The Family Tree of Money
Image awaiting selection · Public-domain or CC0 images only.

Japanese occupation gulden / rupiah in Indonesia

The occupation currency kept local gulden and rupiah vocabulary, but its purchasing power followed wartime conditions.1

Years
Under research
Where
Japanese-occupied Indonesia; later Republican areas
Family
Other origins
Status
Under research

The occupation currency kept local gulden and rupiah vocabulary, but its purchasing power followed wartime conditions. More paper and shortages pushed prices upward. People increasingly paid with Japanese money while keeping older Indies notes as a possible store of value.1

The Republic’s new money could not simply erase those balances. Law 19 of 1946 set rates for Japanese money already deposited in banks: fifty to one in Java and Madura, a hundred to one elsewhere. Its debt provisions formed a separate schedule.23

Those rules made the transition a matter of savings and obligations as well as printed notes. They explain the occupation currency’s place in the rupiah story without making the Japanese yen its parent.2

A fuller story is under research.

Timeline

  1. Occupation money takes hold

    New money circulates and surrender of prewar currency is ordered.1

  2. Conversion into ORI

    Banked cash and older debts receive different treatment.23

Coins and notes

Images are under research. Each image will carry its caption, collection credit and public-domain or CC0 license.

How do we know?

Earlier stages not yet researched.

Successor connections

Complete evidence record →
Legal history and sources
Recorded transition
1942–1946
1946 cash exchange
50:1 in Java and Madura; 100:1 elsewhere; eligibility restrictions applied
Distinction
Local occupation gulden/rupiah, not the Japanese yen

Japanese occupation money entered use in 1942; in 1943 the authorities ordered prewar currency surrendered. Old Indies money was nevertheless hoarded while transactions increasingly used the depreciating occupation currency.1

Indonesia’s Law 19/1946 converted banked Japanese money into ORI at 50:1 in Java and Madura and 100:1 elsewhere, and prescribed payment of existing debts in Republican money. The conversion is explicit; its placement in the present rupiah profile remains qualified pending the full 1950 settlement review.2

Article 4 of Law 19/1946 carried unpaid obligations incurred before 1 January 1943 into Republican money at one old legal rupiah to one ORI. Read with the Indies currency history, it supports a qualified colonial-account input at ORI’s introduction; it is not a claim that every old debt or region received the cash exchange rate.3

Source notes

  1. Robert Cribb · Political Dimensions of the Currency Question 1945–1947, Indonesia 31 (1981), 113–136

    pp. 114–116,127–128; distinct prewar Indies currency, occupation money, bank deposits and ORI

  2. Republic of Indonesia · Undang-Undang No. 19 Tahun 1946: Pengeluaran Uang Republik Indonesia; Robert Cribb · Political Dimensions of the Currency Question 1945–1947, Indonesia 31 (1981), 113–136

    October 25, 1946; arts. 2–4, 6 and 8; PDF pp. 1–3; pp. 114–116,127–128; distinct prewar Indies currency, occupation money, bank deposits and ORI

  3. Republic of Indonesia · Undang-Undang No. 19 Tahun 1946: Pengeluaran Uang Republik Indonesia; Robert Cribb · Political Dimensions of the Currency Question 1945–1947, Indonesia 31 (1981), 113–136

    October 25, 1946; arts. 2–4, 6 and 8; PDF pp. 1–3; pp. 114–116,127–128; distinct prewar Indies currency, occupation money, bank deposits and ORI

Full claim history and source register →

Cite this currency

“Japanese occupation gulden / rupiah in Indonesia.” The Family Tree of Money. Field Technologies, Inc. Data v51; accessed 15 October 2026.

Find a currency