On January 15th, exactly one year after the second millennium, Wikipedia was born. The online encyclopedia, created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger, now 25 years old, allows us to collaborate on creating quality encyclopedia articles to liberate knowledge. Starting as an English-language encyclopedia, it has grown to over 300 language editions, including Indonesian. Two years later, on May 30, 2003, the Indonesian Wikipedia was born. Those who want to celebrate this anniversary online can try some fun activities like Wikipedia knowledge quizzes, birthday greetings, and a dedicated website for Wikipedia 25.
The birthday celebration was attended by many people
Let’s move on to Wikipedia’s 25th anniversary celebration, held by Wikimedia Indonesia, an official chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation. The event took place offline on Thursday, January 15, 2026, at the Amanaia Restaurant in Menteng, Central Jakarta, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM. I was able to attend, although I didn’t make it to the end because I had to return to my office in Pancoran, South Jakarta, on that day, as I wasn’t on leave.
The event was attended by various groups, including Wikimedia Indonesia staff and interns, Wikimedia Foundation staff, several founders of the Indonesian Wikipedia, and representatives from local communities including Wikimedia Jakarta, Wikimedia Nias, Wikimedia Bandung, and Wikimedia Padang. Finally, there was a representative from Creative Commons Indonesia.
Some fun in celebrating birthdays
The celebration began with remarks from Hardiansyah, the chairman of Wikimedia Indonesia. This was followed by remarks from Revo Arka Giri Soekatno, one of the founders of the Indonesian Wikipedia. Then came remarks from Arief Rifki Fadilla, also known as Rafiki, the liaison officer for the Wikimedia Jakarta community. Finally, there were remarks from Fitriayu, the chapter lead for Creative Commons Indonesia. After all the remarks, the next session featured a video showing the Indonesian version of Wikipedia’s 25th birthday celebration, along with its celebration page, which can be found here.
Finally, the long-awaited cake-cutting session began. This birthday cake was round with the iconic Wikipedia label and the number 25 in blue and white, and was complemented by several cupcakes with cute icon images. The special cake was presented by Ivonne Kristiani, a Wikimedia Foundation staff member who is a Senior Global Movement Communications Specialist for the ESEAP region. Thank you, Ivonne! Lastly, there was a social and networking session related to Wikimedia projects. For those who want to celebrate online, I have also created a tool as a flashback of friends’ contributions across all Wikimedia projects with Wikipedia 25 assets that can be tried here.
Happy birthday wishes for Wikipedia
Hopefully, at 25, Wikipedia will remain the backbone of free knowledge for everyone amidst massive technological developments, including artificial intelligence. We must adapt to these advances, but with the limitation that it serves only as a tool, not as the final decision-maker. I believe that human-created and supervised content is essential to maintaining integrity and credibility for humanity. Happy birthday Wikipedia!
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