{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1900036,
        "msgid": "the-gulden-symbol-read-as-rupiah-1785847980",
        "date": "2026-08-04 19:11:06",
        "title": "The Gulden Symbol, Read as Rupiah",
        "author": "Retizen",
        "source": "REPUBLIKA",
        "tags": "",
        "topic": "Anthropology",
        "summary": "An archaeological study of Minangkabau pawnshop manuscripts reveals that the Dutch colonial Gulden currency was commonly written with its 'f' symbol but read aloud as 'rupiah'. This practice, officially endorsed by the colonial government in 1832, shows the term 'rupiah' was deeply embedded in local economic life long before Indonesia's independence.",
        "content": "<p>Among the 111 pawnshop manuscripts studied, one detail proved\nparticularly intriguing: the notation of loan values as f1 (one rupiah),\nf10 (ten rupiah), and f100 (one hundred rupiah). The symbol f represents\nthe Dutch East Indies Gulden. The question that arose was why the\nscribes read it as rupiah. Initially, I assumed this was merely the\nindividual style of a scribe. However, this assumption was disproven\nwhen manuscripts from different locations and different scribes\nconsistently used the Gulden symbol but paired it with the word rupiah.\nA second assumption was that the scribes converted the term to rupiah\nbecause, as indigenous people, they only recognised the rupiah. These\nassumptions were built when I was only dealing with the manuscripts\nthemselves, without knowing the history of the currency or having seen\nthe actual Dutch East Indies Gulden coins. This curiosity led me beyond\nthe world of manuscripts. Thanks to a reference provided by Ifkar Fikri,\nan alumnus of Andalas University\u2019s History programme, I gained insight\ninto this currency\u2019s background. The Gulden currency was introduced in\nIndonesia in the early 19th century, shortly after the Dutch reclaimed\nthe East Indies from the British. It officially came into use in 1817\nwhen the Dutch East Indies government enacted the Coinage Act, replacing\nthe previous currency, the Java Rupee, which had been the official\ncurrency during the British interregnum. The new currency, symbolised by\n\u2018f\u2019, quickly became the primary medium of exchange. However, according\nto Kristaniarsi, in daily life, the public more frequently used the word\nrupiah. This equivalence between the Gulden and the term rupiah was also\nformalised by the colonial government in early 1832 with the issuance of\ncopper certificates. These paper notes featured Dutch text alongside\nJavanese and Arabic Pegon scripts in the Malay language. It was on these\ncopper certificates that the word rupiah first appeared in writing as\nthe equivalent of Gulden on a currency. Etymologically, rupiah is traced\nback to Sanskrit, referring to wrought silver. Another opinion suggests\nit derives from rupya, referring to silver coins brought by Indian\ntraders to the archipelago. Other sources point to the influence of\nrupia, a term for silver coins used during the Mongol Empire. Both terms\nultimately originate from Sanskrit. The term rupiah is also related to\nthe words rupee and rufiyaa. The writing style adopted by the community\ninvolved writing the nominal value first, followed by its pronunciation\nin rupiah. For example, f1 (one rupiah), f10 (ten rupiah), and f100 (one\nhundred rupiah). As a region within the Dutch East Indies, Minangkabau\nsubsequently adopted the Gulden as its primary transaction tool. The\ncurrency gained the community\u2019s trust as the highest medium of exchange\nat the time, evidenced by various colonial-era pawnshop manuscripts\nwhere the Gulden consistently appears as the main currency for pawning\nassets. This currency persisted through the Japanese occupation and was\nonly completely abandoned after independence. So, when did the rupiah\nofficially become the currency of the Republic of Indonesia? This\nquestion arises knowing the term rupiah was used long before\nindependence. Linguistically, the use of a currency term and its\nrecognition as a national currency are two different matters. During the\ncolonial period, the word rupiah was used as the equivalent of Gulden in\nthe Dutch East Indies monetary system and was followed by the public in\ndaily practice, as reflected in the Minangkabau pawnshop manuscripts.\nHowever, the Republic of Indonesia only established its own currency\nwhen the government issued Oeang Republik Indonesia on 30 October 1946\nas the official legal tender. From that point, foreign and colonial\ncurrencies were gradually replaced by the currency issued by the\nRepublic of Indonesia. Thus, the history of the term rupiah is longer\nthan that of the nation using it. Before becoming the monetary term of\nthe Republic of Indonesia, it lived within the Dutch East Indies\nmonetary system and was used by the public in various transactions. The\npawnshop manuscripts serve as tangible evidence that the term was not\nonly known in official colonial documents but was also applied in the\nlegal and economic practices of Minangkabau society. The repeated\nwriting of f220 (two hundred and twenty rupiah), f200 (two hundred\nrupiah), and other examples in the manuscripts demonstrates that this\nwriting convention was thoroughly understood and applied by scribes of\nthat era. For me, this underscores the importance of manuscripts as both\nhistorical sources and archaeological data. From an archaeological\nperspective, such manuscripts become contextual sources that bring the\npast to life.<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-gulden-symbol-read-as-rupiah-1785847980",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}