Portrait on the Banknote

"HE is on every one of them. I bet his grandchildren joke about how it's 'their grandfather's money' all the time," I said to Bel referring to our new banknotes with the old guy on them. 

The new banknotes 

You should check out these notes. They're like fake money, like the sort the Chinese burn at funerals. It may take some getting used-to to see the new MYR as serious money but they are rapidly rolling and replacing the previous series of banknotes. My hope is that after some months of changing hands, the seasoned notes may finally look like they actually mean business. 

"He's Tunku (Abdul Rahman), the first prime minister. Someone argued with me that the portrait is of the Agong (King), can you believe that?," replied Bel. 

"I think that someone is right. The man is the first Agong. The one on the notes is wearing a Tengkolok (a royal head dress) and Tunku was hip with that Songkok (a type of cap worn by men in this part of the world) senget ( Tunku had a way of wearing it slightly tilted to one side, giving him a flamboyant look)."

Tunku Abdul Rahman

Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al Haj, who is known as the Father of Independence, also wore a pair of dark-rimmed glasses and his face always had a glint of smile from all the images I've seen of him. 


"Really??? But why. It doesn't make sense. Tunku's the first prime minister and he fought for the country's independence (Malaya was freed from the British on Aug 31, 1957). I've always thought it was him on our money. Google it."

Now there is nothing you can't Google. The portrait featured on the obverse on our bank notes since the first series of Malayan dollar notes were issued in 1967 is that of Colonel Paduka Sri Tuanku Abdul Rahman ibni Almarhum Tuanku Muhammad, our first King. *He was installed as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of independent Malaya on Sept 13, 1957. As Malay rulers do not traditionally possess crowns, he was installed by kissing the royal Keris. In honour of him, all subsequent Agong of Malaysia have also used the headdress Dendam Tak Sudah (literally means unending revenge), a fashion used in the state of Negeri Sembilan. 

Banknotes from the first series 

For some reason, it turns out that not many are actually aware of the man on our banknotes. When I went around asking a few people, some actually thought that he was the bank governor, while many, like Bel, presumed it was the prime minister.

"Geez. He gets to be in these notes forever just because he's the first Agong? Yeah, of course his grandchildren could joke about it." 

It was quite a revelation for Bel. That aside, I think Bel could use some of the jokes too as there is a road in Kuala Lumpur that's named after her late grandfather. He was some kind of a big shot here in the early days. 

* from Wikipedia