Indonesian Red Cross Society

Indonesian Red Cross Society
*Palang Merah Indonesia*
	Indonesian Red Cross Society logo Indonesian Red Cross Society logo
Abbreviation	PMI
Formation	17 September 1945; 79 years ago
Type	NGO
Legal status	Foundation
Purpose	Humanitarianism
Headquarters	Jakarta
Location	Indonesia;
Region served	Indonesia
Official language	Indonesian
Chairman	Jusuf Kallaa
Staff	105 staff, including 17 expatriatesb
Website	http://www.pmi.or.id
Remarks	aElected from 19th national meeting for period 2009–2015; bFrom ICRC website

Indonesian Red Cross Society (Indonesian: Palang Merah Indonesia) is a humanitarian organization in Indonesia. It is a member of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Indonesia is the one of the very few Muslim-majority countries to use the Red Cross as its symbol. Because Indonesia is neither a strictly faith-based nor secular nation, it has chosen to use the Red Cross as its symbol.^[3]

In mid-2013, Indonesia Red Cross Society has 32,568 people join in Volunteer Corps, 19,294 join in Individual Volunteers and 893,381 Blood Donor Volunteers or totally 945,243 persons and is recorded as the most number volunteers in the world.^[4]

History

The IRCS was created on 17 September 1945, exactly 1 month after Indonesia's independence.^[5] President Soekarno ordered its inception when a battle between Indonesian soldiers and allied troops broke out, leaving many wounded, on 3 September 1945.^[5] Based on the performance, IRCS received an international recognition in 1950 that it was accepted as a member of the International Red Cross and achieved its legal status through Presidential Decree Number 25 Year 1959, which was later reinforced by Presidential Decree Number 245 Year 1963.^[5]