"I'll Come Home in May, Mum": Praka Farizal's Final Promise from Lebanon

In the family calendar of Supinah, the month of May should have been a marker of gratitude. A date had been circled, and the flight schedule from Lebanon was neatly stored in the phone’s memory. However, fate wrote a different route home for Praka Farizal Rhomadhon.

The TNI soldier, who was part of the UN peacekeeping mission (UNIFIL) in Lebanon, would indeed return home. But he did not arrive with a broad smile and hugs for his loved ones. He returned wrapped in the embrace of the Red and White Flag, after falling due to an attack by Zionist Israeli forces.

Praka Farizal fell due to gunfire near the position of the Indonesian UNIFIL contingent in Adchit Al Qusayr, southern Lebanon, on Sunday (29/3).

Meanwhile, three other personnel, namely Praka Rico Pramudia, Praka Bayu Prakoso, and Praka Arif Kurniawan, were wounded in the attack.

A day later, the UN reported that two Indonesian UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed and two others wounded in an attack on a UNIFIL logistics convoy near Bani Hayyan in southern Lebanon on Monday (30/3).

For Supinah, cross-continental communication was the most anticipated daily ritual. Through the phone screen, Farizal never missed greeting his parents. The same went for his wife and child in Aceh.

“This end of April it finishes, then May home. There’s already a flight schedule, he’s sent it to me,” said Supinah with a trembling voice at the funeral home in Sidorejo Village, Kulon Progo, DIY, quoted by Metro TV on Tuesday (31/3).

However, behind the cheerful face on the phone screen, Farizal kept stories about the increasingly tense situation. To his mother, he once reported that his recent days were often accompanied by the wail of sirens indicating emergency situations.

“Lately it’s a bit emergency. Every time entering the bunker, for how many hours, then if safe come out. If there’s a siren, must enter, that’s every time,” Supinah recalled.

This sorrow does not only linger in DIY. Thousands of kilometres away, in the Yonif 113/Jaya Sakti Barracks in Bireuen, Aceh, the same grief is striking. The wife of the deceased, Fafa Nur Azila, still appears shaken.

News of her husband’s passing struck the hopes of a May reunion that they had discussed with great joy. Until now, Fafa has not been able to utter a single word, remaining silent amid the mourners who continue to offer support.

In the yard of the funeral home in Kulon Progo, rows of flower arrangements from various national to local figures continue to line up. Those flower arrangements stand as silent witnesses to Farizal’s dedication on the international stage. Neighbours and relatives take turns arriving, creating a communal atmosphere in the deep sadness.

Currently, the extended family can only wait patiently for the arrival of the body, expected on Wednesday or Thursday. Although May no longer brings the homecoming they dreamed of, Praka Farizal returns as a hero who has given his life for world peace.

For Supinah and the family, May will still come. However, it will always be remembered as the month that holds the last promise of a soldier, a promise halted by the wail of sirens in Lebanese soil.