ABSTRACT
Introduction1 Dutch colonial power transferred sovereignty to the independent Indonesian state on 27 December 1949. The municipal archive of the city of Medan does not contain a trace of this transfer except for an instruction about which flag to fly.2 A flag is just a symbol and seemingly of little import. Yet, flying the correct flag was apparently the most important thing to be done on that day, which since then has been hailed as a turning point in every history book on Indonesia. The very first change in another city just liberated from colonial suppression, the East Timorese capital Dili after twenty-four years of Indonesian rule ended in 1999, was also symbolic. The East Timorese government substituted the former name of a main street, Avenida Almirante Américo Tomas for Avenida dos Direitos Humanos, Human Rights Avenue (Ramos-Horta, cited by Colombijn 2001: 5). At the time Dili was devastated,
and other things may have looked in more urgent need of attention than a name-board, but not in the view of the East Timorese government. Translucent bunting and road signs, with letters usually too small to be read by the persons seeking their way, are very important to some people, because of the power of their symbolic message. Therefore, they are worthy of being studied.
