Suriname became independent of the Netherlands on November 25, 1975, and adopted a new flag the same day. The design came out of a national competition and was the work of Jacques Herman Pinas.
A flag for a country of migrants
Suriname was colonized first by the British and then handed to the Dutch in the seventeenth century. Under Dutch rule the colony took in Africans, East Indians, Javanese, and Chinese, and the country that became independent in 1975 was one where no single group could claim to be the whole population.
That is the problem the flag was designed around. The competition brief was unity across difference, and the winning entry answers it with a single star rather than with symbols allocated to particular communities.
Five bands and a star
Green at the top and bottom, narrow white bands inside them, and a wide red band through the middle, with a yellow five-pointed star at the center.
Green is the fertility of the land and the hope of a prosperous future. The white bands are peace and justice. The red is progress and love. The star's five points are usually read as the country's ethnic groups, and its gold color as the future they are meant to build together.
Flying it
The flag is used at government events and to represent the country abroad. It appears on public buildings and at national celebrations, particularly Independence Day, when it is flown at every size by individuals and institutions alike.
Similar flags
The palette resembles Guyana's and Ghana's, both of which combine green, yellow, and red. Those colors carry Pan-African associations of liberation and solidarity, though Suriname's flag is not a Pan-African flag as such.
Suriname is one of a number of states that became independent in the same period and faced the same design problem: how to make a flag for a population assembled by colonialism rather than by common descent.
References
[1] Government of Suriname Official Website (gov.sr)
[2] The International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV) (fiav.org)