Indonesian Heroes Day is celebrated on November 10 every year. Not only to reminisce the sacrifice of Indonesian heroes, but also commemorate the big incident in 1945. Check out these 10 facts about Heroes Day:
1. Battle of Surabaya is the tragedy behind the Indonesian Heroes Day.
2. This incident was an armed conflict in big scope after the Independence of Indonesia.
3. This incident was started since the Dutch raised their flag on the top of Yamato Hotel/Oranje Hotel (now becomes Majapahit Hotel) which triggered Surabaya people’s anger because it seemed insulting Indonesian sovereignty that had freedom on August 17, 1945.
4. After this incident soared, there was a first war between Indonesia versus foreign army which was the English army that occupied Surabaya City at that time.
5. The peak was on November 10, 1945 when English army invaded Surabaya with cannon, from the sea and the land.
6. The armed clash between Indonesia and England took weeks and had victims of 16.000 Indonesian people.
7.Indonesian public figures such as Bung Tomo frequently sounded the spirit for youngsters to do opposition until his words are reminisced until now, “Merdeka atau mati!” (freedom or die!).
8. The opposition that was done spontaneously at first, then become in order everyday for three weeks until the entire Surabaya city fell into the hands of England.
9. There were 200.000 civil people transmigrated from Surabaya because of the terrible war.
10. This bloody war in Surabaya triggered the opposition of people all around Indonesia to maintain freedom.
The heroes’ struggle for fighting the colonizer is commemorated until now. This Battle of Surabaya than made into a movie with the title “Merdeka atau Mati (Surabaya 45)”. For you who want to know about the Battle of Surabaya, just watch the movie and be amazed.