independence day

The Proclamation of Indonesian Independence was read at 10.00 a.m. on Friday, 17 August 1945 by Soekarno. It was read at 56, Jalan Pegangsaan Timur, Jakarta. The draft was prepared by Soekarno, Mohammad Hatta and Soebardjo at Rear-Admiral Maeda Tadashi’s house (now the Museum of Declaration of Independence) on 16 August 1945. It was typed by Sayuti Melik and signed by Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta. It was not until the year 2005 that the Netherlands accepted Indonesia’s independence day. Today, we celebrate Indonesia’s independence day every 17 August, and this Wednesday, 17 August 2016, we will be celebrating Indonesia’s independence day for the seventy-first time.

According to the dictionary, an independence day is a holiday celebrating the anniversary of a country's independence from another country that ruled it. Young people in general think of independence day as a holiday to celebrate the proclamation of our country, the day our country was born. But mostly, we think of it as a holiday, a break from school.

In Indonesia, we celebrate our independence day by holding festivals, competitions and flag ceremonies. The streets and buildings all over the country are decorated in red and white, our country’s flag. Red and white flags are hoisted on streets, houses, malls and basically everywhere. On independence day, there is a flag ceremony at the president’s palace led by, of course, the president and vice president. It is attended by the cabinet, military brass, diplomatic corps, honorary guests and the family members of the current president. High school students are chosen to march and put on a show. It is a spectacular ceremony. There are all sorts of competitions, too. The most common ones are krupuk eating, panjat pinang and sack races. In krupuk eating contests, you have your hands tied behind your back, and you have to eat the krupuk which is hung in front of you. The first one to finish their krupuk wins. Panjat pinang is one of the most difficult games. You have to climb a tree trunk covered in oil and get the prizes hung on the top of the trunk. It is really slippery because of the oil. In sack races, you have to put your legs inside a sack and hop to the finish line. The first one to cross the finish line wins. There are usually prizes given to the winners. There are also lots of people cleaning the neighborhood together.

In SHB, we celebrate our country’s independence day with a flag ceremony and competitions. Since 17 August is a national holiday, we hold the flag ceremony and competitions the next day on 18 August. The flag ceremony is well prepared and attended by all the students and teachers. It’s not just SHB, schools all over the country hold flag ceremonies. At SHB, we also hold competitions and give prizes to the winners but we don’t have panjat pinang. We do have sack races and krupuk eating competition.