Banknotes of the Indonesian rupiah

The first paper money used in the Indonesian archipelago was that of the United East Indies Company, credit letters of the rijksdaalder dating between 1783 and 1811. Netherlands Indian gulden government credit paper followed in 1815, and from 1827 gulden notes of De Javasche Bank. Lower denominations (below 5 gulden) were issued by the government in 1919-1920 and 1939-1940, due to wartime metal shortages, but otherwise day-to-day transactions were conducted using coinage.

Gulden notes were issued by 'The Japanese Government' during the occupation from 1942, becoming 'roepiah' in 1943.

The first truly Indonesian rupiah notes, however were issued in 1946, during the war of independence with the Dutch, following the unilateral declaration of independence by the Indonesians at the end of World War Two on 17 August 1945. This money is known as 'Oeang Republik Indonesia' ('oeang' being the old spelling of 'uang', in English 'money').

Following the negotiated peace treaty in The Hague of 1949, the 'ORI' was withdrawn, to be replaced by an internationally recognised 'Indonesian rupiah'.

The Indonesian rupiah has been subject to numerous devaluations, and in 1965 existing paper was withdrawn, replaced by a new currency at the rate of 1000 to 1.

Oeang Republik Indonesia

eries 1, '1945'

The first 'Indonesian rupiah' bank notes bore the date of the proclamation on new Indonesian money, 17th October 1945, under the authority of the "Republik Indonesia", and were apparently intended for issue on February 1st 1946, but due to the capture of most of the notes, only a tiny number escaped at this time.

The circulation began in earnest in Java from October 10th 1946. The notes were in denominations of 1, 5, and 10 sen notes, plus ½, 1, 5, 10, and 100 rupiah notes.

Republik Indonesia Serikat money

The "Republik Indonesia Serikat" passed legislation on June 2nd 1950 to allow it to issue new treasury notes, which were dated 1 January 1950 in 5 and 10 rupiah denominations. This was not long-lasting, as the RIS dissolved on 17 August 1950 (5 years after the original declaration of independence).

The notes were printed by Thomas De La Rue of England and had the date '1 January 1950' printed on the note.

1953-1954: First notes of Bank Indonesia

Notes featuring the name of the new bank ('Bank Indonesia'), had been prepared dated 1952, in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 rupiah, signed by Indra Kasoema as Director, and Sjafruddin Prawiranegara as Governor. The notes began circulating from July 1953 to November 1954 depending on denomination.

1958-1959 Animals series - Second Series of Banknotes of Bank Indonesia

In 1957, governor of Bank Indonesia Syafruddin Prawiranegara commissioned a new series of notes from English printer, Thomas De La Rue & Co. However, Syafruddin's involvement with PRRI meant that he was replaced in January 1958 as governor by Loekman Hakim. Specimens were produced in denominations of 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 500, 1000, and 5000 rupiah, and the first of these to be brought into circulation were the 100 and 1000 rupiah notes, in 1958, due to the counterfeiting of these denominations of the 1952 series (the counterfeit notes can be distinguished by the wavy line watermark being printed onto the paper rather than a true watermark).

In addition to the 8 notes designed, Loekman commissioned a new note, of 2500 rupiah. Apart from the 100 and 1000 rupiah notes, the remaining high denomination note, the 500 rupiah, was released on 6 January 1959.

1965-1968: First series of banknotes ('Soekarno') of the 'new rupiah'

The new rupiah saw the issue of an entirely new set of banknotes, by Presidential decree of 13 December 1965. The decree authorised Bank Indonesia to issue fractional notes for the first time, in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 sen showing 'Volunteers', dated 1964. Due to the fact that the rupiah was only devalued about 10, rather than 1000 times, they were worthless on issue, and millions remained unissued.

The remaining notes all featured President Soekarno on the obverse, and various dancers on the reverse; this series was issued by 'Republik Indonesia' in 1 and 2 1/2 rupiah, dated 1964, and Bank Indonesia dated 1960 ('1960' dated notes of 1, 2 1/2, 5, 10, and 100 rupiah were already circulating in Irian Barat and Riau), in 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 rupiah were issued; the notes from 500 to 10,000 rupiah were deemed unnecessary due to the devaluation.

To complete the devaluation, older notes (largely worthless by this point) were withdrawn over 1965-1966.

By 1967, due to the limited nature of the devaluation, it had proved necessary to add 500 and 1,000 rupiah notes, in the same design.

Diponegoro series '1975'

A new series of notes, which now started only at 100 rupiah (then US$0.24), was designed with a Diponegoro theme; however, only the 1000 rupiah note was issued, the other denominations exist only in a small number of specimens.

This aborted note series was the last in Indonesia to have a consistent theme, although new notes typically retained the same colour as old ones of the same denomination.

1985-1988: Banknote series 5 of the new rupiah

The 100 rupiah note dating from 1977 was finally replaced in 1985; replacement notes of all denominations followed in 1985, 1987 and 1988.

1995: addition of security thread to top 1992/1993 banknotes

1995 saw the introduction of the security thread to Indonesian banknotes, a feature on all large (10,000 and above) notes of 'Direksi 1995' and newer. The 1992 20,000 rupiah, and 1993 paper 50,000 notes were the affected notes.

References

ecurity features

* The materials of the banknotes basically are long fibres from any kind of wood, or a mix of different types of wood. However, the preferable material is the Abaca fibre, which is naturally plentiful in Indonesia and is believe to increase the durability of the banknotes. The banknotes are made with the process of heating, to create a unique type of pulp.

* The minimum security features for naked eyes are watermarks, electrotypes and security threads with color fibres. In addition to this, extra features may be included, such as holograms, Irisafe, iridescent stripes, clear windows, metameric windows and gold patches.
** Watermark and Electrotype are made by controlling the gap of density of the fibres which create certain images for the banknotes. This is done to raise the quality of the notes from the aesthetic view.
** Security threads are put in the middle of the note's materials so horizontal and vertical lines are shown from top to bottom. The threads also can be made with many variations such as the materials, size, color and design.