"Proklamasi" Indonesia 17-8-45 Merdeka! Ulang Tahun ke 3 Kemerdekaan (Proclamation, Indonesia, 17-8-45, Free! Third Anniversary of Independence), Republican poster photographed at Sidikalang

A hand-lettered, hand-painted sheet marks the third anniversary of the 17 August 1945 proclamation of independence. Cut-out portraits of an army officer, an airman, a sailor and a nurse surround a star and radio mast from which rays of 'Indonesia Merdeka' radiate. The tell: 'Merdeka' (free) is the whole message, repeated in the rays and in the lettering, with no programme or claim attached.

Date: August 17, 1948
Period: Cold War
Made by: Republic of Indonesia, local Republican organisation at Sidikalang, Sumatra (poster unsigned; photographed by the Dutch Dienst voor Legercontacten)
Region: Southeast Asia
Country: Republic of Indonesia
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: Mixed
Regime: Republic of Indonesia
Leader: Mohammad Hatta
Audience: Domestic public
Purpose: Commemorate
Themes: War and the military, Empire and colonialism
Event: Indonesian National Revolution
Techniques: Glittering generalities
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: Wikimedia Commons (Nationaal Archief, Fotocollectie Dienst voor Legercontacten Indonesie, 2.24.04.02, no. 5274), retrieved October 2, 2026
Rights: CC0 1.0 (Nationaal Archief, stated on the Commons file page)
Nationaal Archief, Fotocollectie Dienst voor Legercontacten Indonesie (2.24.04.02), no. 5274, 14 January 1949, CC0.

Text on the object

Original (Indonesian) · read from the image, not independently checked

"Proklamasi"
INDONESIA
17-8-45
MERDEKA!

TGL 17-8-1948
ULANG TAHUN
KE
KEMERDEKAAN
3
T.N.[R.]I.

[rays around the central star, repeated:] INDONESIA MERDEKA
[upper right cut-out:] [illegible] MERDEKA [illegible] AMERIKA [illegible]

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

"Proclamation"
INDONESIA
17-8-45
FREE!

DATE 17-8-1948
ANNIVERSARY
OF THE
INDEPENDENCE
3
T.N.[R.]I.

[rays:] INDONESIA FREE

Read from the 1280 px Commons rendering. The final abbreviation (T.N.I. or T.N.R.I.) and the cut-out at upper right are not reliably legible. Translation is FRAME's own literal rendering, machine-assisted and not verified by a fluent reader.