Aung San returns to Kyat notes

Aung San returns to Kyat notes

By Zon Pann Pwint   |   Sunday, 24 November 2013

The announcement of a new look for the country's banknotes brings celebration, and also prompts some to reflect on other, less successful currency changes in the past

Old Kyat notes featuring General Aung San. Photo: Boothee

In recent decades, people in Myanmar have faced an uphill struggle when it came to seeing portraits of national heroes on currency notes issued by the Central Bank.

Since the 1990s, banknotes of various denominations have featured images of a lion or an elephant on the front and a national landmark on the other side. Other than the K500 note, which bears the likeness of 19th-century commander-in-chief of the armed forces Maha Bandula, the notes have lacked historical figures.

This is soon to change, however, after an MP suggested to Pyithu Hluttaw on November 13 that currency notes should carry a picture of national hero Bogyoke Aung San.

In response, the vice president of the Central Bank of Myanmar, Daw Khin Saw Oo, announced that they were working on a series of redesigned currency notes decorated with "the country's prominent leaders, buildings, landscapes and emblems", a statement popularly understood to include Bogyoke Aung San, the country's most famous historical leader.

No date of circulation has yet been announced.

"This issue was debated in the hluttaw once by different representative months ago but it was rejected," U Thein Nyunt, the Pyithu Hluttaw representative from Thingangyun township constituency, told The Myanmar Times on November 14. U Thein Nyunt, who made the suggestion that led to Daw Khin Saw Oo's announcement, said that his constituents have been asking for notes which better reflected their heroes and heritage.

"When I won a seat in parliament, I spoke to people in my constituency about what they would like to demand. Many of them called for a picture of General Aung San to be printed on currency notes, and for a siren to wail on Martyr'sDay, July 19, when General Aung San and other ministers were assassinated," he said.

"It is a kind of promise that the vice president of the Central Bank of Myanmar responded that pictures of national heroes, historic landmarks and monuments will be the faces of our new currency notes," he said."That is really fulfilling for us."

U Thein Nyunt added that many neighbouring countries honour their heroes this way. "For instance, the various denominations of the Indian rupee feature Mohandas Gandhi."

Several past sets of banknotes issued by Myanmar's treasurydepartment have portrayed images of BogyokeAung San, the national independence hero who was assassinated with other members of his cabinet in 1947, six months prior to the country's emergence from British rule. His picture featured on the K25 note released in 1972, the K5 and K10 notes of 1973, the K100 notes of 1976 and the K50 notes released in 1979.

He's not the only modern historical figure to be featured on bills in the past. The K45 note released in 1987 portrayed Thakhin Pho Hla Gyi, an oil field worker who led a protest against low wages during the British colonial era. The K75 note, printed in 1985 and terminated in 1987, depicted a picture of Saya San, a farmer who staged a peasant protest over the low price of rice for the benefit of other farmers.

One by one, though, most of these bills have been removed from circulation. In 1985, the government announced that the K50 and K100 notes would no longer be considered legal tender. The K25 notes were made illegal in 1987. Today, the K10 is the only note of legal value with a picture of General Aung San on it, but inflation has meant that the K10 is virtually never seen or used and has become a collector's item instead, one of many such old bills seen most often in street stalls being hawked to tourists as souvenirs.

Such old bills may seem a quaint bit of historical novelty to visitors, but for those who remember them being removed from use, they're also reminders of turbulent times in the country's economy that lead to widespread upheaval.

Writer-turned-doctor Daw Khin Pan Hnin was working at a hospital in Lashio, Shan State, in 1987, when the K15, K25, K35 and K75 notes were made illegal.

"At first, the government announced that it was a rumour that it would discontinue the use of these notes. Later it came true," Daw Khin Pan Hnin said.

"They might have done it for some good reason but it affected [us]. At that time, I was staying at hotel run as a cooperative. I couldn't pay for my stay at the hotel and found it difficult to return home too." she added.

As compensation, she remembers, she and her medical colleagues in national service were allowed double their usual salary for one month. But the change is said to have rendered 75 percent of the country's money worthless; the resulting economic fallout contributed directly to the mass uprisings the following year.

This more recent Central Bank announcement, on the other hand, is long overdue, said Daw Khin Pan Hnin.

"It should have been done a long time ago," she said."Every woman, man and child loves Bogyoke Aung San. His courage and dedication to the achievement of independence is an example to us all."

What portrait would look best? There's no official word yet, but Daw Khin Pan Hnin has some suggestions for those in charge of the designs.

"The picture of him wearing a long coat and a cap, taken in London when he signed the Aung San-Attlee Agreement,and the portrait of him wearing the traditional turban and jacket that appeared on the K90 notes look graceful," DawKhin Pan Hnin said, but was careful to add that not just any portrait would do.

"I don't like the picture of him with a bare head that was featured on the K1 notes once," DawKhin Pan Hnin said."They should discuss what picture is respectful to be featured on notes before they are issued."

Writer U Nyi Min Nyo agrees that the image on a banknote is important. He remembers a conversation he had once in Tachileik, Shan State, where he was giving a literary talk.

"When I arrived in Tachileik, I found out they use [Thai] baht instead of kyat. I met a Thai woman and she said the baht notes are more graceful than the kyat notes because the various denominations of the Thai baht feature her king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, while our kyatnotes portray figures of animals only."

He added that Thailand is not the only example of a country using its currency to celebrate the achievements of its citizens.

"Most countries have their

national heroes and well-known personalities such as scientists and authors on their currency notes. Thoughthese people have died, they are still living on in the currency notes of that country, making people remember them forever."

"Figures of animals on currency notes are terrible," U Nyi Min Nyo added. "Currency notes should feature only those the people respect, such General Aung San, U Thant and Thakhin Kodaw Hmaing, who have shown unswerving support for the country and its people."

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/aung-san-returns-to-kyat-notes/