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Ten Dollar Notes, Japanese Occupation Money
The second scan above shows close ip images of two notes, one front and one back. These were donated by Veronica Wong, Ipoh. The remainder donated by Haji musa.
Bank Negara's Money Museum provides the following information:
"The whole of the Malay Peninsula was occupied by the Japanese following the fall of Singapore on February 15, 1942. British Borneo also came under the Japanese. A Japanese Military Administration was set up and Malaya was renamed 'Malai'.
In anticipation of this occupation, the Japanese Government issued banknotes printed with value in Malayan dollars. These notes were circulated at par value with the existing British Malaya currency notes, which were immediately withdrawn. At first the dollar notes bore serial numbers, but these were later omitted leaving the control letter 'M', meaning Malaya. The Japanese Administration flooded the market with these dollar notes, causing a severe inflation. These notes were commonly referred to as 'Banana Money' because of the banana tree depicted on the $10 note."
Our database editor adds that no Japanese coins were in circulation during the occupation. The complete range of these notes included, One Cent, Five Cents, Ten Cents, Fifty Cents, One Dollar, Five Dollars, Ten Dollars, One Hundred Dollars and One Thousand Dollars. The ten dollar note measures approximately 16cmx7.5cm.
The archive now holds 3 of these notes, two being donated by Dato' K K Lim.
To see a larger collection of this money, click here.