Malaysia · Bank Negara Malaysia · Polymer

RM5 · Abdul Rahman · 2012

Bank Negara Malaysia polymer RM5 from the fourth series. No printed date; first issued in 2012. Portrait of Tuanku Abdul Rahman and a hibiscus; reverse with two rhinoceros hornbills. Serial AA 1955984, printed twice on the reverse.

Catalog facts

Pick reference: P#52a · TBB B149a
Serial number: AA 1955984
Signatures: Tan Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz (Governor)
Condition: Unslabbed, in a sleeve (private collection)
Printage: Bank Negara Malaysia places the fourth-series polymer RM5 — Distinctively Malaysia — in 2012, with the RM1 and the paper denominations. This record does not invent a printage for prefix AA or for Pick 52a.

Face of the polymer RM5, serial AA 1955984: Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the hibiscus, the hornbill window, and Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s signature.

Reverse of the RM5: two rhinoceros hornbills, the bank’s kijang, Jawi legends, and both AA 1955984 serials.

The note

The polymer RM5 (Pick 52a, The Banknote Book B149a) is the green denomination of Bank Negara Malaysia’s fourth series — Distinctively Malaysia — the only ordinary-circulation five-ringgit on plastic since 2012. The face carries at right the portrait of Tuanku Abdul Rahman, the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong, in a tengkolok; at center the hibiscus (bunga raya); at left a clear window with a rhinoceros-hornbill silhouette, the crescent, and the fourteen-pointed star. BANK NEGARA MALAYSIA heads the note; RM 5 and RINGGIT MALAYSIA mark the value; under the central 5 is Zeti Akhtar Aziz’s signature over GABENOR, and the footer reads “WANG INI SAH DIPERLAKUKAN DENGAN NILAI.” The reverse shows two rhinoceros hornbills (Buceros rhinoceros) in the forest, the bank’s kijang, and “Bank Negara Malaysia” and “Ringgit Malaysia” in Jawi. Both serials — vertical in red at left and horizontal in black at upper right — read AA 1955984. Size 135 × 65 mm. It is not the 2004 polymer RM5, which repeated the third-series design. This collection piece, sleeved and unslabbed, has no certificate. The serial is ordinary: counter 1955984 is neither low nor a fancy pattern. AA is the first prefix of the Zeti issue, not a ZA replacement.

Scarcity and printage

This is the ordinary-circulation RM5 type from 2012. Bank Negara Malaysia describes it as the polymer RM5 of the fourth series; that family’s RM50 appeared in July 2009 and the remaining denominations, including this one, in 2012. AA 1955984 is an ordinary first-prefix serial with the Zeti signature (Pick 52a), not a ZA replacement. Later signatures — Muhammad Ibrahim, Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour — belong to other rows of the same design (TBB B149b–d). This record does not invent a printage by prefix.

Population

A PMG or PCGS census for serial AA 1955984 has not been independently verified. The note is shown in a sleeve, unslabbed, with no certificate.

Sources

Bank Negara Malaysia — Current Banknote Series (2012–present) (opens in a new tab)
Fourth series Distinctively Malaysia; RM50 in July 2009; RM1, RM5, RM10, RM20, and RM100 in 2012; first signature Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
Bank Negara Malaysia — RM5 (rhinoceros hornbill) (opens in a new tab)
Polymer RM5; Buceros rhinoceros motif; clear window and the other fourth-series security features.
Numista — 5 Ringgit, Abdul Rahman / hornbill, polymer (N# 203263) (opens in a new tab)
Pick 52a; TBB B149a; 135 × 65 mm; Zeti Akhtar Aziz signature; ND (2012). No prices cited.
Bank Note Museum — Malaysia P-52 (opens in a new tab)
Pick 52 type; fourth-series polymer; Abdul Rahman and hibiscus; hornbills on the reverse.

← Malaysia