Counterfeit money

Counterfeit money

From Media Indonesia

Reports on the counterfeiting of rupiah bank notes have become rife again. Such news is drawing a lot of public attention. In the last two months, the National Police have disclosed two cases of counterfeiting money worth hundreds of millions of rupiah. The banknotes being forged were the 100,000 rupiah denomination.

The people at first thought that the Rp 100 thousand notes, which are made from plastic, were printed by Perum Peruri (State- owned securities paper and bank note printing company). But, it is surprising to know that Bank Indonesia (BI) has printed them in Australia while Australia subcontracted the printing work to Thailand. BI once said that the notes made in Australia were a banknote of sorts difficult to be forged by a ring of money counterfeiters, as Media Indonesia published on March 30, 2002.

Yet, the reality shows that anything that is produced by people can be counterfeited by people. What needs to be done is how to make the public able to recognize the fake money.

As far as counterfeiting money is concerned it is the little people who usually become easy victims. To receive a single fake banknote of Rp 100,000 (the highest denomination in the country) one's loss equals about 50 kilograms of rice -- as many as three months supply.

We, as rupiah users, call on Bank Indonesia to immediately withdraw the Rp 100,000 notes from circulation and change the material with that used by Perum Peruri.

HARYO WIJOSENO

Jakarta