· Process

. Forum

· Asian Money Fair

· Portrait

. Ship

. Bird

. Orchid

. Banana

. Strait Settlement

· Coins

· Counterfeit

· Laws

· Acknowledgements

The Banana Notes

Japanese forces invaded Malaya on 7^th December 1942, and completed their conquest of the Peninsula by 15^th February 1942.  Singapore was renamed Syonan-to, which means Light of the South.  In anticipation of this occupation, the Japanese government had had special banknotes printed with values in Malayan dollars.  The first issue, or series, by the military administration was in denominations of one, five and ten dollars, which values were intended to circulate at par with the existing British Malayan currency notes.  These are distinguishable from the later, inflated, issues in that they are serially numbered like regular banknotes.

Leaders of the Chinese Communities from the Malayan States were summoned to Singapore and an exaction of penalty to the tune of 50 million Straits dollars was imposed on the Chinese of Malaya and Singapore as ‘tributary money’.  It was a monumental task to raise the sum as most already had their properties and assets destroyed or pillaged during the war.  The payment was made possible through the grant of a one-year loan of $21.25 million from Yokohama Specie Bank at 6% interest.  The incident curtailed the circulation and fomented a shortage of Straits currency.

During the month of September in 1942, a large quantity of military fiduciary notes was issued with the exact number unknown even to the Japanese themselves, as they did not bear serial numbers, but only block letters.   These were the series 2 of the Japanese Invasion Money of Malaya, and were release in default of scarce Straits coins.  The different denominations are 1-cent, 5-cent, 10-cent and 50-cent notes.

Japanese invasion of South-east Asia was to exploit their natural resources, assets and manpower to support her war efforts in the ‘China affair’.  Conceived as a geopolitical concept, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere was reified into an entity that embodied political, economic and military objectives, with Japan presiding as its Imperial ruler.

 On the political front, Japan’s objective was to expand her sphere of influence to include countries within the Asia-Pacific region.  She capitalized on the alienation of the Asiatics from the Whites; with her impersonation veneered by the machination of ‘co-prosperity’, she hoped the Asiatics would be beguiled into accepting her as the liberator from their European masters.  But the truth was simply the replacement of the European colonial rule by a Japanese military one.

Driving out the Europeans and the Americans from their colonies would secure the necessary leverage to rid herself of the dependency on their supply of goods and resources.  She could then have the freedom to acquire resources to sustain her domestic manufacturing industry.  Between 1942 and 1944, 5.2 million tonnes of crude oil, 210 000 tonnes of gutta-percha and 50 000 tonnes of tin ore were shipped from South-east Asia to Japan.  This induced inflation and breakdowns of economies in her occupied regions and left its people impoverished.

On the military front, Japan southern campaign was to vie with the British and Americans for the ascendancy of the strategic territories in the co-prosperity sphere.  When the Sino-Japanese war spiralled, Japan’s requirement for raw material redoubled and the consolidation of her position in Asia-Pacific became imperative.  Rubber and tin were essential to America’s manufacturing industry with over 70% of her supply coming from South-east Asia.  Japan’s successful bid in the occupation of the region would put the US in a double bind.

The Japanese ploy in plundering the region’s wealth and resources was to impose harsh martial laws to subdue the populations while printing and issuing paper money having no treasury backing in large quantities for their ‘purchases’.  This brought on a grisly inflation and drastically devaluated the invasion currency.  The resultant erosion of public confidence further weakened the fiduciary issue, rendering the 1-cent to 50-cent notes utterly worthless; soon, even the $1 and $5 notes were relegated to oblivion.

In 1944, the Southern Development Bank issued the Series 3 invasion notes under the authorisation of the Japanese government.  They included $100 and $1000 notes with the $10-note being the lowest denomination.  All of these notes had the assurance “PROMISES TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND” printed on their faces (unlike the cent notes).