Freedom is the right of all humans, the rights of all nations. It should be reflected in the awareness to realize the goal of the word merdeka.
August 17, 1945 was a great day for all Indonesian people, a day that was very necessary to be made a victory from the history of the struggle for independence from the invaders. The colonization of the Indonesian nation has been going on for a very long time with several historical records.
History records that the Indonesian territory was colonized by the Portuguese, Dutch and Japanese. The three nations that longest colonized were the Dutch, which was around 350 years old and the most suffering from the Indonesian nation when Japan occupied several parts of Indonesia. Although only 3.5 years, but many leave dark history with the way Japan colonized.
August 17, 2018 Indonesian people have breathed the breath of freedom and independence from foreign nationals for 73 years. This is a long period of time, the spirit of independence and love of the homeland for several years is very different.
Aceh is one of the provinces of Indonesia that once wanted to separate from the sovereignty of the State of Indonesia. In 1976 a group of people declared independence for the people of Aceh at that time. The group called itself GAM (Free Aceh Movement). After the declaration, Aceh became the center of the central government in terms of defense and security until the birth of the DOM (Military Operations Area). The implementation of the DOM left a lot of bitter history for Aceh's relations with Indonesia, especially in terms of human rights. History records a lot of violence in the implementation of military operations, until 1998 the operation was abolished and troops sent to carry out the operation were withdrawn from the Aceh region.
In the following years, the condition of Aceh became less conducive, until mid-2002 through President Megawati imposing martial law status after a civil emergency, until 2004 the earthquake and tsunami disaster struck Aceh. The disaster left a lot of sadness at that time, because more than 200,000 people were killed in the disaster. Grace of God brings together Indonesia and Aceh to make peace on August 15, 2005 in Helsinki.
The peace that is desired by all people has been going on for 13 years now. a sense of nationalism and patriotism were embedded in almost all Acehnese people. Indonesian symbols that had been hated in times of conflict returned to one thing that was very proud and loved. A sense of love for the Indonesian homeland and want the Republic of Indonesia to remain intact as a unitary state.
The mirror of a sense of love for the country with various things, such as August 17, 2018, most of the people of Aceh celebrate with great enthusiasm.
A solemn atmosphere when raising the red and white flag, all the ceremony attendees faced the red and white and made a respectful flag.
Carnival around the city was also always done to commemorate Independence Day.
Various types of competitions were made, even unique-unique competitions with the main goal of establishing friendship and uniting all citizens and instilling the importance of patriotism.
In 2018 this peace is still in the arms of the entire Acehnese people, whoever we do not want our area to be hit by conflict and war. Peace is the desire of all humans, so that they can live in peace and tranquility. May this peace be maintained, because "Peace Is Beautiful".