Daniel writes, "Our Independence Day is Aug 17th. Most of the villages, led by neighborhood political leaders celebrate it by having games for all ages, eating chips made of flour, having a tug-of-war contest, climbing an oiled Areca Nut tree, sack races, races carrying marbles on spoons, etc. But in my neighborhood we celebrated by collecting money from each neighbor and then having a meal together. We had prayers according to each religion represented, and Muslems were reminded of the coming of Ramadan and their duty to fast."
Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 at the close of WWII. So this was their 64th celebration. Sukarno, the father of the country, was president until the late 1960s and stayed in power by balancing the military against the communist party. In 1965 there was an attempted coup which the communists lost. Five years later General Suharto was elected president and continued as president unil the late 1990s. Since then the presidency has changed several times in peaceful elections. Bambang is president today and was just reelected to a second term in office.
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