Independence Day

From the moment we arrived in Jakarta until we left Indonesia entirely we saw flags and bunting. This was three weeks of flags and bunting to celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day.

The day itself is August 17th. On that day we were on Komodo Island. Our tour guides – both the one who went on the whole trip with us, and the local guide – listened closely to the radio for the speeches that were part of the celebration. I got the feeling they regretted being stuck out on a tiny island full of dragons and tourists right then, though they assured us they didn’t need to be part of the party.

When talking to the veterans, I realized that for Indonesians, self sovereignty is still a relatively new thing. Though quite old, there are men who remember fighting in that particular war. Even to this day, their borders are in dispute.

Indonesia is a sprawling collection of island states with Java and Bali being only two of the more prominent nations to have been absorbed. Each has it’s own language, history, and religious leanings. Each has a legacy of emperors, and of oppression from the Dutch, Japanese, and various earlier pirates and invaders.

They are very much aware of the combined nature of the country. They talk about being a collective and the need for tolerance even as they demand that people make their sub-allegiances clear.

It’s a young country in a place that has seen civilization for a very long time. Consider the way so many temples, including Borobudur, Prambanan, and Candi Sambisara were all in use for hundreds of years only to be buried under volcanic ash and forgotten for hundreds of years. The population has picked up wholesale and moved in mass many times.

In comparison, the USA feels much more secure in it’s pluralism the way a family that squabbles is more secure in it’s relationships than one that doesn’t dare fight. Although we can find ancient arrowheads in the dirt, no one expects to stumble across any unknown temples. It’s a different feeling.