R

upiah and US dollar counterfeiting has increased in the last five years, forcing authorities to take tougher, more comprehensive measures, an official said.

In a seminar in Denpasar on Tuesday called “Eradicating Bank-note Forgery”, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief Agoes Putranto said the police had uncovered 210,336 sheets of forged rupiah and US dollar banknotes and bonds worth Rp 14.2 billion (US$1.65 million) in a five-year period.

“Weak law enforcement against banknote forgery has sparked more new cases. The sentences are too lenient,” Agoes said.

He said similar cases happened in other countries due to economical and political reasons, citing the situation in Indonesia after its independence in 1945, when many banknotes were counterfeited. In the 1970s, authorities found counterfeit rupiah banknotes allegedly made abroad.

“Banknote forgery is not merely a crime; it may even be a subversive act that threatens the nation’s
security. Although its prevalence fluctuates, authorities should be more serious about eradicating these cases.”

Sr. Comr. Darmawan Sutawijaya, head of the National Police’s sub-directorate of banknote forgery management, added that the number of forgery cases reached 176 during 2010, involving 290 suspects, a sharp increase from the 75 cases involving 176 suspects in 2009.

In 2010, the evidence included 523,347 sheets of rupiah notes and 9,211 sheets of foreign currency. In 2009, 72,031 sheets of counterfeit rupiah notes and 972 sheets of foreign currency were seized.

Last year in Bali, the police revealed five cases of rupiah forgery involving 10 suspects and 122 banknote sheets. In the same year, there were two cases of US dollar forgery involving three suspects and $40 as evidence.

Darmawan said the suspects were part of a syndicate, with some of them printing the counterfeit notes and others working as distributors.

“Bali is considered a strategic location to distribute counterfeit money. Therefore, we urge all related stakeholders — including the public and tourists — to remain alert and careful. They should be able to distinguish fake banknotes.”

He added that the suspects targeted mainly small transactions and remote areas.

Jeffry Kairupan, head of Bank Indonesia’s Denpasar office, agreed that Bali was a hotspot for counterfeit banknote distribution, citing reports the central bank had compiled from commercial banks.

“In 2005, there were only around 800 sheets, but this year the number reached 1,800 sheets. It indeed a small increase, but whatever the value is, it disturbs our economy and could taint Bali’s image as a tourist destination.”

The central bank’s director for money distribution, Mokhammad Dakhlan, said that in 2005, there were an average of eight sheets of forged notes in every one million sheets, and in 2010, it was as high as 20 sheets.

“In Indonesia, it is relatively easy to detect forged money, since the production and the distribution still use ordinary methods that are not very sophisticated. But we should remain alert, although this case
has not led to a transnational crime,” he said.