5 Sen ORI I

Indonesia's earliest emission of paper currency, this 5 Sen note was issued by the newly proclaimed republic within weeks of the August 1945 independence declaration — before any formal central banking infrastructure existed. The notes were printed under severe material constraints, domestically, using whatever press capacity was available to a government that did not yet fully control its own territory.

The Dutch, backed by Allied forces, were actively contesting Indonesian sovereignty at the time of issue. These notes circulated alongside Japanese occupation currency and Dutch colonial money in a three-way monetary tangle that lasted until the late 1940s. Low-denomination paper in this series suffered heavy attrition through use.