Singapore gaffe on first President Yusof Ishak name

SINGAPORE: Singapore's central bank has made an embarrassing gaffe by misspelling the name of the country's first President Yusof Ishak on the packaging of newly-launched currency notes, forcing authorities to apologise today.

The name that appears on the new folder and in an enclosed booklet, marking Singapore's 50th year of independence and containing notes of SG50 and SG10 is Yusok Ishak, local media reported.

A blurb explaining the design of the special SGD50 note reads: "The front design features Mr Yusok Ishak, our first President."

The first name is spelt with K ending, instead of F.

The late President's portrait is on both the SGD50 and SGD10 commemorative notes.

However, there were no mistakes on the dollar notes celebrating the anniversary.

Ravi Menon, managing director of Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the de facto central bank, which issued the sets, has taken full responsibility for the spelling mistake.

"This should never have happened, is not acceptable, and I take full responsibility. I apologise on behalf of my colleagues who worked hard to prepare the notes and folders, but are deeply disappointed that we made this most unfortunate mistake. We will put this right," he said.

A spokesman for MAS added it is now printing stickers to replace the mis-spelt part of the name.

The stickers will be affixed to the folders from next Tuesday.

The commemorative notes can be exchanged at face value at local banks.

Those who have already got the commemorative notes may also obtain the same stickers from the banks.

Already, some people who managed to get the commemorative notes sets on the first day are trying to sell it for a profit, according to the media reports.

A Straits Times check found at least 50 listings of the note sets for sale on e-commerce platform Carousell.

A set is worth SGD100 as it contains one SGD50 note and five SGD10 notes, but some Carousell users had marked up the price of one set by between SGD18 and SGD100.

Some users were also trying to sell the folder packaging without the notes, saying the packaging is "limited edition".

MAS is printing a total of 20 million pieces of the SGD50 notes and 75 million pieces of the SGD10 notes.

There are also 2.8 million specially-designed folders available, although each person can obtain a maximum of two folders.

The MAS said on its website that there are enough notes for Singaporeans, who are given priority to exchange their old notes for the new ones from now till September 30.

Each individual is allowed to obtain only five sets of the new notes.

Singapore marked its 50th independence day this month with fireworks and a lot of fanfare.