¹ British Malaya included the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca, Singapore and a miscellany of other territories), the Federated Malay States (Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan and Pahang), and the Unfederated Malay States (Perlis, Kedah, Johore, Trengganu and Kelantan).

² “Malayan Currency”, Apr. 1938, CO852/155/14. Regarding the operations of currency boards generally, G.L.M. Clauson of the Colonial Office observed: “Currency Boards are not primarily money-making institutions. Their main purpose is to serve the public and to give facilities for the conduct of trade. They cannot altogether avoid being money-making institutions, and the contribution which they make to the public revenues is a valuable one, but where the alternatives before the Board in any particular case are to make money at the risk of hampering trade even to some small extent or to assist trade at the risk of making rather less money they should choose the latter alternative.” Clauson to Kershaw, 11 Oct. 1941, CO852/358/12.

³ After it was withdrawn from circulation and demonetized in 1948, the pre-invasion issue was put at $238,804,963. Gurney to S of S No. 675 (Confidential) 9 June 1949, CO852/677/7.

⁴ “Japanese Finance in Malaya”, part of a series of Security and Intelligence reports on Malaya under Japanese administration in BMA file PS/412. The report has a handwritten note at the end indicating that it was prepared by H. Wakefield, 8 Dec. 1944. A second document in the series, entitled “Financial Control”, contains similar information but provides some additional details.

Throughout most of the pre-war period about three per cent of Malaya's total currency issue was in the form of coin, but the level rose to fourteen per cent in 1938, and at the end of 1940 remained around twelve per cent. However, much of the coin nominally in circulation had been hoarded, exported or melted down. Employers found it difficult to obtain coins to pay daily labour, and the government was forced to print small denomination notes (down to the level of one cent) to overcome this problem. R.E. Turnbull (SO1, Finance) to Pedler (CO), 4 Sept. 1944, CO852/586/16.

⁵ Note by H. Weisberg, Financial Secretary for the Straits Settlements, in Acting HC for UK, Canberra, to S of S for Dominion Affairs, 27 Nov. 1945, CO852/586/17.

⁶ Translation of a Concordance of Military Regulations published in Chinese by the Shonan Daily, 15 June 1943, taken from NARS RG226, 63840. A further notice of 28 May 1942 indicated that members of the public had been using and hiding other currencies, an act declared “entirely illegal” and subject to severe punishment. It is not clear what other currencies were involved.

⁷ Fortnightly Intelligence Report No. 84 of the Far Eastern Bureau, British Ministry of Information, New Delhi, for the period ending 8 May 1943, referred to the “absorption of surplus funds” by the Japanese administration, citing a $100,000 donation from the Chettiar Association in Singapore for the benefit of wounded Japanese soldiers (reported by the Domei News Agency on 30 Apr.), and a donation made by Chinese sugar dealers in Singapore for the same cause. NARS RG226, 38483.

⁸ JICA/CBI, New Delhi, Report No. 8341, 5 Sept. 1944, NARS RG226, 95618.

⁹ “Appreciation of the probable position in Singapore on re-occupation”, by O.W. Gilmour, 5 Apr. 1944, BMA ADM/22.

¹⁰ Letter from representatives of the Chinese, Indian and Malay Business Communities to the Civil Affairs Department, Sel, 23 Sept. 1945, in Sel CA94/1945.

¹¹ H. Wakefield, “Japanese Finance in Malaya”, BMA PS/412. The Malayan Bankers' Association also conducted lotteries based on the serial numbers of fixed deposit accounts to encourage use of savings banks.

¹² Ibid.

¹³ HQ BMA(M) Peninsular Division to SACSEA, n.d., CO852/541/4.

¹⁴ Ibid. According to Japanese records the total note issue by the Nanpo Kaihatsu Kinko amounted to $3,816,794,000 as of 10 Aug. 1945. Translation Report No. 76, 9 Oct. 1945, BMA ADM/9/27.

¹⁵ For exchange rates see figures prepared by Kwa Siew Tee of the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation in “Sliding Scale of Values of the Japanese Dollar throughout the Period of Occupation”, Registrar of Malayan Statistics, 11 Aug. 1947, CO852/726/3; Penang rates are in BMA(M) to SACSEA, n.d., CO537/1376, and the post-liberation figure in BMA(M) to WO, 25 Sept. 1945, CO852/586/17.

¹⁶ BMA(M) to SACSEA, n.d., CO537/1376.

¹⁷ Information on banking during the occupation years has been assembled from Fisher to Hawke, 21 Sept. 1945, CO852/586/1; CO852/726/3; FO371/41738; and CO852/510/21. A report on Malaya prior to the Japanese Occupation (“Malaya, Part I”, BMA CAS(M) 506/10) provides a list of pre-war banks operating in Malaya. See also “Malaya, Part II”, pp. 15–16, in the same file. The various listings differ in some respects, particular in the lists of banks operating in pre-war Malaya.

¹⁸ Memorandum prepared by CHL, probably Chew Hock Leong, of the OCBC, 8 June 1946, CO852/726/1.

¹⁹ In 1943 the Selangor government refused to grant the Chettinad Bank a licence under the Companies Enactment to conduct banking business on grounds that the business of the company was limited to lending money “as is usually carried on by Chettiar money-lenders”. The Chettinad Bank was told to apply to the Police for a licence under the ordinance to regulate money lending. Selangor Syuseityo Kanbo 52/2602.

²⁰ “Malaya, Part II”, BMA(M) 506/10.

²¹ The $30 million figure is taken from a Domei News Agency report dated 27 June 1942, and reported in Review of the Foreign Press No. 150 (20 Aug. 1942), p. 264, CO852/356/7.

²² “Japanese Finance in Malaya”, BMA PS/412.

²³ “Report of Balances of Public Deposits as at 28th February 1945”, BMA DCCAO 188/45.

²⁴ Federal Secretariat file 3090 Pt V/1948. At the end of the occupation the average size of Dai Nippon Post Office Savings Bank accounts was $81, twice the amount at the end of 1944. The Japanese administration allowed withdrawals from the British Post Office Savings Bank through the Japanese Bank, and some $3 million was withdrawn during the occupation.

²⁵ The banks liquidated were: Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, Chartered Bank, Thos. Cook & Sons, Banque de l'Indochine, American Express Co., Mercantile Bank of India, National City Bank of New York, Bank of China, Netherlands Trading Society, Netherlands Indië Commercial Bank, Kwangtung Provincial Bank, and the Eastern Bank. The list also mentions a “Straits Settlements Currency Bureau”, the meaning of which is obscure. Concordance of Military Regulations, Japanese Proclamations in Malaya, BMA COM/26.

²⁶ H.C. Hopkins (Malayan Exchange Banks Association) to Financial Secretary, Singapore, 29 Nov. 1947, CO852/726/1.

²⁷ Extract from Malai Gunseikan Kokuji No. 52, in “Notice to the Depositors of the Enemy Banks under Liquidation”, Temerloh District file 259/2604.

²⁸ Note from The Malai Banking Association, Syonan, , The Syonan Shimbun, 29 09 2604Google Scholar.

²⁹ H.C. Hopkins to Financial Secretary, Singapore, 29 Nov. 1947, CO852/726/1.

³⁰ Ibid.

³¹ Turnbull, S.O.1 Finance, 4 Dec. 1943, CO852/510/21.

³² Turnbull, Draft Memorandum on Malayan Currency, 10 Nov. 1943, CO852/510/24.

³³ J. Fisher to Caine, 29 July 1943, CO852/356/7; emphasis in original.

³⁴ Cobbold (Bank of England) to Waley, 18 Dec. 1942, CO852/356/7.

³⁵ On this period, see Kheng, Cheah Boon, Red Star Over Malaya: Resistance and Social Conflict During and After the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, 1941–1946 (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 1983)Google Scholar.

³⁶ Proclamations, including those concerning Legal Tender, the Moratorium, Price Control, and Food Control were published in the BMA, Malaya, Gazette, of 1 Nov. 1945. See also Rear SACSEA to SACSEA, 6 Sept. 1945, WO203/6907.

³⁷ “Brief for Supreme Allied Commander on Penang Currency Situation”, WO203/3907, brings together official correspondence concerning this issue. See also Kheng, Cheah Boon, Red Star Over Malaya, p. 144Google Scholar, for an account based on a diary kept by Capt. T.J.N. Hilken, the Officer-in-Charge at Penang (found in WO172/1784).

³⁸ BMA to WO, 25 Sept. 1945, CO852/586/17.

³⁹ Ibid.

⁴⁰ Rajoo, Nadarajan, “The Estate Food Supply and Distribution Network before and during the Japanese Occupation”, in Penghijrah dan Penghijrahan, ed. Kratoska, Paul H. (Pulau Pinang: Pusat Pengajian Ilmu Kemanusiaan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 1982), p. 114Google Scholar.

⁴¹ Extract from statement by W.D. Godsall (Controller of Finance and Accounts), CO852/581/1; BMA(M) to WO, 25 Sept. 1945, CO852/586/17; Financial Secretary to SCAOs, 15 Sept. 1945, SCAO Trengganu 14/1945; Godsall, W.D., Report on the Working of the Malayan Currency Commission for the period of 1st January, 1941 to 31st December, 1946 (Singapore: Government Printer, 1948)Google Scholar.

⁴² Report on the British Military Administration of Malaya, pp. 105–106 [WO220/562]Google Scholar.

⁴³ See W.D. Godsall, “Report on Financial and Economic Conditions in Malaya, December 1945”, 30 Dec. 1945, WO203/3907.

⁴⁴ Malayan Union and Singapore, Interim Report on Wages by the Joint Wages Commission, 29 July 1947 (Kuala Lumpur: Malayan Union Govt. Press, 1947), p. 35Google Scholar.

⁴⁵ W.D. Godsall (Controller of Finance and Accounts), “Report on Finance and Economic Conditions in Malaya, December 1945”, 30 Dec. 1945, in WO203/3907.

⁴⁶ Chinese and Indian banks resumed operations at Kuala Lumpur on the same date, and a day later at Penang.

⁴⁷ Extract from statement by W.D. Godsall, CO852/586/1. Several million dollars of British Malayan currency was also found in the Japanese Central Bank at Singapore.

⁴⁸ H.C. Willan, “Memorandum regarding Contracts entered into before and during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya”, 22 Jan. 1946, CO852/541/4.

⁴⁹ Table II, Interim Report on Wages, p. 42Google Scholar.

⁵⁰ Interim Report on Prices and Wages, by Col. H. McFadzean (30 Nov. 1945), Appendix A, BMA file DEPT/18/13.

⁵¹ McFadzean to Economic Adviser, 7 Mar. 1946, BMA DEPT 8/48.

⁵² Interim Report on Wages, pp. 10–12Google Scholar.

⁵³ CO statement cited in WO to BMA(M) Secret Tel, 25 Mar. 1946, CO852/541/5.

⁵⁴ The model legislation was supplied to Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo. A copy is enclosed in G.H. Hall to MU, Singapore, Hong Kong, North Borneo, and Sarawak, 20 Sept. 1946, CO537/1375.

⁵⁵ FO to Washington, 4 Dec. 1945, CO852/541/4.

⁵⁶ WO to BMA(M), Secret Cypher Tel, 25 Mar. 1946, CO852/541/5.

⁵⁷ Colonial Office Statement in WO to BMA(M), Secret Tel, 25 Mar. 1946, CO852/541/5; WO to BMA(M) Secret Cypher Tel, 25 Mar. 1946, CO852/541/5.

⁵⁸ A report prepared by the Select Committees that later examined the Debtor-Creditor Bill stated: “The military notes issued by the Japanese were in great quantities for the most part without serial numbers or, apparently, proper records of the quantities issued and without backing. An occupying force may be entitled under the principles of international law to enforce its own currency in occupied territory but it is submitted that an unlimited issue of paper notes, unnumbered and without backing cover is not the issue of a currency.” Report of the Select Committee … [on] the Debtor and Creditor (Occupation Period) Bill, 1948, Federation of Malaya Legislative Council Paper No. 38 of 1948.

⁵⁹ WO to BMA Tel, 25 Mar. 1946, and CO to Gov Singapore, and HC Fed. of Malaya, Secret Cypher Tel, 18 Oct. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁶⁰ See, for example, materials supplied by the Hongkong Bank in CO852/541/5.

⁶¹ Managers of Lee Wah Bank, See Wai Ting Banking and Insurance Co, United Chinese Bank, and Ban Hin Lee Bank, and the General Manager OCBC, to Chairman, Malayan Exchange Banks Association, 19 Feb. 1946, CO852/726/1.

⁶² A. Morse, W.R. Cockburn, J.R. Crichton, N.S. Golder, to S. Caine, 4 Apr. 1946, CO852/541/5. This argument was somewhat impolitic since the banks were claiming at the same time that payments made by the liquidators to bank depositors did amount to a valid discharge of liabilities on grounds that depositors voluntarily accepted payment in Japanese currency. Discussion of this point is found in CO852/541/4.

⁶³ Memorandum by J.C. McPetrie, “Suggested amendments to draft Debtor-Creditor Ordinance”, CO852/728/2.

⁶⁴ J.R. Jones to A. Morse, 29 June 1948, CO852/726/2.

⁶⁵ Gov MU to CO, 5 June 1946, CO852/728/2.

⁶⁶ S of S (Colonies) to MU, Tel, 23 Dec. 1947, CO852/726/1.

⁶⁷ Members of the Select Committee for Singapore were: the Acting Financial Secretary, the Attorney-General, Tan Chin Tuan (OCBC), N.A. Mallal, E.R. Koek, S.C. Goho (who died before the Report was submitted), and Lim Yew Hock. Members of the Federation of Malaya Committee were: the Attorney-General, the Financial Secretary, Dr. Ong Chong Keng, V.M.N. Menon, Haji Mohamed Eusoff bin Mohamed Yussof, A. Arbuthnott (resigned 30 Mar. 1948), T.D. Waring (replacing A. Arbuthnott), and R. Ramani. The Attorney-General, K.K. O'Connor, and the Financial Secretary, W.D. Godsall, both went on leave in May, 1948, and the report was signed by the Acting Attorney-General, E.P.S. Bell, and the Acting Financial Secretary, W.E. Rigby.

⁶⁸ Malacca Chinese Chamber of Commerce, “Criticisms and/or suggested amendments…”, n.d., CO852/726/2.

⁶⁹ “Report of the Select Committee … [on] the Debtor and Creditor (Occupation Period) Bill, 1948”, Federation of Malaya Legislative Council Paper No. 38 of 1948, pp. 4–7, contains these and other examples of conflicting views.

⁷⁰ This double formulation was needed because of the differing terminology found in the British laws used in the Straits Settlements, and the Indian legal codes used elsewhere in Malaya. S of S to MU, 1 Sept. 1947, CO852/726/1.

⁷¹ The reports were printed in the Federation of Malaya as Legislative Council Paper No. 38 of 1948 and in Singapore as No. 31 of 1948. See also CO852/726/3.

⁷² Memorandum on the Debtor and Creditor Bill, n.d., CO852/726/2.

⁷³ Malayan Exchange Banks Association to The Clerk of Council, Federal Secretariat, Kuala Lumpur, 18 June 1948, CO852/726/2.

⁷⁴ Report of the Select Committee, Federation of Malaya Paper No. 38 of 1948, pp. 10–11.

⁷⁵ S of S (Colonies) to Gov Singapore repeated to HC Fed of Malaya and to Commissioner General SEA, Secret, 1 Dec. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁷⁶ Morse to Caine, 19 Oct. 1948, in CO852/726/3. In a minute written the same date as Morse's letter, Caine said he felt sympathy with the banks, and that the Select Committee proposals regarding the sliding scale “do seem to weight the scale against the creditors”.

⁷⁷ Gimson to Paskin, 30 Oct. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁷⁸ “Memorandum on the Report of a Select Committee of the Legislative Council on the Debtors and Creditors (Occupation Period) Bill, submitted on behalf of the members of the Malayan Exchange Banks Association which were forcefully subjected to liquidation ….” 4 Oct. 1948, p. 16, CO852/726/3. The Governor of Singapore, Sir Franklin Gimson, commented: “I am afraid that the Banks did not fully appreciated the constitutional position of the Councils in Singapore and the Federation and had thought that the Governments would be able to safeguard their interests, even in a matter on which varying emphatic opinions were held.” Gimson to Paskin, 30 Oct. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁷⁹ J.R. Jones to A. Morse, 29 June 1948, in CO852/726/2.

⁸⁰ Jones to S.A. Gray, 22 Dec. 1948, CO852/726/4. The views of the banks are presented in CO852/726/1, CO852/726/2, and CO852/726/4.

⁸¹ For a 25-page memorandum stating the objections of the liquidated banks to the revisions proposed by the Select Committees, see CO852/726/3.

⁸² Statement to shareholders by Mr Chidambaram, Indian Overseas Bank, CO852/726/4.

⁸³ The Indian banks supplied convincing support for this point, but the administration had decided to disregard established precedents in devising Debtor-Creditor legislation.

⁸⁴ “Debtor and Creditor (Occupation Period) Bill and Indian Banks in Malaya”, CO852/726/3.

⁸⁵ Information on the Chettiars is taken from R.N. Banerjee (Department of Commonwealth Relations, Government of India) to Under S of S for India, Political and Judicial Dept, India Office, 25 May 1946, with enclosures. MU944/1947.

⁸⁶ Ibid.

⁸⁷ The Chettiars' petition hints at this matter when it contends that Nattukottai Chettiars in Malaya had “earned for themselves a reputation for honest dealing and truthfulness which has often been the subject of favourable comment in the Courts of Justice in Malaya”. Pre-war legislation regulating money lending grew out of “the operations of hordes of petty and unscrupulous money lenders who preyed upon the necessities of clerks and poor people and was in no way necessitated by the operations of the Nattukottai Chettiars”. Ibid.

⁸⁸ Report of the Select Committee, Federation of Malaya, in CO852/726/3.

⁸⁹ Singapore Select Committee Report, Singapore Legislative Council Paper No. 31 of 1948.

⁹⁰ “Joint Report of the Select Committees … [on] a Bill the Short Title of Which is the Principals and Agents Rights and Liabilities (Occupation Period) Ordinance, 1949” (18 July 1949). Minutes and Council Papers of the Federal Legislative Council (2nd Session), March 1949-Jan. 1950, pp. B246–B248.

⁹¹ These reports were printed in the Federation of Malaya as Legislative Council Paper No. 57 of 1948 and in Singapore as No. 74 of 1948.

⁹² See “Report of the Select Committee Appointed [to Report on] the Debtor and Creditor (Occupation Period) Bill, 1948”, Proceedings of the Legislative Council, Colony of Singapore, 1st Session 1948, pp. C575–C581.

⁹³ Jones to Gray, 22 Dec. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁹⁴ Gurney to S of S (Colonies), Tel, 10 Dec. 1948, CO852/726/3.

⁹⁵ Minute, 3 Feb. 1949, CO852/726/4.

⁹⁶ Federation of Malaya, No. 42 of 1948; Singapore No. 5 of 1949.

⁹⁷ Rear SACSEA to SACSEA, 6 Sept. 1945, WO203/6907.

⁹⁸ “Minutes of Joint Meeting of Select Committees of the Singapore and Federation of Malaya Legislative Councils … [on] the Moratorium Proclamation (Repeal) and the Principals and Agents Rights and Liabilities (Occupation Period) Bill”, Federal Secretariat 13619/1949.

⁹⁹ Other legislation enacted during 1949 in conjunction with the lifting of the moratorium concerned dealings in land during the occupation, the status of land titles, and the position of agents and trustees.

¹⁰⁰ “Report of the Select Committee … [on] the Moratorium Proclamation (Repeal) Ordinance, 1949”, Minutes and Council Papers of the Federal Legislative Council, 2nd Session (Mar. 1949-Jan. 1950), pp. B238–B244; Minutes of Joint Meeting of the Select Committees, 18 June 1949, Federal Secretariat 13614/1949. The Federation of Malaya Select Committee consisted of S.W.P. Foster Sutton (the Attorney-General), W.D. Godsall (the Financial Secretary), the Mentri Besar of Pahang, Yong Shook Lin, V.M.N. Menon, A. Arbuthnott, and Haji Mohamed Eusoff bin Mohamed Yussof. The Singapore Select Committee members were E.J. Davies (the Attorney-General), J.D.M. Smith (the Financial Secretary), N.A. Mallal, Thio Chan Bee, Lim Yew Hock, and Balwant Singh. These committees also considered the Principals and Agents Rights and Liabilities (Occupation Period) Bill which set down arrangements for agents separated from their principals by the “line of war”, a contentious matter in view of the fact that the Malayan administration had decided to depart from the accepted practice under international law whereby an agency was terminated in such cases.

¹⁰¹ Interview with Tan Sri Tan Chin Tuan, 18 Jan. 1991.

¹⁰² Minute, 26 May 1949, CO852/726/4.