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)