Exhibition shows money matters

Exhibition shows money matters

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When society invented formal currency, a new line of business
also sprung up, that of the counterfeit money. A Money Fair held
at Bank Indonesia's Artha Suaka Museum revealed that the business
was already thriving in the 14th century Buton Kingdom.

It appears that during the rule of Ratu Bulawambona of the
Southeast Sulawesi kingdom, princesses of the royal family
annually changed the design of the cloth they used for formal
currency to prevent the money being counterfeited.

The cloth currency, called Kampua or Bida, was shown at the
exhibition as a piece of yellowing rough fabric with veins of
blue thread running through it.

Another exhibit showed counterfeited banknotes found in recent
decades, the earliest being Rp 1,000 and Rp 500 notes from 1946.

So how can a layman differentiate the real deal and the
counterfeit? At the Money Fair, held in commemoration of the
central bank's 50th anniversary, visitors are also taught the
difference, with the naked eye, using a simple ultraviolet ray
device, as well as Bank Indonesia (BI)'s sophisticated machinery.

"The machine is used by the bank for its research into
counterfeit banknotes," an official in charge explained, adding
that it monitors the level of sophistication of modern
counterfeiters.

Simply using the naked eye, a counterfeit note can be
distinguished by the difference in the sharpness and color of the
graphics, the multilayered latent images, as well as the changes
in optical variable ink (OVI).

"There should be a BI logo and a picture of a violin on the
50,000 rupiah note, and the golden BI logo on the bottom right
corner should change to a greenish hue when seen at a different
angle," the official explained.

Besides the exhibits on counterfeit notes, the Money Fair also
showcased the role of money in Indonesian society through the
ages.

Also on display are the banknotes that were printed in the
regions in response to a shortage of hard currency following the
Dutch Aggressions in 1947 and 1948. The first banknote printed by
the newly established Bank Indonesia in 1953 is on display, as
well as the 1957 devaluation cutting banknotes above Rp 500 to 10
percent of their original value in which two zeros were crossed
out on the banknote.

The present Bank Indonesia had started off as a private Dutch
bank De Javansche Bank NV, established in 1828, and become
nationalized through a document in Dutch signed by de President
van de Republik Indonesia Soekarno, and de Minister van financien
Sumitro Djojohadikusumo on May 19, 1953.

Photographs of the bank during its earlier days as De
Javansche Bank are also on display.

And finally, a model of the proposed Bank Indonesia Museum is
displayed --an ongoing project to transform the old De Javansche
Bank building in the Kota area into a museum chronicling the
bank's history.

i-box:

Bank Indonesia's Money Fair is open to the public until Aug. 29,
2003, at Ruang Chandra on the sixth floor of Bank Indonesia Kebon
Sirih Building, Jl. Kebon Sirih 82-84, Central Jakarta. For more
information call 021-3817701.