In August 1945, during the World War II, just right after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese surrendered to the world, and Indonesian Nationalist (Preparatory Committee for Indonesian Independence) saw this as a loophole, they knew that Japan was not in a 'good shape' and devastated by the attacked and most of the Japanese leaders in Indonesia flew back to Japan to take care of the situation there. Thus, on 16 August 1945, in the evening, those nationalists including Indonesian very first president, Soekarno and Indonesian first vice president, Hatta , decided that it was the best time to declare their independence.

So right on the next day, on 17th August of 1945, on 10.00 am, in Jalan Pegangsaan Timur No. 56 , Soekarno read the declaration and proclaimed the Indonesian Independence.

In Indonesia, we called the Independence day as 'hari merdeka', and every year on 17th of August, we celebrate our independence day.