5 Cents Japanese Government

The Japanese Military Administration's small-denomination occupation notes for Malaya were printed without serial numbers — a deliberate production shortcut that made counterfeiting easier and detection harder. The 5 Cents (P#M2) was part of the first wave of occupation currency rushed into circulation immediately after the fall of Singapore in February 1942, intended to displace Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States currency as quickly as possible.

At over twelve million printed, the note was common enough, but the absence of serial numbers across the entire low-denomination series has long frustrated attempts to track surviving stocks against original print runs.