Indonesia’s Independence Day Attracts Sorrow and Hope in Two Nations

By Stefan J. Bos, with reporting by Johan Th. Bos in the Netherlands

JAKARTA/AMSTELVEEN (Worthy News) – Indonesia observed 79 years of independence from Dutch rule over the weekend with a ceremony in its unfinished future capital, Nusantara, but in the Netherlands, there were mixed feelings.

President Joko Widodo and his Cabinet ministers attended the Independence Day ceremony at the new Presidential Palace, built in the shape of the mythical eagle-winged protector figure Garuda.

The celebration was initially planned to inaugurate Nusantara as the country’s new capital, but with construction behind schedule, it was unclear when the transfer would happen.

Back in the Netherlands, the days leading up to the anniversary were marked by sorrow over those who died when Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II and the Dutch military’s controversial “police actions” that followed Indonesia’s independence declaration.

“Today’s world shows that peace and freedom cannot be taken for granted,” said Deputy Mayor Herbert Raat during an August 14 ceremony in Amstelveen, a suburb of Amsterdam with a large Indonesian community.

Raat spoke at the Indies Monument in Amstelveen’a Broerse Park, where he laid a wreath on behalf of the municipality on the eve of the annual national commemoration. Even those who did not die in fighting or horrific Japanese treatment still carry the traces of that time.

Many regional administrators, who laid wreaths on behalf of their municipalities, and Defense representatives attended the meeting.

JAPAN CAPITULATION

It was 79 years ago that Japan capitulated after many were tortured and killed in Japanese concentration camps, recalled Raat. “We remember a war where almost 4 million people died from hunger, deprivation, disease, and violence. Moreover, a bloody struggle for independence began immediately after the Japanese capitulation. From 1945 to well into the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of people left their country, where they were no longer welcome, and then built a new life in the Netherlands from scratch,” he recalled. “That new country was often cold and trying to get itself back on track after World War Two, “ Raat noted.

Yet both the Netherlands are trying to heal the wounds of history, including those joining Independence Day celebrations.

At the end of the commemoration, Salóme Pieris sang the Indian Lord’s Prayer, accompanied on guitar by her father. There were then two minutes of silence, and the Dutch national anthem was sung, accompanied by a military band.

In Indonesia itself, the independence celebration at the new State Palace on the island of Borneo was held simultaneously with one at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, whichwas attended by Vice President Ma’ruf Amin.

Nusantara replaces as capital Jakarta due to concerns about the future of Jakarta and some 10 million people in the city limits and three times as much in the greater metropolitan area.

Jakarta floods regularly and its streets’ congestion costs the economy an estimated $4.5 billion a year, experts say.

The air and groundwater in the old capital, on the northwestern coast of the Java island, are heavily polluted, and it has been described as the world’s most rapidly sinking city.

SINKING JAKARTA

It is estimated that one-third of the city could be submerged by 2050, because of uncontrolled groundwater extraction.

Climate change fearing scientists also blame the rise of the Java Sea “due to climate change” for Jakarta’s problems.

The construction of the new capital began in mid-2022, spread over an area of about 2,600 square kilometers (1,000 square miles) carved out of Borneo’s jungle.

Officials say it will be “a futuristic green city“ with abundant forests and parks, powered by renewable energy sources and using smart waste management.

But the project has been condemned by environmentalists and Indigenous communities, who say it degrades the environment.

It also further shrinks the habitat of endangered animals such as orangutans, and displaces Indigenous people who rely on the land for their livelihoods, they warn.

Yet Widodo, who steps down in October, made clear he did not want these concerns to overshadow one of Indonesia’s Independence Day.

The nation of 275 million has not only become the world’s biggest Muslim nation but also South Asia’s largest economy after 350 years of Dutch rule.

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