Today is August 17th 2004 which means that Indonesia has been an independent republic for 57 years.
I was going add ‘democratic and fair’ but lets be honest, Suharto had 30 of those years and it was anything but democratic.
Around town i’ve seen some of the red and white flags and tonight on Jl. Dhyana Pura in Seminyak there is a street festival.
I happened to be eating at Warung Mimpi and noticed people assembling along the street. A stage was set up and I watched a troupe of Balinese dancers. The first performers were 4 young girls, followed by a solo girl performing the Legong dance and finally a male dancer performimng the Baris dance.
Balinese dancing is very interesting because there is so much going on. The females wear a tight fitting and restrictive sarong and the feet are kept close together. The arms are moved in angular motions but as bio mechanics insist, there is a circular movement for every angular one and this give the whole thing and very graceful overall feel. The fluttering fingers and flickering eyes add drama.
The male dancers use a kind of stepping motion where the back foot comes through rather centrally and veers off to the side giving a ‘mad hatter’ like feel. This combined with spooky arm and hand movements help to bring the good / bad dramas to life.
A gamelan orchestra moved down the center of the street and I can hear an MC whipping the crowd into a frenzy outside the internet cafe.
I snapped a few photos but will have to wait to see if they are worthy of your attention.
Indonesia is an exciting place and its a miracle it is a country at all. With 17,000 islands, 180 ethnic groups, countless tribes, language and dialects definitely a hard place to manage.
Happy Independence Day Indonesia!
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August 16 - Independence Day for Cyprus
G’Day Folks,
An article in today’s Jakarta Post about how some Indonesians enjoyed their National holiday:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20040818.@01&irec=0
Adaptations of races we used to have on national holidays when I was a kid in England.
Next year we might see Nick and Megawati in the ‘2-in-one’ sarong race!.
this site is gay, it’s got a really gay color. and no one will actually read all that! anywayz….
yeah yeah tis alrite site, could be better, i which u put better info on though coz i’m trying to do my assignment on indonesia independence day and this crappy site is the only onfo i can find!
thanks for the interesting information!
Pakistan celebrated it on Aug 14, India on Aug 15. I wonder whether any country celeberated on Aug 16? Looks like you had fun.