To celebrate August 17th, which is the anniversary of the Indonesian Proclamation of Independence, there will be millions of Indonesian flags flying over the Archipelago.

Almost every house, every street and every building will be flying the flag and continue flying the flag for the next month.

After announcing the Declaration of Independence the Indonesian flag was raised outside Soekarno’s house. The flag was hand sewn by Soekarno’s wife Fatmawati and after the raising of the Indonesian flag the group sang the Indonesian National Anthem ‘Indonesia Raya’.

During the Java war (1825-1830 AD) Prince Diponegoro wore a red and white banner in his struggle against the Dutch. Later, the colors were revived by students and then nationalists in the early 20th century as an expression of nationalism against the Dutch The red and white flag was used for the first time in Java in 1928. Under colonial rule, the flag was banned from use. The flag was officially used as the national flag of Indonesia on August 17,1945 when independence was declared and officially used since then.

Perhaps the most celebrated incident related to the flag occurred one month later in Surabaya on 19 September 1945, when Dutch citizens released from Japanese detention raised the Dutch flag over the former Hotel Oranje which under the Japanese occupation was known as the Hotel Yamato. This incensed the pro-nationalist Indonesian youth who climbed the hotel tower and tore away the lower blue portion of the Dutch flag to change it to the red-and-white Indonesian Flag.

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