Bangsa "Merdeka", Negara "Merdeka": Inilah Tudjuan Kita! (Free Nation, Free State: This Is Our Goal!)
A stencilled purple-ink poster shows an armed soldier under the slogan 'Bangsa Merdeka, Negara Merdeka. Inilah tujuan kita! Teguhkan iman!' A rubber stamp names a Malang guerrilla unit of the Indonesian National Army. The tell: 'merdeka' (free) is the whole argument, printed twice in quotation marks, with no programme or claim attached.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1948
- Period
- Cold War
- Made by
- Compie Sampoerno, K.D.M. Lumadjang, Malang guerrilla II, Tentara Nasional Indonesia (named on the poster's rubber stamp)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Themes, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- Southeast Asia
- Country
- Republic of Indonesia
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Republic of Indonesia
- Leader
- Mohammad Hatta
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Reassure
- Themes
- War and the military, Empire and colonialism
- Event
- Indonesian National Revolution
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (KITLV / Leiden University Libraries, KITLV 37C305), retrieved September 29, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY 4.0 (KITLV / Leiden University Libraries, stated on the Commons file page)
KITLV / Leiden University Libraries, shelfmark KITLV 37C305 (hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:852494), CC BY 4.0.
Text on the object
Original (Indonesian) · read from the image, not independently checked
BANGSA "MERDEKA" NEGARA "MERDEKA" INILAH TUDJUAN KITA! TEGUHKAN IMAN! [round rubber stamp, lower right:] COMPIE SAMPOERNO / K.D.M. LUMADJANG / MALANG / GERILJA / II / [T]ENTARA NASIONAL INDONESIA
NATION "FREE" STATE "FREE" THIS IS OUR GOAL! STRENGTHEN YOUR FAITH! [round rubber stamp:] SAMPOERNO COMPANY / K.D.M. LUMADJANG / MALANG / GUERRILLA / II / [T]ENTARA NASIONAL INDONESIA (Indonesian National Army)
Spelling is the pre-1947 orthography (dj for j). The first letter of 'TENTARA' on the stamp is partly worn, so it is bracketed. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.
