Fact Check: Currency note claiming to be Indonesian Rupiah is MISLEADING
On October 26, 2022, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre too appealing for including the images of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi, alongside Mahatma Gandhi
Hyderabad: Social media users are sharing the image of a currency note with Lord Ganesh's pictures on it and claiming that it is an Indonesian currency note of the denomination 20,000 Indonesian Rupiah (IDR).
On October 26, 2022, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre too appealing for including the images of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi, alongside Mahatma Gandhi, in fresh batches on Indian banknotes, citing an example of Indonesian currency note of IDR 20,000 having Lord Ganesha's image on it.
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Fact Check:
The claim is misleading.
We searched for info on the currency note on the numismatics website Numista. As per Numista, the 20,000 Rupiah (IDR), features an image of the Hindu deity Lord Ganesha on it. Also, there is a picture of former education minister Ki Hadjar Dewantara on the front and images of children studying in a classroom on the backside of the note. Further, the IDR bank note series in question was introduced in 1998.
Upon further research, we found a press release by Bank Indonesia stating that alongside IDR 20,000 three other banknote series' (IDR 10,000 issued in 1998, IDR 50,000 issued in 1999 and IDR 100,000 issued in 1999) were also demonetized.
"The note was demonetised alongside three other banknote series' (IDR 10,000 issued in 1998, IDR 50,000 issued in 1999 and IDR 100,000 issued in 1999)," said S. Budi Rochadi, Deputy Governor for Money Circulation, in the release.
https://www.bi.go.id/en/
However, the government gave a deadline of 10 years i.e., until 31 December 2018 to exchange these notes with new ones. Moreover, we found a release by Bank Indonesia as a reminder for citizens to exchange the demonetised bank notes with the deadline approaching near.
We checked the current images of bank notes of 20,000 Rupiah in Indonesia and none of the currency notes was similar to the viral ones.
https://www.bi.go.id/en/
Hence, the claim is misleading. Indonesian currency note with a denomination of 20,000 Rupiah (IDR) that features Lord Ganesha was introduced in 1998 but withdrawn in 2008, as part of regular upgrades in security features of the currency notes.