After Flag-Raising Ceremony, Celina Seen Moved to Tears

The flag-bearer for the 17 August 2026 ceremony at Merdeka Palace, Celina Olivia Apriani Theo, appeared to weep with emotion in an Instagram post by the Pancasila Ideology Development Agency (BPIP) on Monday (17/8).

The SMK Negeri 5 Pontianak student was entrusted to represent West Kalimantan Province in the state ceremony for the 81st anniversary of Indonesian independence. She drew public attention after receiving the Red and White flag from President Prabowo Subianto during the morning flag-raising ceremony.

In a video posted on the @bpipri Instagram account, Celina was seen walking alongside other Paskibraka members, sobbing as she held back tears while carrying the now-empty flag tray.

After the Red and White flag-raising ceremony, all members of the Heritage Flag Hoisting Troop (Paskibraka) gathered for a joint prayer.

Once the prayer was recited, tears broke out among the Paskibraka members. Many of them even performed a prostration of gratitude for successfully carrying out the flag-raising.

“Congratulations on the success of the Sovereign Indonesia Team in raising the Red and White at Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, 17 August 2026,” read the caption on BPIP RI’s official Instagram account.

The post immediately received 188,400 likes, 4,400 comments, and 2,600 reposts within five hours.

Celina herself admitted to feeling proud, moved, and happy to have been trusted as the bearer of the Red and White flag tray.

“I certainly feel proud, moved, and very grateful to have been trusted to carry the tray this morning,” Celina said after the ceremony, as quoted from a release by the Government Communication Agency (Bakom) RI.

For the daughter of Intonius and Anastasia, the experience at Merdeka Palace was not merely a state duty, but the fruit of a long struggle she had undertaken since the beginning of the year.

Celina had to face a series of rigorous selections from the city level to the national level, until she finally became the representative of West Kalimantan.

“I was selected as one of the top three young women to proceed to central-level verification. Praise God, I passed at the central level and am now entrusted as the flag tray bearer for today’s raising,” Celina said.

Her experience as the flag tray bearer for the 17 August 2026 ceremony will be a moment Celina will always remember in her life’s journey.