About 225 million people around the country spent the national day with their heads held high after the top badminton players followed what is now tradition, and won a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
About six million civil servants and servicemen, plus millions of retirees, had another reason to celebrate the day on Sunday: Just two days earlier, the government promised them a 15-percent pay rise.
More than 5,800 prison inmates discovered a literal meaning of Independence Day as they were released early on Sunday, thanks to the remission awarded them.
Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could not help but take this year's anniversary of independence personally. He presided over the ceremony at
The ceremony at
The country's fourth president Megawati Soekarnoputri opted to observe the national day with members of her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at its headquarters in
The third president BJ Habibie was reportedly in
No family members of the late second president Soeharto were seen in attendance.
It was surprising, however, that former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was present, despite his ongoing feud with Yudhoyono's government. Gus Dur was accompanied by his wife Sinta Nuriyah and daughter Inayah.
"This is to respect the state," Gus Dur said of his attendance.
He branded the government a "cheat" for recognizing as legitimate the faction of his party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), led by House of Representatives deputy speaker Muhaimin Iskandar.
Gus Dur, who helped found the PKB in 1998, has accused the government of siding with Muhaimin, his nephew, in a move to block his own bid for the presidency in 2009.
Gus Dur was among those notable for their absence from the ceremony last year.
Other prominent ceremony attendees Sunday were Nada Luthfiyyah, a victim of the 2004 tsunami in Aceh, and her pen friend Maggie Hamilton from
Yudhoyono also led the flag-lowering ceremony in the afternoon, which had a couple of minor disruptions. Commander of the ceremony Col. Bambang Suswanto dropped his sword, while the flag bearers seemed to lower the flag a tad too fast, so it reached the bottom of the pole before the national anthem had ended.
Generally, there were no security issues reported, except for a minor incident in the Aceh regency of Bireuen, where unidentified people lowered eight flags before the independence celebration.
"We are hunting down the perpetrators. Their act is unacceptable," Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Rismawan was quoted as saying by Antara.
The incident took place at a high school and occurred just after 20 national flags in the
Aceh was plagued by four decades of rebellion, which ended in August 2005 following a peace agreement between the government and the rebel group.
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