The Yell of "Merdeka" (Freedom) was a popular yell and often yielded by Indonesian youths since the Proclamation of Indonesia's Independence on 17 August 1945. The yell as a salute to freedom expression transformed as a national greeting for The Indonesians based on The Government of The Republic of Indonesia Decree of 31 August 1945. This national greeting officially prevailed on 1 September 1945.
The decree also explained about the customs and manners to deliver the national greeting as shown in the video above:
”The
right hand is up as high as the ear. Five fingers in a row. What does it mean?
Our Country has got the freedom. The voices are thundering delivering national
greeting…Merdeka”
The video is a type of communication film media well-known by Indonesians in early independence era of 1945. It was one of efforts done by the republicans to widely communicate The Indonesia's Independence throughout the whole country.
On 4 September 1945, President Soekarno, in Surabaya, explained the philosophy values behind that national greeting:
“The yell of “Merdeka”, my fellow brothers, is a union yell. And not just as a union yell, but as a spark of the ruler nation itself without any tie of imperialism or colonialism. So that my fellow brothers, especially in our revolutionary phase, our revolutionary phase has not finished yet, and don’t forget to the yell of “Merdeka”. Every time we meet with one another, yield that yell of “Merdeka”! In his 1965 autobiography written by Cindy Adams, President Soekarno explained the decision of the national greeting. “I decided so that every citizen of the Republic delivered greeting to others by raised their hands, opened wide their five fingers as the reflection of the five principles of the foundation of the Indonesia state and yielded “Merdeka”!
He
admitted that he was inspired by Prophet Muhammad. “As the Great Prophet
Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, introduced a greeting to unite his people, we also
created a one of national greeting for the Indonesian Nation”.
Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) is the state owned radio network of Indonesia. The organization is a public broadcasting service. It is a national radio station that broadcasts all over Indonesia and abroad to serve all Indonesian citizens throughout nation and overseas. RRI also provides information about Indonesia to people around the world.(WIKIPEDIA)
In my opinion, RRI is also one of consciousness guide for Indonesians community through information and communication fields to sail the life ocean in order to keep exist as a nation of sovereign and prosperous.
I preferred September 29th, 1965 as the video time background. In 60s, Indonesia was a
great hope as the leader of the new emerging forces (NEFOS). NEFOS was the new
coalition of nations that aimed to be an alternative international organization
besides UN. Indonesia
had walked out from UN membership. Its military power was the strongest in Asia
even the People Republic
of China
might only got advantage in man power numbers, but not in primary weapons.
RRI is identical with its slogan of “In the Air Once and Forever” (in Indonesian as “Sekali di Udara Tetap di Udara”)
I made this depiction in appropriate
with 60’s style. I picked a chick James Bond film style from the Thunderball
trailer of 1965.
The slogan, actually
was created by Air Vice-Marshall, Prof. Dr. Abdul Rachman Saleh, one of the Indonesia
Air Force founders. The slogan creation was also coincided with the development
of “The sky spirit” (Semangat Dirgantara) for Indonesians along with the early
formation of the Indonesia Air Force. That’s why I chose an image of the
unique statue as an opening title. That was the image of "The Sky Spirit
Monument" (Monumen Semangat Dirgantara), located on Jalan Pancoran (Pancoran Street) in
Jakarta.
Broadcasting
was opened by a greeting from the radio broadcaster
Selamat Pagi, saudara pendengar di seluruh kepulauan Nusantara, bahkan di
manapun Saudara berada.
Good
Morning, fellow listeners on the entire Nusantara archipelago, even where ever
you are.
Inilah Radio Republik Indonesia, Studio Djakarta,
This
is Radio of The Republic of Indonesia, the Djakarta Studio,
Kembali di udara melalui gelombang‐gelombang 19, 25, 31 dan 49 meter.
On the
air again through frequency waves of nineteen, twenty five, thirty one and
forty nine meters.
Membawakan acara siarannya untuk pagi hari ini, hari Rabu tanggal 29
September tahun 1965.
Delivering
its morning broadcast programs on Wednesday, September 29th, 1965.
Saudara pendengar selamat mengikuti siaran kami, bersama saya Ananta Kusuma
Wibawa.
Fellow
listeners, enjoy our broadcast with me, Ananta Kusuma Wibawa.
Selamat mendengarkan dan tetap Merdeka !
Happy listening and Keeping Freedom!
The video backgrounds along the greeting depicted situation of Djakarta City along the morning. Usually,
people’s activities had been started since 4 o’clock in the early day, even
earlier. It was normal in a country with the largest Islamic community because
there was spiritual habit in doing sholats (prayers), started since 2 till 5
o’clock morning. Islamic people would do a night prayer between 2 or 3 o’clock
as a choosy (sunnah) prayer. Then they would do an obliged (wajib) morning prayer
between 4 till 5 o’clock.
I depicted morning situation in Djakarta (an old orthography of "Jakarta")
that reflected two kinds of life, between “the have” and “the poor”, between
modern metro landscapes and dirty part of city ghettos.
Starting activities in the
ghetto. Life was felt harder for the poor people, but they got to run their
daily life. We mention this area as “Kampung” inherited from The Dutch “Kampong”
or “Camp” in English. Till today, we still got many kampungs within every city.
Some of my family also lived in kampungs. I never live in kampung unless just
stay for a while, usually in my family’s houses or my friend’s.
Some part of the old city landscapes was build by
Dutch and wealthy Chinese people. The old houses were built in European style. We
can see some transportation vehicles were called “Becak”. A kind of vehicle
which was developed by the Japanese ruler in every country they ever occupied.
In China, Hongkong and Singapore there were Rickshaws, in Malaya (Malaysia) and
Birma, there were similar Becaks.
President Obama always reminded his experiences travelled
by becak when he still lived in Djakarta around
60’s.
This is the first modern hotel built in Djakarta named “Hotel Indonesia” (HI), located on Jalan M.H.
Thamrin (Muhammad Husni Thamrin is a name of a national hero). It was built
since 1962 near the ex. location of Des Indes Hotel, a luxury hotel of a
wealthy Dutch millionaire in the Netherlands East Indies (Indonesia). Occupying 25,082 m² of land, Hotel Indonesia was designed by an American architect, Abel Sorensen, and his wife, Wendy. The hotel was inaugurated on August 5, 1962 by the first President Soekarno in preparation for the 1962 Asian Games.
HI was built and operated by a state owned corporation
with the biggest share owned by the Indonesia Government. Nowadays it has been bought
by Kempinsky Group, a private owned international hotel group. I heard that
Indonesian Government still have its share but only small. The building got 3 functions as hotel, shopping
mall and office building. There was a large Shopping Mall named “Duta Merlin”
besides the first Shopping Mall in Djakarta
named “Sarinah”
This is called as “Welcome Monument”
with a large pool. It is located in the front of Hotel Indonesia. There should
be two large statues in the middle of the pool. In the video you can see that the
monument is still in finishing steps. The top statues weren’t put on the top.
This is an image of Monument Selamat Datang (Welcome Monument) in recent days. There are two statues on top, depict a couple of a man and a woman
and waving together as if greeting “Welcome” (Selamat datang) or…yet Goodbye.
Oh my …this is an Indonesian’s way. Imagine, Welcome can be a theme of a
monument. What a great hospitality.
Welcome! Hey, you know Jakarta is not for a single one. You must
have a partner when entering Jakarta.
The message from the monument is clear. Be a couple!
Now, besides
becak, some public transportations in Djakarta
are Buses and Bemos yeah your funny car is Bemo. The vehicle got only 3 wheels.
Its machine sounded as scooter’s machine. This one is also always reminded by President
Obama because this was also treated as City Taxy.
In
the larger image you may see inside the red sign, it was put "TAXY" mark on top of Bemo. President Obama has ever told, “I
still remember travelling by becak and bemo. We just went to Sarinah for shopping.”
Then he tried to speak in Indonesian, “Kami pergi ke Sarinah naik Becak atau
Bemo. (We went to Sarinah by Becak or Bemo).
He
also added, “l liked Sate and bought it from some street vendor. We lived in a
kampung in Menteng Dalem.” Yeah, President Obama used to be a kampung boy from
Menteng Djakarta.
At the next segment of the video you might found some typical support delivered to the members of the Armed Forces in order to raise their spirit in revolution situation. In 1965 a confrontation between Indonesia and Malaysia has been grown as open war.
Broadcasting continued with the messages:
Para pendengar sekalian, persembahan
perdana pada pagi hari kami tujukan bagi para anggota Angkatan Bersenjata
Republik Indonesia yang
sedang melaksanakan Dwikora dalam rangka konfrontasi Malaysia.
Fellow listeners, the first presentation today we
deliver to all members of The Indonesia’s Armed Forces who are carrying out duty of Dwikora in
order to confront Malaysia.
Note : Dwikora is abbreviation of Dwi Komando
Rakyat meant Dwi = Two, Komando = Command, Rakyat = People. So it is Two People’s
Commands delivered by President Soekarno on July 27th,
1963 as the war order against Malaysia.
Dwikora consists of 1. Fail the formation of Federation of Malaysia 2.Volunteers
mobilization. The popular theme of campaign is “Ganyang Malaysia” (Crush Malaysia).
The next texts of broadcast are:
Satu nomor special dari Ernie Djohan “Terunaku”
khusus dipersembahkan bagi para prajurit kita yang sedang menghadapi Nekolim.
A special number from Ernie Djohan “Terunaku (My
Cadet)” special presented to our soldiers who are facing Nekolim.
Note: Nekolim is abbreviation of Neo Kolonialisme
(New Colonialism) pointing out on US, British and their allies, including
Federation of Malaysia.
Ernie Djohan was one of popular artists who
always support the campaign. She was 19, that time and widely known as pretty, warm
and very kind to anybody. She was from Solok, West Sumatra.
She still exists until now as a senior artist and respected by our people.
The next video backgrounds depicted some our
military activities related to the confrontation. Most of our primary weapons
made in Russia.
Yeah, The Soviet Union was our prime ally. Premiere Nikita Khruschev was
President Soekarno’s comrade in arms.
”Don’t ever change someone’s name, if you haven’t made red and white porridge.” This proverb is often heard, but red and white pooridge begins rare found in daily life. How does it look?
Red and White Porridge is a traditional food often made to commemorate weton or a birthday in appropriate with Javanese calender. When we’re still child, my mother always made that food for us. This porridge always presents in every anniversary ceremony (mentioned as selamatan in Javanese language or also often mentioned as bancakan which means having meals together).
It is made of rice, boiled with salt, pandanus leaf and water till become porridge. Then it will be added with condensed coconut milk, stirred flat and boiled again till become thick. Some of porridge will be boiled again with blend of water and coconut sugar, then it becomes brownish color porridge. That’s so-called red porridge. After that, the red porridge will be poured into some bowls. Each of red porridge in each of bowl will be poured with little white porridge on top till created a combination of red and white porridge. It’s thick, tasted sweet and delicious.
Made of rice, thick, tasted sweet and delicious(taken from internet)
The colors of red and white for Indonesians have special meanings. Besides those are colors of the national flag. Nevertheless, in genuine, the flag colors as symbolism of the hereditary Indonesia Nation's outlook regarding the colors of red and white that are considered representing someone’s birth.
There are various types of thinking in Indonesia rooted from various cultures of ethnic groups, but similar in tone, red is a symbol of blood color and white is a symbol of sperm color. Both substances are believed as biological origin of human. A belief that actually is universal in nature, either cosmological or metaphysical even more biological. Even in Islam, as the major religion of Indonesians, it was affirmed in the first Qur’an verse delivered to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), exactly in Surah (Letter of Verses) Al ‘Alaq (The Clot), stated that God created man from a "clot of congealed blood" poured of life through sperm.
Red and white as the symbol colors of human origin are translated into a form of food that is served in some special ceremony to commemorate someone’s birthday with rice as the key ingredient. Rice is chosen to represent the staple food consumed by most Indonesians who basically are agrarian community. The obsession of agrarian community is thriving plants for humans life. Plants will thrive when it is created harmony between the earth and the heaven, between the rains and the lands. Thus, the staple foods that are originated from plants also as a representation of life values believed by agrarian community.
Nowadays, in accordance with time changing, this food is apparently rare found in rural communities. Some mistakes in applying any westerner life pattern that is overwhelming majority people lifestyle cause that. Mostly Indonesians in rural communities are consumers of western lifestyle and considering the tradition of red and white porridge is no longer appropriate with the trends in modern era. Nevertheless, for most Indonesian villagers and hinterlanders still keep the tradition and faith strongly.
Similar Form in Other Country
Apperently, this porridge also got ”a cousin” in other hemisphere, exactly in Denmark. The nation that ever been a birth place of the Vikings the Conqueror, has a traditional food that’s popularly called as Risallemande.
It is made of rice and formed as some dough of white thick cream, mixed with vanilla and poured with strawberry red sauce. It is usually served cold as a kind of pudding. Name of ”Risa” is Skandinavian language which means ”Rice”
Risallemande - property of wikipedia
This traditional food is always served in Christmas Eve. In accordance with prevailing customary in Christian Danish community since 250 years ago, Danish people are obliged to consume this food in early morning before they go to the church. Even it is hard to trace about the original history of the food existance in skandinavian land and community, nevertheless it is not hard for me to feel the similarity of faiths that live in both of Skandinavian people and Indonesian people. The faiths regarding red and white colors, rice and agrarian community and their relation to someone’s birthday moment. Christmas is a commemoration of someone’s birth isn’t it.
