Indonesia Since Independence

Monday, March 23, 2026 | 5:30-7:00pm | C.K. Choi, 120

Presented by the

It has been over 80 years since Indonesia’s declaration of independence, over 70 years since the historic Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung, over 60 years since the genocidal massacres of supporters of the Indonesian communist party. It is time to reflect on how Indonesia’s place in the world has changed over the decades and what it means to be an Indonesian citizen now. In the early decades after independence, the nation was a collective project for the future and the term “nation building” was commonly invoked. We are today the result of those earlier efforts at “nation building.” We are the future that the early nationalists dreamed about. We need to ask now: what has been built? What needs to be torn down and rebuilt?

This event will feature Dr. Hilmar Farid, co-founder and chairman of the Indonesian Institute of Social History and Professor at the Jakarta Art Institute and Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Asia-Pacific, Jakarta.

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Host or Publisher The Center for Southeast Asia Research (CSEAR @ UBC)