BI Circulates New Trivial Money To 3T Regions

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - Bank Indonesia (BI) Representative of West Sumatra (West Sumatra) in collaboration with the Indonesian Navy to reach Mentawai Islands Regency, which is one of the disadvantaged, frontier and outermost (3T) areas to distribute new denominations to the public.

"Bank Indonesia is working with the Indonesian Navy to educate the public as well as carry out Sovereign Rupiah Expeditions in Mentawai Islands Regency," said Assistant Manager Head of the BI Money Processing Section for West Sumatra Representative Sudarso in Mentawai Islands Regency, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, April 23.

This was conveyed by Sudarso when visiting SMA Negeri 2 Sipora, Mentawai Islands Regency in the context of Sovereign Rupiah Expedition, as well as rupiah socialization to students.

Sudarso said the Sovereign Rupiah Expedition was not just exchanging old or worn money for new rupiah denominations. However, it is also a momentum to educate the public about the values contained in the rupiah itself.

BI realizes that as one of the international tourist destinations, Mentawai Islands Regency is visited by many tourists from various countries. Therefore, both Indonesian citizens (WNI) and foreign tourists are required to use rupiah in the territory of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).

Sudarso hopes that the Sovereign Rupiah Expedition program will be able to increase people's sense of love for the rupiah as a legal currency in the country. BI ensures that although Mentawai Islands Regency is one of Indonesia's outermost regions, this is not the reason the rupiah is not circulating in the region.

This is also an effort to maintain the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia so that cases of the release of Sipadan and Ligitan islands into Malaysia do not happen again due to the lack of rupiah circulation on the two islands.

Meanwhile, Assistant II of the Regent of the Mentawai Islands, Lahmuddin Siregar, welcomed the Sovereign Rupiah Expedition program initiated by the West Sumatra Representative BI together with the Indonesian Navy.

According to Lahmuddin, the Sovereign Rupiah Expedition program needs to be intensified regularly, especially to 3T areas, especially Mentawai Islands Regency. This is because cash transactions and economic turnover on Earth Sikerei (Mentawai nickname) are also high.

"We hope that the next expedition will be even more massive. Because there are still many schools that can be visited and educated about the rupiah," said Lahmuddin Siregar.