ID :
51902
Tue, 03/24/2009 - 07:47
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/51902
The shortlink copeid
BANDUNG COMMEMORATES HEROIC EPISODE IN PAST ARMED STRUGGLE
Bandung, Mar 23 (ANTARA) - Bandung residents on Monday night observed the 63rd anniversary of an epic event during the nation's armed struggle for independence known as "Bandung Lautan Api" (Bandung, a Sea of Flames).
The peak of the commomartive activity was a parade of thousands of torch-bearing high-school students on a 5-km route through the city's main streets ending at City Hall on Jalan Wastukancana.
Also participating in the parade were a number of veteran independence fighters who were involved in the armed resistance against colonial troops on March 23, 1946. .
On that date, independence fighters and the people of Bandung abandoned the city but before they left, they applied a "scorched earth" policy to deny the enemy the use of what the city had to offer in terms of infrastructure, utlities and amenities. Buildings and other facilties that could serve the enemy were set on fire, and as a result, on the night of March 23, all that was left in the city that once earned the epithet of "the Paris of Java" was a sea of flames.
The independence fighters and people of Bandung then evacuated to the mountainous areas south of the city from where they waged a guerilla war against the colonial forces.
In Monday night's commemortive event, the marchers began their parade with a ceremony to remember the fallen independence heroes at the Bandung Lautan Api Monument at Tegalega Square and then formed a file that was about three kilometers long, .
Clad in a variety of dresses and costumes, including the green uniforms of armed independence fighters of the period, the marchers also sang patriotic songs that were popular during those days such as "Halo Halo Bandung." "Karatagan Pahlawan", "Bendera Merah Putih."
"The purpose of this event is to keep alive the fighting spirit and the sense of pride about the struggle of those who put their lives on the line for our independence, and to tell the world that Bandung was once the arena of a heroic episode in the Indonesian nation's struggle," said Dedi Darmawan of the event's organizing committee.
The peak of the commomartive activity was a parade of thousands of torch-bearing high-school students on a 5-km route through the city's main streets ending at City Hall on Jalan Wastukancana.
Also participating in the parade were a number of veteran independence fighters who were involved in the armed resistance against colonial troops on March 23, 1946. .
On that date, independence fighters and the people of Bandung abandoned the city but before they left, they applied a "scorched earth" policy to deny the enemy the use of what the city had to offer in terms of infrastructure, utlities and amenities. Buildings and other facilties that could serve the enemy were set on fire, and as a result, on the night of March 23, all that was left in the city that once earned the epithet of "the Paris of Java" was a sea of flames.
The independence fighters and people of Bandung then evacuated to the mountainous areas south of the city from where they waged a guerilla war against the colonial forces.
In Monday night's commemortive event, the marchers began their parade with a ceremony to remember the fallen independence heroes at the Bandung Lautan Api Monument at Tegalega Square and then formed a file that was about three kilometers long, .
Clad in a variety of dresses and costumes, including the green uniforms of armed independence fighters of the period, the marchers also sang patriotic songs that were popular during those days such as "Halo Halo Bandung." "Karatagan Pahlawan", "Bendera Merah Putih."
"The purpose of this event is to keep alive the fighting spirit and the sense of pride about the struggle of those who put their lives on the line for our independence, and to tell the world that Bandung was once the arena of a heroic episode in the Indonesian nation's struggle," said Dedi Darmawan of the event's organizing committee.
