VISUAL ANALYSIS OF EMERGENCY BANKNOTES OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA SUMATRA PROVINCE (URIPS) PEMATANG SIANTAR EMISSION IN 1947

Abstract

The research entitled “Visual Analysis of Emergency Banknotes of the Republic of Indonesia Province of Sumatra (URIPS) Emission of Pematang Siantar in 1947” was motivated by the issuance of Indonesia’s first emergency banknotes and was valid locally in Sumatra. URIPS is called emergency money because it served as a substitute for the Republic of Indonesia Money (ORI) during the post-independence Dutch Military Aggression I and II wars. In a war atmosphere, money is not only an economic medium of exchange but is used as a propaganda medium. The image of money intrinsically and extrinsically carries a symbolic message. A visual analysis of the URIPS banknotes of the 1947 Pematang Siantar emission reveals the problem of what the textual form of URIPS banknotes viewed from factual and expressional facts. What are the themes and concepts built from the visuals of the money? What is the symbolic value behind the visuals of the banknotes? This research was carried out using the Iconography and Iconology stages of Edwin Panofsky and the Semiotic theory of Louis Hjelmslev. The results of this study indicate that the 1947 Pematang Siantar Emission URIPS image is not directly related to the conditions at that time. As a newly independent nation, the image of money still imitates the image of ORI money which features the figure of President Soekarno in a style of hat, tie, and suit, meaning an educated and nationalist leader. As well as the image of farming and harvesting rice activities carried out by farmers is an image of a locality, interpreting Indonesia as a nation that can prosper and be independent without colonialism through its natural wealth.