together, they would do it; together, they would bring the enemy down; together, the Moluccas will stand up.

After her father’s death, Marta Christina Tiahahu entered the forest with her troops. She wanted to continue her father’s struggle. Unfortunately, the troops of the Dutchmen could seize her troops. Then the government of the Dutchmen sent Marta Christina to Java Island. Unfortunately, Marta Christina was sick on board. She didn’t want to eat and drink. Even, she refused to drink medicine. So, Marta Christina was seriously ill. Finally, she passed away. Then the Dutchmen on the ship buried her dead body into the sea between Buru island and Tiga island.

Following independence, the Indonesian government declared the Maluku freedom fighter a national heroine, and her death anniversary on 2 January is commemorated as Martha Christina Tiahahu Day.