President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has now bid several farewells to the nation he has led for the past decade, the most emotional of which was his final State of the Nation Address, delivered on Friday last week.

On Sunday, the flag-raising ceremony to commemorate 69 years of the country'€™s independence became the occasion when the country bid farewell to Yudhoyono.

This time, it was the pilots of the Air Force fighter jets who conducted a farewell flyby for the President over the State Palace lawn.

'€œWe are the young eagles of the Air Force thanking Mr. President and long live Indonesia!'€ said one of the Air Force pilots, whose voice was put on loudspeaker for the hundreds gathered at the palace to hear.

The guests, who included senior officials, former state leaders and foreign envoys, applauded as the 32 fighter jets '€” comprising 10 T-50i Golden Eagle fighter jets, six Hawks, eight Sukhois and eight F-16s '€” flew over the palace'€™s lawn in two formations.

In 2012 and 2103, only a handful of fighter jets participated in the celebrations.

Among the dignitaries who gathered for Sunday'€™s ceremony were former vice presidents Try Sutrisno, Hamzah Haz and Jusuf Kalla, who is now once again vice president-elect.

Jakarta Governor and president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, Guruh Soekarnoputra, the youngest son of the country'€™s first president, Sukarno, and Guruh'€™s sister, Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, were also among the guests.

The decorations at the presidential complex for this year'€™s ceremony were arranged to reflect Javanese culture, as a mark of respect for Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, both of whom are Javanese.

The theme for last year'€™s celebration was East Kalimantan culture, while in 2012, the decorations highlighted Batak culture from North Sumatra.

During the flag-lowering ceremony in the afternoon, the entertainment provided took the form of a traditional dance from Pacitan, East Java, Yudhoyono'€™s birthplace.

Also included in the ceremony was a performance by Laras Prameswari, a sixth-grader from Lampung, who sang a song written and composed by Yudhoyono entitled '€œUntuk Bumi Kita'€ (For Our Earth), followed by a medley of folk songs from across the archipelago, from Aceh'€™s '€œBungong Jeumpa'€ and West Kalimantan'€™s '€œCik Cik Periuk'€ to Papua'€™s '€œApuse,'€ which were performed by the Gita Bahana Nusantara orchestra.

For this year'€™s celebration, Yudhoyono also encouraged stability in the political arena by promoting a peaceful succession of power.

This year'€™s event embraced the theme, '€œin the spirit of Independence Day, we support the transfer of national leadership after the election for a better Indonesia in the future'€, a theme that was not lost on Hatta Rajasa, former coordinating economic minister and losing vice-presidential candidate, who also attended the flag-raising ceremony.

'€œLet us manage our differences and make them a strength to build the nation,'€ Hatta told reporters.

In response to being asked whether the Independence Day celebrations could unite the two presidential tickets, Hatta said '€œnational interests should take precedence over everything else'€.

Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syariefuddin Hasan, who is also an executive in the ruling Democratic Party, said that Yudhoyono'€™s time in office had not been without flaws.

'€œAs for the mistakes, he apologized for being a human being [that makes mistakes] during Friday'€™s state address,'€ Syarief said.

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