Celebration without ex-presidents

Celebration without ex-presidents

JAKARTA (JP): President Megawati Soekarnoputri led her first
independence day ceremony at Merdeka Palace on Friday, the same
day her father Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence 56 years
ago.

Indonesia's three surviving former presidents, Soeharto, B.J.
Habibie and Abdurrahman Wahid, did not attend the celebration,
which involved around 5,000 guests representing various sections
of society, including war veterans and foreign envoys.

According to the celebration committee's chairman, Mastuf
Basyuni, Soeharto could not attend the event due to his poor
health, Habibie was overseas and Abdurrahman was not well.

In fact, Abdurrahman attended another independence day
celebration at Al Munawaroh Islamic boarding school near his home
in Ciganjur, South Jakarta. The celebration involved street
children, street vendors and other socially disadvantaged people.

The ceremony at Merdeka Palace began at 10:00 a.m., marked by
the sound of a siren and a 17-gun salute. The ringing of bells
from the nearby Catholic Cathedral and beating drums from the
Istiqlal Grand Mosque also heralded the event.

People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais read the
text of the Proclamation, followed by a minute of silence led by
Megawati to honor the nation's heroes.

The national flag was then raised by a group of high school
students selected from across the country.

Megawati handed over a red-and-white flag to Kartika
Noviastuti (photo above) of Taruna Nusantara high school,
Magelang, Central Java.

For the first time since Independence Day in 1945, the
nation's original flag, which was sewed by Megawati's mother
Fatmawati, was not presented to the president at the ceremony due
to its fragile condition.

The original flag, currently kept in Sukarno's bedroom at
Merdeka Palace, has not been hoisted since 1968.

After the ceremony, Megawati hosted a small celebration with
war veterans and later in the evening, after she presided over
the lowering of the flag, a state reception was held at the
palace. (dja)