During Indonesia’s 80th Independence Day celebrations, an unusual mishap occurred in Surabaya, East Java, when the official flag-raising team (Paskibraka) accidentally hoisted the national flag upside down, sparking online attention. However, the city’s mayor praised the team for quickly correcting the mistake rather than expressing anger.
According to reports by local media Kosmo and a video shared on TikTok by @balikpapantv_official, the red-and-white Indonesian flag—normally displayed with red on top and white below—was mistakenly positioned upside down before being raised.
The footage shows the team pausing the ceremony after noticing the error, adjusting the flag’s position, and then resuming the official raising procedure.
The ceremony took place at Surabaya City Hall yesterday. Mayor Eri Cahyadi explained that he was neither angry nor disappointed by the incident. “When the mistake happened, the team remained calm. You can see the flag still displays red and white correctly after being raised. The error was simply a mix-up by one staff member,” he said.
