109 Asian African Countries Flags Hoisted In Bandung

Jakarta Globe, aacc2015.id, Apr 21, 2015

AACC2015, Bandung – 109 flags from Asian and African countries and the
 flag of the United Nations (UN) were hoisted on Wednesday (4/15) at the
 Asian-African Conference Museum—Merdeka building at Jalan Asia Afrika
No. 65, Bandung.

The raising of the flags marked the beginning of the series of events of the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of Asian-African Conference (AACC) in Bandung. The flags will fly for two weeks on April 15-30, 2015.

The 109 participating countries flags and the UN flag were hoisted by around 350 Bandung boy and girl scouts in a flag raising ceremony for the AACC at Merdeka Building or also known as Asian-African Museum in Bandung.

The flags raising ceremony was attended by the representatives from the Asian-African Conference Museum and a number of Bandung community figures, and led by the Leader of Bandung Scouts Deddy Darmawan.

In his brief remarks, Mr. Darmawan hoped that the young generation, especially the scout members, could take the positive lesson from the flag hoisting ceremony. “When a flag is unfolded, it means that a state’s sovereignty is raised. As scout members hoisting the flags, you shall take positive values from this historic event; that is freedom and human rights. Therefore, cultivate AAC values ​​in your attitudes and behavior in your everyday lives,” he said.

Head of the Asian-African Museum Thomas Siregar explained that in 2005—at the Golden Jubilee of the Asian-African Conference—107 flags were raised at Gedung Merdeka. “It consisted of 106 Asian and African countries flags and one UN flag. But now, there are 110 flags. Therefore, there are three additional flags of Asian and African countries, in addition to the UN flag,” he explained.

The flag raising ceremony was enliven by a marching band performance from the students of SMKN 6 Bandung vocational high school and speech musicalization performance that featured President Sukarno speech footage at the inauguration of 1955 Asian-African Conference entitled “Let a New Asia and a New Africa be Born” by Adew Habsta and his company. The speech was considered relevant to the current state because it contained inspiring messages. (Source: Asian-African Conference Museum, Translator: Penni Patmawati, Editor: Gusti Andry, Filmon Warouw)