Indonesia Independence Day — 17 August
Indonesia celebrates its Independence Day every year on 17 August, marking the events of 1945.
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Why 17 August?
Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945, when Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta read the Proklamasi in Jakarta, days after Japan's surrender ended its wartime occupation. A four-year armed and diplomatic struggle against returning Dutch colonial forces followed before sovereignty was formally recognised in 1949. The red-and-white flag, the Sang Saka Merah Putih, draws on centuries-old Majapahit-era colours: red for courage and the body, white for purity and the spirit. Independence Day — Hari Kemerdekaan — is the high point of the national calendar, celebrated across the world's largest archipelago with a solemn flag-raising ceremony at the presidential palace and, in villages and neighbourhoods, exuberant games such as panjat pinang (greased-pole climbing) and sack races. The seventeenth of August, often shortened to 'tujuh belasan,' unites more than 17,000 islands and hundreds of ethnic groups in a shared expression of hard-won nationhood and communal celebration.
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Quick facts
- Date
- 17 August (every year)
- Official name
- Independence Day
- Commemorates
- 1945
- Public holiday
- Yes, in Indonesia