Holiday Ayo - Coinciding with the 79th Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia, the Directorate General of Immigration officially launched a new design for the Indonesian passport. 

Previously, Indonesian passports were green and now they have changed to red. Apart from the red cover, there are strong white nuances in the new design of the Indonesian passport. 

This cannot be separated from the colors of the Indonesian national flag, red and white. The front page of the new Indonesian passport is red with a white Garuda symbol.

However, even though it was launched last Saturday, this new design of Indonesian passport will only come into force in 2025.

Indonesia itself is not the first country to use a passport with a red cover. In fact, there are only four passport colors in the world. 

Each country is free to determine which passport color they choose for their citizens to use abroad. The four passport colors that exist in the world include red, blue, green and black. 

Each color has a different meaning for each country that uses it. For red passports, countries with a socialist history and background, such as China, Russia and Serbia, also use them. 

But, make no mistake, European Union countries also choose to use red on their covers, including the Netherlands, Italy, France and Germany. 

Two neighboring countries, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore also use red on their passport covers. Apart from that, there are Turkey, Albania, Georgia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia who wear red. 

A country actually has its own background in choosing what color for their passport cover. Passport color is also considered a symbol of national identity, political foundations, and the majority religion of a country. 

There are also no special rules regarding choosing colors on passports used by a country. Passport color is also not an indicator of the strength of the passport of the country that uses it.