POSTCARD N.156 - INDONESIA

Postcard sent on the 22th July; received in (?) August 2024

Postcard image: dancers in Sulawesi Island
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Another member of the "Thank You Mr. Postman Frequent Contributor Programme" is my friend up north. This time the Flying Dutchman chose to pamper me with a great vintage postcard form Indonesia, from the Island of  Sulawesi, one of the Greater Sunda Islands, a place which I read is also famous for being a great location for diving and reef observing.

I also read that the first Europeans to set foot on Sulawesi, were the Portuguese in 1523. They (or better, we  :-)) would maintain a presence in Celebes, as it was known by them  until 1665, until the Dutch took possession of the Island....

Who would have thought by then that one day, a Dutch would send a Portuguese a postcard with an image of the some beautiful dancers on that same island, now part of another sovereign state....?

Six 1500 stamps were used to mail the Postcard to Portugal. 

- Each year, Ari Guru - National Teacher's Day - is celebrated throughout Indonesia on the 25th November.

On 25NOV2004, Pos Indonesia issued a se-tenant pair of 1500 Rupiah stamps dedicated to this celebration, both stamps being illustrated with iconic images of teachers with their students.

- The Presidential election of 2004 took Place on the 5th July and the 20th September, electing general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for a first term which ended in 2009 (he would be re-elected for a second term after that, which ran until 2014).

As part of an awareness campaign for the elections, Pos Indonesia, on 05APR2004,  issued the se-tenant two stamp set used on the postcard, featuring a man and a woman calling on the attention of people to participate in the election, on one stamp,  and actually voting themselves, on the other. The legend Milih Langsung, present on both stamps., translates into "Direct Vote",  according to Deepl.

- A 4 x 1500 Rupiah stamp set plus 1 x 5000 Rupiah stamp souvenir sheet dedicated to Tourism was issued by Pos Indonesia on 27SEP2003.

Two of the stamps can be seen on the postcard:

The top one is dedicated to the Muang Jong ritual performed by members of the Sawang or Sekak Tribes during which miniatures of boats are offered to the ocean as a means to ask for protection and safety for anyone living off the sea.

The one on the bottom is dedicated to the Seba Baduy, an occasion when a community that actually lives all year long in seclusion,  closed to outsiders, in the Banten province, west of Jakarta, comes out of  seclusion to  do a 115 km pilgrimage until the city of Serang.

The Postmark indicates that the postcard was posted at Bogor Selatan (South Bogor) in the west of the Island of java.