10 000 Rupiah

Perum Peruri — the state security printing works established in 1971 — had by 1979 taken full control of Indonesian banknote production, ending the country's earlier dependence on foreign printers like Thomas De La Rue and Joh. Enschedé. This note belongs to that consolidation period, when the facility in Karawang was still building toward the production volumes and technical sophistication it would reach in the 1980s.

A print run of just over twelve million is modest for a high-denomination note in an economy Indonesia's size. The 1970s saw persistent inflationary pressure following the oil boom, and 10,000 rupiah — worth roughly twenty-four US dollars at the time of issue — was not trivial spending money.