Halo y’all!
In the spirits of Indonesia’s independence day, or Hari Kemerdekaan Indonesia, which is celebrated on August 17th, today’s post is about the history around our independence declaration and what we commonly do to celebrate.
Indonesia declared its independence on August 17th, 1945, which means it’s 78 years old this year! The declaration is by no mean the beginning nor the end of our fight against colonialization, however it can be said to mark the peak of it. Even so, Indonesia was only recognized by the Dutch as an independent nation in 1949, following two military aggressions launched by the Dutch who wanted to keep this important source of 3G: gold, glory, and gospel.
Before we begin, please bear in mind that this post was made using the history lessons I learned during elementary and high school (considering I wasn’t alive yet at that point of time), the internet, and my grandmother’s account (she was born in 1935, so she was 10 years old by the time Indonesia declared its independence) as the bases, so the accuracy is not at 100%.
Now, on the history part!
It is a commonly accepted notion that Indonesia was colonialized by the Dutch for 3.5 centuries then by the Japanese for 3.5 years before declaring its independence. This is not strictly true. First, considering our current vastness, ‘Indonesia’, AKA ‘Dutch East Indies’, at the time of independence declaration consisted mostly of Java and Sumatera regions, whilst other regions such as Borneo, Sulawesi, Bali, Maluku, and Papua, were not yet accepted as a part of Indonesia.
Second, in relation to the point before, the regions that made up the current Indonesia were not all under the ‘Dutch’. We were actually under the VOC (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or the (Dutch) United East India Company) most of the time, which is Dutch but not in the government sense, and some of our regions were under the Portuguese, Spanish, English, and even French, depending on the time and place in accordance to the fluctuating condition in Europe. Considering they can hardly eat, though, I think most Indonesians at that time didn’t have enough energy to care where exactly their ‘masters’ came from. A select few with enough resources, however, started to move the gears towards independence.
Third, the Japanese didn’t really ‘colonialized’ Indonesia the same way the European did. My grandma said the condition under the Japanese was more brutal, though, as they were here more for immediate war-related resources whilst the European aims for long-term spice and plantation production. It can be said that the European colonialized whilst the Japanese occupied Indonesia. When they came, the Japanese actually said they were here to liberate fellow Asians from the grips of the West. By that time, though, the fight for independence was already culminating and, as soon as the Japanese agreed to surrender to the Allies on 15 August 1945 (or 14 August 1945 in the US), our founding fathers acted fast to secure our independence. The war didn’t end there, though.
Fourth, the duration of ‘3.5 centuries’ and ’3.5 years’ were made to achieve artistic and dramatic effect. In reality, it’s closer to a bit more than 4 centuries and 3 years, considering the Spanish first came to Indonesia in 1511 and the Japanese were here in 1942-1945 during the second world war. These actual numbers aren’t eye-catching, though, and what better way to appeal to the masses’ sense than something that, in a way, rhymes?
Anyway, as I’ve mentioned before, some Indonesians at that time did resist the European control. Many local wars were fought, but the difference in technological advances and the uncoordinated troops meant Indonesians lost more often than not. Some famous battles include the Java War or more commonly known as Diponegoro war (Perang Diponegoro), Acehnese War (Perang Aceh-Belanda), and Padri War (Perang Padri). Of course, there are many more battles, both recorded and not, which happened all around Indonesia. Not only military battles, efforts in diplomacy and soft-politics were also in play. In 1908, Budi Utomo which is widely accepted as the starting point of movement towards Indonesia’s independence, was founded, followed by many other youth parties. Then on October 28th, 1928, the Youth Pledge (Sumpah Pemuda) was proclaimed in the All-Indonesian Youth Congress (Kongres Pemuda), and October 28 is now a national holiday called Youth Pledge Day (Hari Sumpah Pemuda).
Fast forward to 1945, after the Japanese came and all that, an Investigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Indonesian Independence (Badan Penyelidik Usaha-usaha Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (BPUPKI)) was formally established on 29 April 1945 by the Japanese government before being replaced with the Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia (PPKI)) on 7 August 1945, following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. On 10 August 1945, following the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, some Indonesian fighters including Sutan Syahrir heard of the looming surrender of Japanese to the Allies and wanted Indonesia to gain rather than be gifted its independence. Then on 12 August 1945, our first president Sukarno, first vice-president Hatta, and former head of BPUPKI Rajiman Wediodiningrat (or Radjiman Widyodinigrat in Bahasa Indonesia) received a promise from Marshal Terauchi in Vietnam that Japan will soon give independence to Indonesia, though at that time the Japanese wishes for the proclamation to be done on 24 August 1945. After they went home from Vietnam, however, some Indonesian fighters urged Sukarno to proclaim Indonesia’s independence as soon as possible for fear that the Japanese would retract their promise.
Ever the diplomat, Sukarno and Hatta know that there are procedures that have to be done first to ensure the most peaceful and smooth transfer of power. However, some more hot-blooded fighter couldn’t wait and take any risk so they ‘kidnapped’ Sukarno and Hatta to Rengasdengklok on 16 Auguts 1945, an event which is later known as the Rengasdengklok Incident (Peristiwa Rengasdengklok). Long (and I mean long, I don’t think any of the related figures slept at all that night) story short, Indonesia’s proclamation text was read by Sukarno, with Hatta by his side, on behalf of the Indonesian people, on 17 August 1945 at Sukarno’s house at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur no. 56, Jakarta, at 10 AM (according to Wikipedia, it was 10 AM Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)??? I just knew this fact (?) while researching for this post and all this time thought it was 10 AM Western Indonesia Time (UTC+7)). The Flag of Indonesia, sewed by Sukarno’s first wife Fatmawati, was raised and the Indonesian national anthem, Indonesia Raya, was sung. Below you can find Indonesian proclamation text in English (published by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1948) and Bahasa Indonesia. Note that the year of the proclamation refers to the Japanese Imperial Year of 2605, and the Indonesian text below uses the old spelling (hmm…I can make a blog post about this).
English version | Bahasa Indonesia version |
Proclamation We, the people of Indonesia, do hereby declare the independence of Indonesia. Matters concerning the transfer of power and other matters will be executed in an orderly manner and in the shortest possible time. Djakarta, 17 August 05 In the name of the people of Indonesia Soekarno/Hatta | Proklamasi Kami, bangsa Indonesia, dengan ini menjatakan kemerdekaan Indonesia. Hal-hal jang mengenai pemindahan kekoeasaan d.l.l., diselenggarakan dengan tjara saksama dan dalam tempo jang sesingkat-singkatnja. Djakarta, hari 17 boelan 8 tahoen 05 Atas nama bangsa Indonesia, Soekarno/Hatta. |
After the declaration of independence, some battles such as Battle of Medan (Pertempuran Medan Area), Battle of Surabaya (Pertempuran Surabaya), and Bandung Sea of Fire (Bandung Lautan Api) also erupted, this time between Indonesians versus the Allies, mostly the UK, and also the Dutch who wanted to seize (back) Indonesia which was formerly under the losing Japanese. These battles are proudly recorded in our history, with Surabaya being called the City of Heroes, a song titled ‘Halo-Halo Bandung’ was made to pay homage to that event, and many contributing leaders and public figures became national heroes whose names and faces can be found in our bank notes and as airports or landmarks name.
Anyway, Indonesian Independence Day is celebrated each year on 17 August, which become a national public holiday and oftentimes simply called tujuhbelasan (meaning ‘the seventeenth’) or Agustusan (meaning ‘the August’), both referring to the date (check my previous post about number to know more). Every year, a different theme and corresponding logo was used and a ceremony (or upacara) to commemorate independence proclamation day was held. In a national scale, an upacara is always done in the Merdeka Palace (Istana Merdeka) in Jakarta, which is the formal president’s resident in the current capital city of Indonesia (there is a plan to move the capital city though). The upacara starts at 10 AM to commemorate the time of proclamation text reading, and is broadcasted nation-wide through many TV channels. Usually, one female and one male high-school students from each of Indonesia’s provinces are selected and went through a quarantine period to train as the flag hoisting troop known as Paskibraka (Pasukan Pengibar Bendera Pusaka), from which half would perform in the morning and the other half would perform later at around 5 PM in the afternoon to lower the flag.
Pic: Ceremony to commemorate Indonesia’s 77th Independence Day at Istana Merdeka, 17 August 2022
Each governmental office, school, and university all over Indonesia usually also hold an upacara to commemorate our independence day, though not necessarily at 10 AM and with much less fanfare than the one in the Merdeka Palace.
Other than the formal upacara and the obligation to display full-mast Indonesian flag in each building, the masses usually hold a neighbourhood-, village-, or institution-scale events where people gather to feast, watch entertainment, or participate in parades and games to win prizes. Many neighbourhood will decorate their public places in red and white accents and even paint their village gates, whilst some popular games include:
1) Panjat pinang where people work hand-in-hand (or, well, usually shoulder-to-shoulder) to climb a slippery pole coated with oil
2) Cracker eating contest or lomba makan kerupuk where people endeavours to eat white cracker (see my post on Indonesian crackers to know more) hanged using a plastic rope without using their hands
3) Rice-sack race or lomba balap karung where people race while inside a rice-sack so they have to jump like jiangshi to reach the goal
4) Inserting pencil or nail into a bottle, but the pencil or nail is attached using a rope to the back side of participants’ waist so they usually can’t really see it
5) Bakiak (or apparently called bakya in English according to Wikipedia) race, where groups of 3-4 people race each other using a specially made footwear where they have to line up and walk in harmony
6) Tug-of-war or tarik tambang (literally means rope pulling)
7) Applying make-up with covered eyes
8) Searching for a coin in a sea of flour using only your mouth
9) Catching and moving eel, of course using your bare hands
10) Moving glass beads called kelereng using spoon held in participants’ mouth
11) And many more!
Male and female, young and old, sometimes decked in red-white clothing or accessories, can participate or simply spectate these games and have fun. Usually, up-beat music is played during the games, and a local MC will hype up the excitement even more.
Other than games, food is also a must during these events. As it is used in one of the more popular events, crackers especially white crackers are indispensable. For the main course though, people usually made or order nasi tumpeng. Nasi tumpeng itself is a set of rice and dishes, where the rice is made into a cone shape. Most of the time, turmeric-yellow rice is used. However, to celebrate independence day, many nasi tumpeng are made using red (fried) rice and white (normal) rice. The dishes are mostly the same though, usually consisting of roasted or fried chicken, egg, kering tempe, sambal goreng kentang, potato perkedel, and lalapan as vegetable. Of course, for most Indonesians, sambal is indispensable during meals.
Pics: Regular (yellow) nasi tumpeng (first pic) and red-white nasi tumpeng (second pic)
Other food items, both savoury and sweet such as es campur using red cocopandan syrup, red and white klepon, and red and white congee, are also often found. As you may have noticed, during this time most of those foods and drinks are coloured red and/or white, just like the nasi tumpeng, to pay homage to the colours of Indonesian flag, which are, well, red and white^^
Other than that, many stores especially restaurants, both online and offline, usually offer special menus and/or discounts during the day of independence, the week around the date, or even the whole month of August. They usually give 17% discounts and/or priced some products with a variation of the number ‘17’ or Indonesia’s age of the year (for example as IDR 77.000 in 2022). Make sure to squat in front of your targeted stores during this time and you’ll be sure to get some deals.
Of course, due to COVID-19 pandemic, some of these events weren’t done or were changed as prevention. However, by 2022, things have started to pick up again and we can look forward to Indonesia’s independence celebration for years to come.
Once again, happy 78th birthday, Indonesia!
Dirgahayu Republik Indonesia!
Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!
Disclaimer: the pictures used in this post are not the property of the writer but was taken from Google and I (AKA the writer) do not guarantee the accuracy of the historical content, though I’ve done my best.
Comments