Facts About the Red and White Flag
Every country certainly has its own flag. The flag has become a mandatory element to show the identity of a country. Do you know why Indonesia has a flag that is red and white?
The choice of the red and white flag that is used to this day is not just a random selection. There are many reasons why this Indonesian flag is red and white. Starting from the meaning to the historical perspective of Indonesia in ancient times.
The Meaning Behind Red and White
Colors are often used as symbols to express certain things. The same goes for the colors red and white. If you have ever read briefly about the meaning of red and white on the flag during elementary school, you probably already know that red means brave and white means pure. Indeed, that is the meaning we often hear.
However, did you also know that it is not limited to just that? The first President of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Soekarno, interpreted the colors red and white in a different way. He argued that the red and white colors represent the elements of human creation. Red symbolizes a mother's blood, and white is the color of a father's sperm. Hmm, have you ever known this?
Not only that, if we dig deeper, it turns out that the red and white colors also have a philosophy of natural elements. Red represents the earth, while white represents the sky. In addition, some say that red symbolizes the human body which consists of a lot of blood, and white symbolizes the human soul. That's a nice philosophy too.
If you have ever heard of Gombloh, the creator and singer of the song Kebyar-kebyar, he said that red means blood and white means bone. Red and white unite, showing that by nature, Indonesians have been Indonesian since birth.
The Red and White Colors Used by Indonesian Kings in Ancient Times
Apart from all the meanings associated with the red and white flag, the red and white colors actually have a long history before being used as the flag of Indonesia. Many kingdoms in Indonesia used these red and white colors.
One of the kingdoms that used the red and white flag was the Kediri kingdom. The war flag of Sisingamangaraja IX from the Batak land also used red and white colors. The Bugis Bone kingdom also used the red and white flag, and the most famous is the Majapahit kingdom which used an alternating red and white flag.
The red and white colors have indeed been known since ancient times. Therefore, when it appeared as the flag of Indonesia, most people were already accustomed to those flag colors. Even before Indonesia's independence, in 1928, Indonesian youths often used the red and white flag to show their nationalism at that time. Because of this, before independence, the Dutch prohibited the use of the red and white flag.
Not Only Indonesia Uses the Red and White Flag
Did you know that not only Indonesia uses the red and white flag? The flag that is most similar to Indonesia's flag is the flag of Monaco. The difference lies in the ratio of its length to its width. If the Indonesian flag has a width to length ratio of 2:3, the flag of Monaco has a ratio of 4:5. The flag of Monaco appears more square.
The flag of Singapore is also almost the same as Indonesia's, except that it has an additional crescent and five stars. Not only Monaco and Singapore, Poland also uses a red and white flag. However, the order is different. Poland places the white color above the red.
Why can they be so similar? Of course, it is because the number of basic colors is limited, while the number of countries in the world is very large. There is certainly a significant possibility of similarity.
