Sang Merah Putih: The Red and White National Flag of Indonesia
Merah Putih flag: Indonesia’s red and white national flag
The Merah Putih flag is the red and white national flag of Indonesia. It has two equal horizontal bands, red above white, and its length is one and a half times its height. In formal and ceremonial language it is called Sang Saka Merah Putih. The design is instantly recognisable, but the flag’s proclamation-era origin, its modern legal form and the way it is handled in public life are three different parts of the story.
For a visitor in Indonesia, the flag is most visible at schools, government buildings, public ceremonies and around 17 August, Independence Day. The flag seen flying today is a standard national flag made to the prescribed design. The original cloth raised at the 1945 proclamation is a separate object, known as the Bendera Pusaka. Knowing that distinction makes sense of the name, the history and the care taken in formal ceremonies.
What the Merah Putih flag looks like
Merah putih means red and white in Indonesian, and in everyday speech people simply say bendera merah putih, the red and white flag. Sang Saka Merah Putih is the honorific form heard in speeches and ceremonies. The historic original is called the Bendera Pusaka, the heirloom flag. These names overlap in ordinary speech, but they do not all point to the same physical object: Bendera Pusaka refers to the particular flag connected with the proclamation.
The legal design is deliberately simple. It is rectangular, with red above white, and the two colour fields are equal in area. A flag 180 centimetres long is 120 centimetres high, which is the 3:2 ratio that defines it. A representation used for a different purpose may take another size or form, but a flag flown as the national flag follows the prescribed rectangle and proportions.
Many meanings have been read into red and white over the years, from national ideals to older Javanese associations of the two colours. Those readings are interpretations of the colours rather than design instructions. The practical test for a correctly made national flag is its order and proportion: red on top, white beneath, equal bands and the 3:2 length-to-height ratio. When checking a flag before a ceremony, look at it from the front as it hangs. A reversed arrangement changes the flag itself, not merely how it is presented.
Red-and-white banners before the republic
Red and white did not begin with the Republic of Indonesia. The colours appear in older cultural traditions across the archipelago, and the Majapahit kingdom is the best-known example of a red-and-white banner tradition. Those banners were not the modern two-band flag, and their layouts differed from today’s design.
The distinction matters because a shared pair of colours does not by itself show that the modern flag was copied from a single medieval prototype. It is reasonable to say that older red-and-white traditions formed part of the cultural background from which national symbols could draw. The clean two-band design that became the flag was chosen for a new state and given a defined constitutional form. The story is best told in layers: older colour traditions, their later national interpretation, and formal adoption after independence.
During the twentieth-century independence movement, red and white took on a clear national meaning for Indonesians seeking self-rule. Their use linked a modern political movement to a broader past without requiring the new republic to reproduce a kingdom’s banner. That is why the colours carry weight today: they point to a shared struggle rather than to a single royal emblem.
Fatmawati’s flag and the proclamation in 1945
The Bendera Pusaka was sewn by Fatmawati, the wife of Sukarno, in 1944, in the tense period before independence was proclaimed. The red and white cotton cloth reached her as a gift through a Japanese official, Hitoshi Shimizu, and she joined the two pieces into a single flag. On 17 August 1945, Sukarno read the proclamation at his residence on Jalan Pegangsaan Timur 56 in Jakarta, and the flag was raised outside before the gathering. Latief Hendraningrat took part in raising it, and the moment marked the first public display of the new national flag.
The setting of that first raising matters. The proclamation was not a fully equipped state ceremony with a permanent mast and later protocol. The improvised arrangement makes the first raising an act of a new republic taking shape in public, rather than a routine annual observance. That is a useful picture to hold when you watch a formal ceremony today, with its careful handling and set sequence.
The original flag is more than a generic example of the national design. It is tied to a particular act of proclamation, a maker and a moment. Old cloth is fragile, so its conservation has to come first, and the historic textile is not subjected to repeated exposure. The name Bendera Pusaka reflects that singular status. A red-and-white flag flown on a home, school or public mast can be the national flag without being the 1945 original.
How the flag became the national standard
Independence gave the red and white flag its status as the flag of the state. The first flag was raised in Jakarta on 17 August 1945, but the independence struggle continued after the proclamation. Political authority, government institutions and control over territory were contested, and the flag’s meaning was reinforced wherever it appeared on public offices and at places where the Republic asserted its presence. It became a visible marker of a national claim that was still being defended.
In the decades after independence, legal rules clarified the flag’s shape, dimensions and use. The current principal framework is Law No. 24 of 2009 on the flag, language, national emblem and national anthem. The law sets out the national flag’s form and use, and its rules apply to every flag flown in the country. This combination of constitutional recognition and detailed law explains why the everyday flag is both a simple piece of cloth and a regulated state symbol.
The original flag’s preservation is handled with great care. Its cloth is fragile, so it is not exposed to repeated display. Since 1969 the Independence Day ceremony at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta has used a duplicate instead, which keeps the national ritual intact while protecting the textile. The first duplicate was made that year, a second followed in 1985, and a third has been flown since 2015, while the original is kept in safe storage in the capital. The sight of the flag rising at a state ceremony is therefore a continuation of the national ritual, not a repeated exposure of the 1945 cloth.
The history is connected to the broader story of the country’s founding. For a wider chronology, see Indonesian History: Kingdoms, Empires and Independence, which places the proclamation alongside the earlier kingdoms and the path to independence.
When the flag is flown in Indonesia
The law requires the flag to be flown for Independence Day on 17 August at homes, buildings and offices, at schools and on public or private transport, as well as at Indonesian missions abroad. It is also flown on other national days. As a general rule the flag is raised between sunrise and sunset, and flying it at night is allowed only in particular circumstances.
In practice, the August observance is the moment most residents and visitors notice. Red-and-white flags appear on streets and around homes, while schools and offices hold formal ceremonies. A village gathering may feel quite different from the state ceremony in Jakarta, but the shared colours and the raising of the same flag connect the occasions. The flag can also be used at official meetings, cultural celebrations and sporting events under the law’s permitted uses.
Ordinary display takes care. The flag should hang freely and be seen clearly rather than trailing across a roof, touching the ground or becoming tangled around the halyard. A flag that has become torn, faded, crumpled or dull should not be treated as suitable for display, because the law forbids flying a flag in that condition. Treat the rule as a matter of dignity for the symbol, not as a decorative preference.
Raising, lowering and handling it respectfully
A formal raising is conducted with care so that the flag ascends in a controlled manner and does not touch the ground. In a school or civic ceremony, a flag-raising team, a prepared pole and a clear sequence keep the cloth from snagging or dragging. When the flag is lowered, it should be gathered and held rather than allowed to fall. Folding is a way to store and protect it, and it is best done with the method the organisers use rather than an improvised one.
Placement alongside other flags requires attention to position. At official events, the Indonesian flag takes the place of honour, and organisers follow the protocol set for that occasion. If the flag is carried with organisational banners in a procession, the order of carrying matters. These details are most relevant to organisers of school assemblies, public commemorations, sports events and civic processions. A household display usually needs only the correct flag, a sound pole and dignified handling.
For a public event, follow the instructions issued for that occasion rather than guessing at a protocol from a different ceremony. The national ceremony at the palace in Jakarta sets the pattern that schools and villages follow on a smaller scale, with a trained flag team, a set sequence of commands and the slow, controlled rise of the flag up its pole.
Rules on damaged flags and misuse
The law separates displaying a worn flag from deliberately treating the national emblem with contempt. It prohibits raising a national flag that is damaged, torn, faded, crumpled or dull. It also prohibits writing letters, numbers or pictures on the flag, attaching badges or other objects to it, and using it for advertising or commercial promotion.
Deliberate acts against the flag, such as damaging, tearing, trampling, burning or otherwise insulting it, are treated as serious offences under the law and can bring a prison sentence of up to five years. The point for anyone handling a flag is simple: the cloth is treated with respect in every setting, and careless or disrespectful use can carry legal consequences.
For everyday decisions, the useful distinction is between an accidental handling problem and a deliberate prohibited act. If a flag catches on a branch or begins to fray, lower it carefully and replace it before the next display. Do not cut it up for decoration or use it as fabric for a costume, packaging or a backdrop. Cutting or stitching the flag into an outfit, printing words or images on the flag itself, or using it as a commercial surface crosses the line that the law draws. For a public event, organisers avoid ambiguity by using separate red and white decorations rather than altering a flag.
Red and white in ceremonies, clothing and public life
The two colours travel easily from formal ceremony into daily public life. They are worn on Independence Day, used in classroom decorations and seen on street displays in the weeks around 17 August. At a school, the flag often appears alongside the national anthem and a pledge or speech; at a village celebration, the same colours can frame competitions, processions or a neighbourhood gathering. The scale changes, but the red-over-white arrangement remains the common reference point.
Dress and decorative motifs need a little care in interpretation. Red-and-white fabric or clothing can echo the national colours without being a flag. A garment that reproduces the flag’s shape, however, runs into the statutory restrictions on using the flag as clothing or for commercial promotion. The practical distinction is whether an item simply uses the colours, or whether it turns the emblem itself into a wearable or promotional object.
In Bali, as elsewhere in Indonesia, the flag appears in national observances alongside everyday community life. A visitor may encounter it outside a school, on a government building, at a village event or in a street display. Its presence does not make every gathering a state ceremony, and not every red-and-white decoration is a national flag. Look for the formal rectangular two-band pattern when identifying the flag itself; bunting, clothing and stage decoration can use the colours without reproducing that exact object.
Questions about the Indonesian flag
Is Merah Putih the same as Sang Saka Merah Putih?
In common usage the names refer to Indonesia’s red-and-white national flag. The flag raised on 17 August 1945 is specifically called the Bendera Pusaka Sang Saka Merah Putih, which distinguishes that preserved original from the flags flown today.
Is Indonesia’s flag based on the Majapahit flag?
Red-and-white banners are linked with Majapahit, and the colours belong to a broader tradition in the archipelago. The modern flag is a two-band design chosen for the new state, so it should not be presented as an unchanged Majapahit banner.
What are the correct proportions?
The flag’s length is one and a half times its height: a 3:2 ratio. The upper red field and lower white field are equal in size.
When must the flag be flown?
The law requires it on 17 August at homes and a range of institutions and transport, and it also requires display at specified state, public and educational sites. Other national occasions may call for display as well.
Can the original 1945 flag be seen flying?
No. The Bendera Pusaka is kept protected because its cloth is fragile. A duplicate has been used for the Independence Day ceremony at the palace since 1969.
The flag among Indonesia’s other national symbols
The flag belongs to a country made up of many islands, not to Bali alone, and it stands beside other national symbols. The state emblem, the Garuda Pancasila, takes its name from the Pancasila, the five principles of the state, and the national anthem is Indonesia Raya; the same 2009 law governs the flag, the emblem, the anthem and the national language. More on the Indonesian red and white flag, on the nationalist writer Mohammad Yamin and on Indonesian cultural history, its symbols, language and literature fills in the rest of the picture.