Last week, all Indonesians celebrated the Independence Day, and so did Indonesians in Queensland. Located in King George Square (in front of Brisbane City Hall), Independence Day was celebrated for three days with the big theme “The Ultimate Indonesian Weekend in Queensland”. This celebration was started with IndOz Festival, which is the biggest Indonesian cultural event in Queensland. After having IndOz Festival for two days, the Independence Day celebration was closed by Pesta Rakyat (Pesra) and Flag Raising Ceremony as well.
According to Lara, the MC of IndOz Festival, this cultural event is held annually and IndOz Festival in this year is the sixth event. It is organised by Synergy of Indonesia Australia (SIA), which is an organisation representing Indonesian and Australian diversity. This event successfully attracted many audiences as well as became the place to meet Indonesians from all around Queensland, not only Indonesians who live in Brisbane. Sponsored by Wonderful Indonesia, IndOz Festival 2018 introduced Indonesian cultural in Brisbane through presenting cultural performance, opening Indonesian food stalls, and providing information about tourism in Indonesia. Wayang Kulit Show by Mas Yogi, Punakawan and Soya-Soya Dance by KICA, and Dangdut Live Performance were some of the great performance of IndOz Festival.
After celebrating IndOz Festival on Friday and Saturday, the celebration was continued by Raising Flag Ceremony on Sunday afternoon. The ceremony was attended by His Excellency Yohanes Kristiarto Soeryo Legowo (The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia) and Heru Hartanto Subolo (Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia). By the end of ceremony, Pesra was started with the traditional games for children and Angklung Collaboration by Ironside Kids and UQISA (University of Queensland Indonesian Student Association). A number of cultural performance from different islands was presented during Pesra, such as Saman Dance by Zamania, Indang Badindin Dance by Minang Maimbau, and Tari Papua by Seharum Nusantara.
Pesra is organised by PPIA Queensland and this program has been held for ten times. As a routine cultural agenda, Pesra is usually organised in accordance with Indonesian special day. For example, before merging with Raising Flag Ceremony in 2018, Pesra was organised on October, in accordance with the Youth Pledge Day. This year, Pesra chose Colours of Indonesia as the tagline. “So we aim to show that Indonesia has so many beautiful culture, not only Bali, but there are also Jakarta, Borneo, Papua, and so forth,” said Kana, Pesra’s Project Officer. By the end of IndOz Festival by SIA and Pesra by PPIA Queensland, both Lara and Kana hoped that they can repeat the success of this “Indonesian Day” next year with more cultural performance and other spectacular shows.
Writer : Hesti Retno Budi Arini
