Early birds flock to snap up new series of currency notes

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HUNDREDS of people queued up as early as 6am to be among the first Malaysians to own the new series of bank notes.

They waited for hours for their turn outside Bank Negara’s regional office on Light Street where commemorative notes were sold to mark the introduction of the new series.

Among those spotted in the long queue was student Jordan Chan, 11, who had waited in the queue for three hours since 9.30am.

“I can’t wait to get the new notes for my collection. I like to collect currency notes and this will be a great addition to my collection.”

Also in the queue were retiree Dejeli Abdul Kadir, 66, and his grandson Mohd Daniel Zahril Azri, 12.

Worth the wait: Avid collectors queuing up to buy the new notes at the Bank Negara Malaysia, Penang branch

“We are very excited about the new bank notes. I thought it would be a great outing for my grandson and I to get the new notes,” said Dejeli.

He added that he had been waiting for two hours since 10am in the queue.

The mood was made even more festive with the appearance of two Santarinas from the Eastern & Oriental Hotel who popped by.

They took the opportunity to pose for pictures with the new commemorative notes.

The notes, which were sold from yesterday at Bank Negara Malaysia’s headquarters and branches in Penang, Johor Bahru, Kuala Terengganu, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, come in three sets.

The first set consists of the new RM20 note, which is being sold for RM30.

The second set consists of the new RM1 and RM5 note and is being sold for RM15.

The third set consists of all the new notes, which are RM1, RM5, RM10, RM20, RM50 and RM100 and is being sold at RM300.

The new fourth series of bank notes, except for the RM50 note which was given a makeover in 2007 in conjunction with the 50th Merdeka celebration, will be in circulation from the second half of 2012.

Themed ‘Distinctively Malaysia’, the new currency series was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Wednesday. Joining the newly launched orange RM20 note are RM1 in blue, RM5 in green, RM10 in red, RM50 in green-blue and RM100 in purple.