Photo 1. Proclamation Park taken by Lia

Taman Proklamasi (Proclamation Park) is a park complex located in Central Jakarta, Indonesia. In the past, Proclamation Park wasn’t even a park, but the house of Indonesia’s first president, Ir. Soekarno, where the declaration of independence of Indonesia was read in 17 August 1945.

As shown in the photo, the park looks like a simple park, but the meaning of this place for Indonesian people is deeper than what it seems. Here i’ll tell you a short history of what happened two days before the read of Indonesia’s Proclamation of Independence.

15 AUGUST 1945

Before the defeat, with the war turning against them, Japan who were colonizing Indonesia decided to grant Indonesia its’ independence by created an organization called The Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence (PPKI).

Originally, the member of PPKI consists of 21 committee members from older-genertaion who appointed by Japanese, with Ir. Soekarno as the chairman and Mohammad Hatta as the Vice-Chairman. Later, 6 additional members added without the approval of the Japanese authorities in Indonesia.

August 14, Japan defeated and surrended. Young Generation in Indonesia heard the news, and were giving ideas to Ir. Soekarno to declare the Independence as fast as possible, but the idea was rejected by Ir. Soekarno, because the Japanese in Jakarta at the time still fully armed. Ir. Soekarno didn’t want bloodshed while declaring independence.

16 AUGUST 1945

Young people want to immediately proclaim the independence of Indonesia because they don't want to be influenced by Japan who promised independence to Indonesia and stated that Indonesia must proclaim its independence without influence from other countries and without the need to go through a PPKI meeting.

There was a different opinion between the older-generation with the young-generation. With all the rejection from the older-generation, the young-generation started its’ own meeting called ‘Rapat Pemuda’ which ended with a solution of kidnapped Soekarno and Hatta and took them out of town ( to a place called Rengasdengklok ) to avoid the Japanese influence in the preparation of Independence.

Thus, the event occured that day known as ‘Peristiwa Rengasdengklok’ by Indonesian people.

17 AUGUST 1945

Through the Rengasdengklok incident, the two groups (The Older and Young Generation) finally reached an agreement to grant the Proclamation of Independence of Indonesia in 17 August 1945 at Jalan Pegangsaan Timur, Jakarta, Ir. Soekarno’s house which now were demolished and become a Proclamation Park.

THE DEMOLITION OF THE HOUSE AND CURRENT CONDITION OF PROCLAMATION PARK

Since a memorial in the shape of a small obelisk known as “Tugu Proklamasi” was built to commemorate the one year anniversary of Indonesia’s independence day in 1946, the youths and students of Indonesia held an annual ceremony to celebrate the Declaration of Indonesian Independence on August 17.

But later in 1956, the popularity of Proclamation Park as ceremonial gathering place began to decreased. Despite having the house renovated, Ir. Soekarno ordered the demolition of both the house and the Tugu Proklamasi memorial in August 15, 1960.

Photo 2. Proclamation Park taken by Lia

Then, on 17 August 1980, the 2nd president of Indonesia, President Soeharto was inaugurated the grand-sized Monument of the Proclamator Heroes Soekaro and Hatta standing side by side, made it the last monument of the Proclamation Park.

Between the figures of Soekarno and Hatta, there’s a bronze stone tablet which depicts the manuscript of the proclamation of Indonesian independence. And on the background of the statues, you can see the monolithic sculptures which is 17 in total, and the highest being 8 meters, also with 45 protrusions on the cascade waterfalls. Do you know what’s the meaning?

It symbolize August 17, 1945. The Independence Day of my beloved country, Indonesia!