Residents in various regions of Indonesia decided to go ahead with festive celebrations for this year’s Independence Day, despite calls from authorities to refrain from doing so amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditionally, residents celebrate the holiday, which falls on Aug. 17, by hosting lively events with festivities including traditional games and fun competitions — such as pole climbing, sack racing, cracker eating and cooking competitions — as well as parades.

As the COVID-19 health crisis in Indonesia has shown no sign of abating, authorities have banned crowd-pulling activities to celebrate the country’s 75^th anniversary. The order was issued over fear that events with large numbers of people could be potential clusters for virus transmission.

Many residents, however, opted to ignore the order and went ahead with their plans.

Residents of Tulus Harapan housing complex in Surabaya, East Java, for example, decided to uphold tradition by hosting fun competitions, saying it was “for the happiness of the children".

"We don't want the children to miss the exciting moments from the Independence Day celebration," said a local figure of the neighborhood, Yetti Indra, on Monday, assuring that the participants would implement health protocols such as wearing a mask and maintaining physical distance.

In Bandung, West Java, a parade involving several motorcycle communities was spotted on the city's main roads on Monday morning. They streamed down the streets on dozens of motorcycles while carrying Indonesian flags. 

In Medan, North Sumatra, residents reportedly celebrated the country's anniversary with crowd-pullers on Monday, most of them neglecting the required health protocols. 

An organizer of an Independence Day event in Medan Johor district, Chaeruddin, said he believed the residents of the area were free from the virus. "So, we feel safe to go ahead with the competitions even though some of us are not wearing masks."

It was a similar scene in Medan Selayang district, Medan. The locals started the competitions at 9 a.m., but most of them were without a face mask.

In response, North Sumatra deputy governor Musa Rajekshah said he deplored the decision of those residents to host the events, adding that the number of COVID-19 cases in the region was still high at 3,288 so far. 

"Please limit activities that involve many people for the safety of all North Sumatra residents," said Musa. 

Regional administrations across the country took a relatively safe approach to commemorating the country's 75^th anniversary by organizing flag-hoisting ceremonies attended by only a handful of participants.

In South Sulawesi, two ceremonies were held separately at the Makassar City Hall compound on Jl. Ahmad Yani and the official residence of Governor Nurdin Abdullah on Jl. Sungai Tangka in Makassar. 

The events were attended by only dozens of people, including the flag-hosting team. This year’s celebration was significantly different from last year's festivities, which involved fanfares in Karebosi Square and Losari Beach with hundreds of participants. 

In Surakarta, Central Java, the ceremony was attended by a limited number of officials along with five ex-terrorists namely Suparno, Paimin, Chamidi, Bayu Setyono and Marmo to foster their sense of nationalism. (vny)

— Andi Hajramurni and Ganug Nugroho Adi contributed to the story from Makassar and Surakarta.

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