One and a Half Minutes

Experience interacting with para-athletes has further strengthened her view that para-sport needs not only facilities and training, but also public attention and recognition.

Jakarta (ANTARA) — Cheers and applause rang out in succession at Nagoya City Mizuho Park Athletic Stadium, Japan, on Sunday evening (18 October).

One by one, delegations taking part in the 2026 Asian Para Games Aichi-Nagoya entered the stadium. Beneath the floodlights, athletes waved to the stands. Some captured the moment on their mobile phones, while spectators continued to welcome each passing delegation.

Amid the festivities, a phone call came through to the mobile of an ANTARA reporter covering the parade of delegations.

It was from Natalia Tjahja. On the other end of the line, the Indonesian woman excitedly said that a song she had composed would soon be played during the opening ceremony.

Not long afterwards, the Asian Paralympic Committee (APC) anthem rang out across the stadium, forming part of a ceremony that brought together thousands of athletes and officials from 45 countries and territories across Asia.

Amid the grandeur of the international event was a work by an Indonesian composer.

That composer was Natalia Tjahja, who in 2023 was entrusted with creating the APC anthem alongside fellow Indonesian musician Dwiki Dharmawan.

The song lasts just one and a half minutes. For Natalia, however, composing it was not as simple as its brief running time might suggest.

“In 1.5 minutes, I had to bring two things together,” Natalia said, recalling the creative process.

Those two elements were a moving musical composition and a portrayal of the spirit of Asia in all its diversity.

Natalia wanted every note to convey a message of brotherhood, unity and hope to athletes with disabilities from different countries.

The anthem was first performed at the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games, held in China in October 2023, accompanying the raising of the APC flag.

For Natalia, being given the commission had special meaning. She did not accept payment and assigned the song’s royalties to the APC as her contribution to the development of para-sport.

Three years later, the composition was heard again in Nagoya, as Japan hosted the Asian Para Games for the first time.