Translating themes into stamp designs in Indonesia

By Lila Fitri Aly

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian word perangko (stamp) is derived from the Latin word franco, a receipt for payment of the mailing cost of a letter.

Long before the use of stamps, people in the old kingdoms of Sriwijaya, Tarumanegara, Mataram, Purnawarman and Majapahit, exchanged letters by royal messengers.

Letters were written on a variety of materials such as bark, bamboo and palm leaves. In the seventh century, the Chinese in Java used palm leaves to write letters back home.

The arrival of the Dutch in Indonesia started the use of paper for letters and the use of stamps to post them.

The Dutch Indies introduced stamps in 1864. The first ones were wine red in color and depicted King Willem III of the Netherlands in a square frame. The top of the stamp was emblazoned with 10 cents and the word postzegel (stamp) was written across the bottom. On the left side was the word Nederl and on the right Indie. This first Dutch Indies stamp was not perforated. Two million of such stamps were printed in Utrecht, the Netherlands. The picture was designed by J.W. Kaiser of Amsterdam.

Indonesia started printing its own stamps in 1945, when the Perjuangan (struggle) series was issued in Yogyakarta and some other cities. Although the drawings on the stamps were simple, the print in one color and the material only straw paper, the events on them were a telling record of Indonesia's history of struggle.

According to Suhaimi, head of the Indonesian Stamp Museum at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta, Indonesian stamps fall into four categories.

The first category is the annual series on the President. The second is on a number of dead eminent people. The third is the depiction of national and international events, such as the Bamboo Conference, the World Cup, the Non-Aligned Movement and APEC. The last category celebrates the anniversaries of various events.

According to Suhaimi, there are four other types of Indonesian stamps. The first are the definitive stamps (stamps continuously in use until their withdrawal). The second are stamps with a surcharge issued to raise money for charity.

"Usually an organization wanting to issue stamps contacts the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications," Suhaimi said.

Surcharge stamps issued so far include stamps for the kidney, polio, leukemia and cancer foundations.

Other stamps are issued for natural phenomenon, such as the eruption of Mount Galunggung in West Java in the 1980s, and solar eclipses.

The last type of stamps are on culture, flowers and animals.

Developed countries plan the issuance of the stamps five years ahead, which is ideal because it allows ample time to produce high quality stamps, according to Suhaimi.

Indonesian government policy stipulates that new stamps be issued every year.

"The issuance of stamps is planned one year in advance," said Slamet Affandi, administration chief of the Indonesian Stamp Museum.

Institutions interested in issuing stamps send their requests to Directorate General of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications. The letters are screened and the selected themes are brought to a team at the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications. The team consists of representatives from the ministry, philatelists, philately writers, stamp traders and Peruri, the state printing company. This team decides on the next year's themes.

"The discussion is focused on the themes of the stamps to be issued, the number of issuances, and so on," Suhaimi added.

He said that countries usually issue a maximum 12 themes a year. Indonesia opts for 14.

"Less frequent issuances benefit a country's stamp collection," Suhaimi said.

Customer's taste

Indonesian stamps are designed by Peruri, which also prints security papers, such as shares, obligations, travelers' cheques, cheques, duty stamps and other excises.

"As the producer and printer we must be able to understand the customer's wish. His preference must be expressed in accordance with the theme," said Sudirno, of the picture planning section at Peruri.

"Attention is also paid to the techno-economic aspect. The price should be relevant. A product may be good but the production cost should not be too high. And, lastly, security must be considered. Stamps should be counterfeit-proof and colorfast," said Sudirno.

Orders come from the Directorate General of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications and PT Pos Indonesia.

"Not all requests for issuance can be met because they don't meet the criteria," said Sudirno.

There can be up to 20 to 25 theme requests a year, which are pared down to a maximum of 14.

A theme comprises Rp 300, Rp 500 and Rp 700 stamps, each with a different picture.

Peruri has 16 stamp designers, said Slamet Sugiyanto, chief of the picture design department.

"Designing stamps gives happiness. There is great satisfaction when the artist can offer his customer the best and especially when the stamps circulate throughout the world," he said.

"We must be very accurate. The responsibility is great. To draw an animal I must have the best data, which I can check with the Bogor Agriculture Institute, the Indonesian Science Institute in Jakarta or with some experts," he added.

If there is a mistakes, the stamps must be withdrawn from circulation, which obviously inflicts losses on the government and can give the printer a bad name. Yet, this possibly brings advantages to philatelists because the harder a stamp is to get, the higher its price will be.

Berthold Sinaulan, a stamp collector, said some Indonesian designers lack the capability to translate a theme into a picture.

"For example, if the theme is National Education Day, the picture often shows somebody studying. Also, on the theme of Five-year Development Program, the picture is often of somebody working in a rice field," he said.

But he observed that in general the designs have improved since the 1980s after the government started to pay more attention to the field. There are also frequent stamp design competitions which have contributed to the development of Indonesian stamps.

"The design of Indonesian stamps is fairly good compared to the designs in philatelist countries like the U.S., Australia, Britain and Japan. However, Indonesia's stamp designs must be further developed," he said.