Indonesia Independence Day

A cultural carnival is held in Indonesia to mark the 77th Independence Day celebration on Aug. 17. People wear colorful clothes and act in different themes ...

16, 2022.(Photo: Xinhua)

Through its diplomatic activism, New Delhi helped re-construct a world in which European imperialism was illegal, illegitimate and no longer tolerated.

In the following months, talks between Indonesia and the Netherlands resumed and they agreed to schedule a Round Table Conference to facilitate the unconditional transfer of power to Indonesia. In January 1949 India launched a major initiative to support Indonesian independence and hosted a regional conference at the ministerial level in favour of its cause. The conference closed in record time, putting forth a recommendation to the UNSC that detained Indonesian leaders be released and that the government of free Indonesia be restored. Close to midnight on December 18, Dutch forces launched a military offensive from land, sea, and air against the ill-equipped defenders of free Indonesia. On July 21, 1947, the Dutch launched a large-scale offensive in the country. For the sake of peace, Indonesia signed an agreement to this effect aboard the USS Renville. The Dutch sought to reclaim their possession over Indonesia and a re-colonisation conflict unfurled in the country from 1945-1949. A strong Indonesian delegation attended it, and, with the special efforts of Nehru and his pilot friend Biju Patnaik, Indonesian Prime Minister Sutan Sjharir was flown and personally received by Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Lesser known is their shared story of the 1940s, where India, in the lead-up to its independence, supported and campaigned for Indonesia’s right to its own. Through one of its first forays into global diplomacy, India under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru played a significant role in the efforts that pressured the Dutch to withdraw from their pursuit of restoring empire in Indonesia. This mission of transferring Indonesia from its Japanese colonisers to the Dutch contradicted the anti-imperialist sentiment Indians shared with Indonesia. Fifty-two days after the Sukarno-Hatta announcement, Indian troops arrived in Batavia (today’s Jakarta) as part of Mountbatten’s Southeast Asia Command, with the aim of disarming Japanese forces and establishing order until the Dutch Administration could function effectively.

The government is preparing to ramp up infrastructure projects to open the doors to the city. Read more at straitstimes.com.

Government officials say the new capital will take decades to be fully completed and inhabited by its planned population of two million people and will help spread economic growth to an underdeveloped region. "The main point (of the ceremony) is to take the spirit of the 77th Independence Day to strengthen our resolve and spirit to build the new capital," said State Capital Authority head Bambang Susantono, who will govern the new city. [is set to become the new political centre of the world's fourth-largest country.](https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesian-president-chooses-nusantara-as-new-name-of-capital-name-minister)