The Flag of Indonesia is a simple bicolour with two equal horizontal bands, red and

white with an overall ratio of 2:3. It was introduced and hoisted in public at
the Indonesian Independence declaration ceremony on 17 August 1945 in
Pegangsaan Timur street and Independence from the Netherlands on 17 August
1950. The design of the flag has remained the same ever since.
Several opinions have been expressed on the meaning of the red and white in the
Indonesian flag. One opinion is that the red stands for courage, while the white
stands for purity. Another is that red represents the human body or physical life,
while white represents the soul or spiritual life; together they stand for a complete
human being.
Traditionally, most Indonesians have used red and white as their ceremonial
colours, mixing the colour of sugar (the red colour comes from palm sugar or gula
aren) and rice(white in colour). Inarguably, until today, both of these are the major
components of daily Indonesian cuisine or cooking. The Majapahit Empire have the
same colours in its flag.