P#42 is notable for straddling a genuine rupture: the series was issued across the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, during which the ringgit lost roughly half its value against the dollar before Malaysia imposed capital controls in September 1998 — an unorthodox move that drew sharp criticism from the IMF at the time but is now widely studied as having stabilized the currency faster than comparable economies that accepted IMF orthodoxy.
The dual signatures reflect that transition directly. Ahmad Don resigned as Governor in August 1998 under pressure related to the crisis response; Zeti Aziz eventually succeeded him and became one of the longest-serving central bank governors in Malaysian history. Split-signature examples are common for this pick number and not inherently scarce, but they document a specific moment of institutional turbulence.
P#42 is notable for straddling a genuine rupture: the series was issued across the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, during which the ringgit lost roughly half its value against the dollar before Malaysia imposed capital controls in September 1998 — an unorthodox move that drew sharp criticism from the IMF at the time but is now widely studied as having stabilized the currency faster than comparable economies that accepted IMF orthodoxy.
The dual signatures reflect that transition directly. Ahmad Don resigned as Governor in August 1998 under pressure related to the crisis response; Zeti Aziz eventually succeeded him and became one of the longest-serving central bank governors in Malaysian history. Split-signature examples are common for this pick number and not inherently scarce, but they document a specific moment of institutional turbulence.