Indonesia on Sunday marked the 58th anniversary of its freedom from Dutch rule under tight security after a warning of a possible attack to coincide with the celebrations.
Armed police and soldiers guarded the main approaches to the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta where President Megawati Sukarnoputri led an Independence Day ceremony attended by some 9,500 guests, including Vice President Hamzah Haz and top military and police officers.
The warning came from Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer who said last week there may be a strike against Westerners in Jakarta tied to the August 17 celebrations. It followed the August 5 bombing of Jakarta's JW Marriott Hotel, popular with Westerners, in which 11 Indonesians and a Dutch banker were killed.
Australia – which lost 88 citizens in the October bombings in Indonesia's resort island of Bali – later issued its strongest travel warning yet about Indonesia, urging its citizens to avoid all unnecessary trips and to avoid international hotels in Jakarta.
The top suspect in the Bali bombing, Hambali, was arrested last week although his whereabouts is a closely guarded secret. He has also been linked to the Marriott blast and a string of other attacks in Indonesia.
Security was also tight for Independence Day events in the province of Aceh where the government is about to enter the fourth month of a massive campaign to stamp out a decades-long independence movement.
Armed soldiers and police checked the identities and bags of thousands of people who waited in the rain for the start of a national day ceremony in the central Blang Padang square of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
A bomb exploded at an Independence Day ceremony in the square last year, injuring 10 people.
In the city of Ambon, which is still under a state of civilian emergency following years of violence between Muslims and Christians, a ceremony was held at the Merdeka square and attended by members of both camps.
Police were searching for people who hung flags of the outlawed separatist South Maluku Republic on two trees in Ambon early on Sunday.
"I have ordered my men to seek those individuals who flew the flags until they are found. And when they are, they will face firm actions in line with the prevailing laws," Maluku province police chief Brigadier General Bambang Sutrisno said, according to Antara news agency.
Games, competitions and music performances were held in most of Indonesia's cities and, as happens every year, prisoners across the country had their sentences reduced by between one and nine months to mark the day.
More than 43,580 prisoners – about 86.5 percent of the total – benefited this year, said the director general of penitentiary services, Adi Suyatno. A total of 5,150 inmates will also walk free on Sunday.
One of the inmates to have their sentence reduced was the youngest son of former president Suharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, who had five months and 15 days cut off his 15-year term for the murder of a judge. Former timber baron Muhamad "Bob" Hasan, a crony of Suharto, had seven months and 20 days taken off his six-year sentence for corruption.
However no reprieve was available for Amrozi, who was this month sentenced to death over the October 12 Bali bombing attacks which killed 202 people. Deathrow prisoners are not covered by remissions.