Indonesian President Prabowo leads first Independence Day ceremony in Jakarta
JAKARTA – President Prabowo Subianto led the 80th Independence Day ceremony in Jakarta on Sunday, his first Aug. 17 celebration since taking office as the country's head of state last year.
The festive ceremony at the State Palace in Central Jakarta was attended by high-ranking officials, foreign dignitaries, veterans and more than 8,000 regular citizens who were lucky enough to make the audience quota.
The palace previously opened public registration for people wishing to attend the event, with the quota being filled within hours.
Sunday's ceremony began with a cultural parade carrying replicas of the original Red-and-White flag and the Proclamation of Independence text from the National Monument (Monas) to the State Palace. The procession featured hundreds of security officers on motorcycles and horses, as well as military and police academy drum band personnel dressed in traditional attire.
At around 9:50 a.m., Prabowo, dressed in an off-white traditional Malay outfit, started the flag-hoisting ceremony by reading the Independence Proclamation, before handing over the Red-and-White Flag to the national flag-hoisting squad (Paskibraka).
After the ceremony, the celebrations continued with an air show performed by among other aircraft eight Air Force F-16 fighter jets and a host of cultural performances, including traditional dances and a showcase of pencak silat traditional martial art.
Among the attendees at Sunday's ceremony were former presidents Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo, who came to the palace with his wife Iriana. They sat next to Prabowo and across from Vice President, and Jokowi's eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Also attending the ceremony were former vice presidents Try Sutrisno, Jusuf Kalla, Boediono and Ma'ruf Amin.
Indonesia's fifth president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who came to the palace on Saturday to officiate this year's Paskibraka squad as head of the Agency for the Implementation of the State Ideology Pancasila's (BPIP) steering committee, did not attend Sunday's ceremony.
Megawati, who chairs the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), opted instead to attend an Independence Day ceremony held by the party in its office in South Jakarta. PDI-P secretary-general Hasto Kristiyanto said that Megawati 'wanted' to celebrate Independence Day with all party members.
Megawati also did not attend the annual People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) plenary meeting at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Friday, when Prabowo delivered his first State of the Nation address.
The PDI-P is the largest party in the government-dominated House of Representatives and the only party outside of Prabowo's ruling coalition.
Her ties with Prabowo have warmed of late despite the PDI-P's feud with Jokowi, a one-time party member who broke ranks to support Prabowo's presidential bid last year. During the party's congress earlier this month, Megawati announced the nationalist party would act as the 'constitutional counterbalance' to government policies.
The palace is slated to hold a flag-lowering ceremony on Sunday afternoon, followed by the 'Independence Carnival' parade in the evening. Prabowo is expected to see off the start of the parade, as decorated cars representing various government institutions will wind through the main roads of Central Jakarta.
Public enthusiasm surged ahead of the Independence Day celebration, the first time for the government to allocate a majority of audience spots for the ceremony to the general public. Public registration for some 6,400 spots opened on Aug. 4 and quickly reached capacity, prompting organizers to add up to 2,000 more slots in a second round of registration on Aug. 7.
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