The Malayan dollar ( Malay: ''ringgit'', Jawi: رڠڬيت) was the currency of the British colonies and protectorates in Malaya and

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

until 1953. It was introduced in 1939, replacing the

Straits dollar The Straits dollar was the currency of the Straits Settlements from 1898 until 1939. At the same time, it was also used in the Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States, Kingdom of Sarawak, Brunei, and British North Borneo. Histor ...

at par, with 1 dollar = two

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s four

pence A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

sterling (60 dollars = 7 pounds).

History

Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya formed

The Malayan dollar was issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya, with a hiatus during the Japanese occupation (1942–1945). The Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya, came into being in October 1938 following the Blackett Report which recommended that the sole power of issuing currency for the various

Malay States The monarchies of Malaysia exist in each of the nine Malay states under the constitutional monarchy system as practised in Malaysia. The political system of Malaysia is based on the Westminster parliamentary system in combination with features ...

, including

, and the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements () were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Company, the Straits Settlements came under control of the ...

should be entrusted to a pan-Malayan Currency Commission. Sir Basil Phillott Blackett was appointed in 1933 by the

Secretary of State for the Colonies The secretary of state for the colonies or colonial secretary was the Cabinet of the United Kingdom's government minister, minister in charge of managing certain parts of the British Empire. The colonial secretary never had responsibility for t ...

to lead a commission to consider the participation of the various

, including

, in the profits and liabilities of the

currency. The Blackett Report was adopted by the Government of the

, the

Federated Malay States The Federated Malay States (FMS, , Jawi script, Jawi: ) was a federation of four protectorate, protected states in the Malay Peninsula — Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang — established in 1895 by the British government, and whi ...

Unfederated Malay States The "Unfederated Malay States" (; Jawi: ) was the collective name given to five British protected states in the Malay Peninsula during the first half of the 20th century. These states were Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu. In ...

and

. Legislation was enacted by the Straits Settlements Currency Ordinance (No. 23) of 1938, and ratified by the various states during 1939. The board started to issue currency in 1939. In 1952 the board was renamed the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo. See

Malaya and British Borneo dollar The Malaya and British Borneo dollar (; ) was the currency of Federation of Malaya, Malaya, Colony of Singapore, Singapore, Crown Colony of Sarawak, Sarawak, Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo, Brunei and the Riau archipelago from 1953 ...

Currencies issued

Banknotes in denominations of 1, 5 and 10-dollar notes were printed in the UK for circulation in Malaya in 1940. However, out of 27,000,000 one dollar notes and 5,600,000 five-dollar notes of the same series despatched to Malaya before the Japanese invasion; 25,800,000 one dollar notes and 5,000,000 five-dollar notes arrived. Of the remainder, 700,000 one dollar notes and 500,000 five-dollar notes were lost when the SS ''Automedon'' was captured and then scuttled on 11 November 1940, by the German raider ''Atlantis'' in the Indian Ocean approach to the Malacca Straits; and further 500,000 one dollar notes and 100,000 five-dollar notes were lost when the carrying ship, the SS ''Eumanes'', was sunk. None of these notes were ever put into circulation by the Straits Settlements Government. Only the 10-dollar notes were issued for use in Malaya in March 1941.

Japanese Occupation

During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese government-issue dollar replaced the Malayan dollar as legal tender. At the time of Japanese invasion, stocks of dollar notes were still held in treasury vaults in Singapore and

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

. When Penang was evacuated in December 1941, 600,000 one-dollar notes and 100,000 five-dollar notes were abandoned in the treasury, where they fell into the hands of the Japanese. In Singapore, 4,200,000 one-dollar and 1,000,000 five-dollar notes were destroyed, and 21,000,000 one-dollar notes and 3,900,000 five-dollar notes shipped to

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for safety. When British forces reoccupied Singapore in September 1945, they found all the abandoned notes of this series, except for a bundle of one thousand dollar notes captured in

, in the vaults of the Japanese sub-treasury. Nevertheless, all stocks were destroyed in 1946, as it was feared that the notes from the captured ship might have been handed over by the Germans to their Japanese allies, and were being hoarded in bulk, ready to be passed into circulation when the notes became current. There is no evidence that these notes ever reaching Malaya. All the notes were signed by L. G. Corney, the chairman of the board of the Commissioners of Currency.

British Military Administration

British forces landed at

on 3 September 1945 and at Singapore on 5 September 1945 and gradually reoccupied the whole of Malaya. Until 1 April 1946, the country's finances were administrated by the department of the Controller of Finance and Accounts of the Army Pay Corps, and currency was put into circulation against payment in sterling by the

War Office The War Office has referred to several British government organisations throughout history, all relating to the army. It was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, at ...

to the account of the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya. It was decided that no value whatever should be accorded the Japanese banana money then in circulation, as it had been estimated that during the three and a half years occupation the Japanese had issued a minimum of 4,000 million dollars' worth of currency against a normal 1941 circulation of about 220 million (Donnison p. 223). The pay service made available currency notes from 1 cent to 10,000 dollars which had been printed in Britain either before, or during, the occupation but had not previously been sent to Malaya. In addition, the 1940 ten-dollar note issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency Malaya and the old

notes, with the exception of denominations of 1,000 or 10,000 dollars and 10 and 25 cents, were declared a legal tender. These old notes were gradually withdrawn, however, as the new issue became adequate for the country's needs. The notes of this series from 1 cent to 10 dollars were dated 1 July 1941, those of 50, 100 and 1,000 dollars 1 January 1942, while the 10,000-dollar notes were signed and dated on the day of their issue. The chairman of the Currency Board was H. Weisberg. The emergency issues of 10 cents with

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as the portrait was issued on 15 August 1940, designed and printed by the Survey Department (F.M.S.) in Kuala Lumpur with the controlled serial number. On 1 September 1940, also an emergency issues of 25 cents was designed and printed by the Survey Department with

as the portrait. On 1 July 1941, a set of new regular issues, with the denomination of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents was printed by Thomas de la Rue & Co. Ltd., London with the portrait of

. Also on the same date of 1 July 1941, the 1, 5 and 10-dollar notes were engraved and printed by Waterlow & Sons Ltd., London, and the higher denomination of 50, 100, 1000 and 10,000-dollar notes were printed by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd., Surrey, London.

Civil Administration

Civil administration was restored on 1 April 1946 and from the same date the Board of Commissioners of Currency Malaya was reconstituted by the authority or Ordinance No.4 of 1946 in Singapore and Ordinance No.5 of 1946 in the

Malayan Union The Malayan Union (; Jawi: كساتوان مالايا) was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single g ...

. The Board continued to operate in the same way as before the Japanese occupation. All notes bearing dates prior to 1 July 1941, were de-monetised on 31 August 1948.

Coins

Coins were issued between 1939 and 1950 in denominations of square shaped and 1 cent in bronze, and round 5, 10 and 20 cents (silver until 1945, and cupro-nickel from 1948 to 1950). These all had the same designs and appearance of previous Straits Settlements coinage, which they replaced. The 1 cent coins were reduced in size in 1943 due to cost and wartime materials shortages while the cents were discontinued after 1940, even though they continued to be legal tender. All coins of this series depict

. Older Straits coinage also continued to circulate alongside, though silver pieces of both types quickly began to disappear. The very last Coinage was issued in 1950, following which the transition from the Malayan Dollar to its successor currencies was planned. The Malayan Dollar was the formal currency of the region until 1953.

Banknotes

Banknotes in denominations of 1, 5 and 10-dollar were printed in the UK for circulation in Malaya in 1940. However, because a shipload of 1 and 5-dollar notes were captured by German forces, only the 10 dollars were issued (see

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

section above). Because of the war in Europe, the Survey Department printed 10 and 25 cents for circulation. These were replaced in 1941 by notes printed by Thomas de la Rue in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents. When the British regained control of Malaya after World War II, notes were issued in 1945 (dated 1941), in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 dollars.

References

External links

{{dollar, state=collapsed Dollar 1939 establishments in British Malaya 1953 disestablishments Currencies of the British Empire Modern obsolete currencies Obsolete currencies in Malaysian history British Malaya British rule in Singapore Currencies of Brunei Currencies of Malaysia Currencies of Singapore Federated Malay States Economic history of Brunei