Dubai: Indonesian expats in the UAE celebrated their nation’s 74th Independence Day with community events on Saturday.
In Dubai, several Indonesians visited their country’s consulate early in the morning for a series of official and social activities.
The occasion is marked annually to commemorate Indonesia’s independence from centuries of Dutch rule, followed by a brief period of Japanese rule. Indonesia, home to 269 million people, became an independent country on August 17, 1945.
In the UAE, around 100,000 Indonesians work and live across the emirates, a little over half of them in Dubai and the northern emirates.
On Saturday, the Indonesian flag was raised on consulate grounds in Dubai as the national anthem rang out. Children, dressed in traditional clothes, sang patriotic songs under shaded colourful canopies set up in the lawn area.
Indonesian Consul Ridwan Hassan led the tradition of cutting the Nasi Tumpeng (yellow rice cone), which is shared on important occasions.
Hassan congratulated fellow Indonesians and urged them to play their part in developing their country. He also praised UAE-Indonesian ties, which he was confident would grow even stronger.
Members of the community said they also looked forward to seeing the Indonesian flag on Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower in Dubai, in the evening.
