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Independence Day celebrated peacefully nationwide
1000 flags, one love: A young boy and girl secure a flagpole to the ground in Mt
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1000 flags, one love: A young boy and girl secure a flagpole to the ground in Mt. Merapi valley in Yogyakarta on Sunday. The pole is one of 1,000 flags erected in the valley during a flag-raising ceremony titled 'Seribu Bendera Satu Cinta' (A thousand flags, one love). JP/Tarko Sudiarno
Indonesians across the archipelago celebrated the nation's 69th Independence Day on Sunday.
In Lanny Jaya, Papua, the Independence Day ceremony, which was led by Regent Befa Jigibalom at Tiom, the regency's capital, passed off peacefully.
'The ceremony was solemn and secure and ran without disturbance,' the commander of Military District Command (Kodim) 1710 Jayawijaya overseeing the region, Lt. Col. Inf Yusuf Sampetoding, told The Jakarta Post.
He denied reports that there was an exchange of gunfire between the security forces and an armed group of civilians in Lanny Jaya during the ceremony.
'There was no shooting. The armed civilian group did try to disrupt the ceremony with noise but they were unsuccessful,' he said.
Lanny Jaya regency has been in the spotlight for the last month after two police officers were shot dead by an armed gang allegedly led by Enden Wanimbo and Puron Wenda on July 27.
Hesty, a resident of Tiom, said the ceremony had indeed run securely and enjoyably. The sound of shooting was heard but it was from another district, not Tiom.
In Medan, North Sumatra, residents of Aur village held their flag-raising ceremony on the banks of the Deli Medan River in a bid to draw the local administration's attention to the need for conservation efforts on the river.
Usmarlin, a participant, said that the condition of the river had become a matter of great concern because of pollution from both factory and domestic waste.
The river had also become shallower so that it frequently flooded following heavy downpours.
In Semarang, Central Java, schools, government institutions and private offices conducted their Independence Day ceremonies in their respective locations with the biggest taking place at Pancasila Square in the Simpang Lima area.
A unique way of celebrating the independence anniversary was held by the Semarang Onthel Community (SOC), a group of local bicycle lovers, at the Tugu Muda junction in front of the Lawang Sewu building in Semarang.
They marked the ceremony by wearing old-style costumes and by bringing along their antique bicycles locally known as onthel.
A humbler method of celebrating the independence anniversary was conducted by some 30 villagers of a neighboring unit in Kalipancur subdistrict, Ngaliyan district, by using only a bamboo pole to raise the Red-and-White flag.
Independence Day ceremonies were also held in the 22 regencies and municipalities of East Nusa Tenggara province, with the masters of ceremony mostly citing local challenges including the high mortality rate among mothers and babies.
Masses celebrating independence were held at the Santo Arnoldus and Yoseph Waelengga Catholic churches as well as in the 79 parishes of the Ruteng Diocese.
Many congregants at Santo Arnoldus and Yoseph Waelengga attended mass in traditional attire while schoolchildren wore their respective school uniforms.
Meanwhile, 2,343 prison inmates in South Sulawesi received sentence reductions due to the Independence Day celebration, 92 of whom were released from prison.
The remission decisions were handed over by South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo at Gunungsari Penitentiary in Makassar.
Andi Hajramurni in Makassar, Suherdjoko in Semarang and Markus Makur in Flores contributed to this story.
