Portraits
Used on:
• Portrait series all denominations
• All commemorative notes, except 1996 MAS25 $25 note
The Portrait series features a detailed drawing of our first President, Yusof Ishak, as the theme design. This was done both to honour his role in building the nation and to help prevent counterfeiting. Portraits are used on many banknotes around the world—such as past presidents on US dollars or monarchs on British notes—because they are hard to copy. Unlike pictures of animals or objects, faces are very detailed, and even small changes to a line, dot, or colour can change how the expression looks. Our brains are very good at noticing faces, so it’s easy for people to spot if something looks wrong on a fake note. A fake version of the Yusof Ishak portrait, for example, would likely look unnatural or lose the warmth of the real one.
The Yusof Ishak portrait was used on all the Portrait series notes as the theme image, and also in the watermark or shadow image. It was also used in all our commemorative notes in one of both of the two ways, except for the 1996 MAS25 $25 note, which uses a different theme image and watermark.