18/08/2023
INDONESIA.....
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL FRIENDS, ROTARIANS AND THE INDONESIAN NATION - 17th August....
CREATE HOPE in the WORLD - GROW ROTARY as ROTARY CONNECTS the WORLD to OPEN ENDLESS OPPORTUNITIES for SERVING to CHANGE LIVES of MILLIONS of POOR/ UNDERPRIVILEGED INDIVIDUALS & THOUSANDS of COMMUNITIES WORLD OVER in MORE THAN 200 COUNTRIES & TERRITORIES!
Always celebrated on 17th August, this is Indonesia's national day and marks Indonesia's declaration of independence from the Netherlands in 1945.
History of Indonesian Independence Day:-
Indonesia had been a Dutch colony for over 300 years when a group of revolutionaries declared independence on 17 August 1945.
It took Indonesians four years of diplomacy and armed struggle before their independence was formally granted by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands.
Despite the granting of independence in 1945, it wasn't until 2005, that the Netherlands declared that they had decided to accept the date of 17 August 1945 as the date of Indonesia’s independence.
Indonesia is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands. It is the world's fourth most populous country. More than half of Indonesia's population live on Java, making it the world's most populous island.
Did you know?
-The Indonesian language, now spoken by almost all 238 million inhabitants, is a variant of Malayan invented by nationalists in the 1920s.
-Marco Polo was the first European to visit Indonesia, in 1292.
-Indonesia has the second highest level of biodiversity in the world after Brazil, with more endemic species than anywhere else except Australia.
-The national mystical animal of Indonesia is the Garuda. It is a golden bird that can be seen on Indonesia’s national emblem.
E&OE