The Indonesian national flag is called
"Sang Saka Merah Putih." As provided for in Article 35 of the 1945
Constitution, the flag is made up of two colors, red on top of white. Its width
is two-thirds of its length, or two meters by three meters. It is hoisted in
front of the presidential palace, of government buildings and Indonesian
missions abroad. The first flag was courageously flown amidst Japanese
occupation forces on the day Indonesia's independence was proclaimed. Since
then it has been hoisted at independence day commemorations in front of the
presidential palace in the capital city of Jakarta. This historical flag, or
"bendera pusaka," was flown for the last time on August 17, 1968.
Since then it has been preserved and replaced by a replica woven of pure
Indonesian silk.
The flag of Indonesia is based on the flag of the Majapahit Empire on Java at the end of the 13th century. This had nine stripes red and white, and is nowadays used as jack.
Merah-Poetih
simply means Red-White. The official name however is Sang Saka, Lofty
Bicolor. Red represents the human blood, standing for the corporeal or
concrete, white represents the spiritual. Together they are a pair, like the
life on earth: day and night; man and wife; creation and individual.
Traditionally
almost all Indonesia since long ago has used red and white as their sacred
colours, resembling the colour of sugar (red in colour because the sugar comes
from palm-sugar, "gula (sugar) aren (palm- sugar)") and rice (white
in colour). Both of these (rice & sugar) are the major components of daily
Indonesian cuisine/cooking. When one of the tribes later became so powerful in
the islands, that is the Javanese's Majapahit Empire, they did not forget this
tradition. They used red-white colours as their National flag. Even today the
Indonesians are still using red-white in their National Flag. So, a thousand
years of unbroken history. Surprisingly, their distant cousins in Madagascar
also use the "sacred colour of red & white" in their National
Flag. Again, thousand years of unbroken history.
Retrieved from http://www.fotw.net/flags/id.html
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Word References
a.
Flag: bendera
b.
Top: puncak
c.
Presidential: president
d.
Independence:merdeka
e.
Silk: sutera
f.
Stripes: garis
g.
Corporeal:kopral, badaniah
h.
Represent: mewakili
i.
Major: utama
j.
Sacred: keramat
After
read the paragraph, find out the answer of these questions below!!!
1.
What is the color of Indonesian flag?
2.
How many colors exist in the flag?
3.
When was the real flag flown for the last time?
4.
How long the red color of the flag?
5.
What is the meaning the red color of
the flag?
6.
What is the meaning of the white color in
Indonesian flag?
7.
Do Indonesian people still use a flag
nowadays?