DISILUSIONED with prospect of the ringgit which is still depreciating against world currencies, a currency trader has mooted the idea of leveraging the supremacy of Kelantan gold dinar and silver dirham exchange over the current paper money (fiat money) as a means of savings for rainy days.
While the local currency continuing to fall – at times to new lows against the greenback, pound sterling, euro and the Singaporean dollar, among others – value of the Kelantan dinar and dirham has held sturdy (one 4.25-gram dinar @ RM1,383), according to Kelantan Gold Trade (KGT) Sdn Bhd manager Wan Muhammad Najahuddin Wan Fuad.
Towards this end, (KGT) has collaborated with the Kelantan state penghulu (village head) secretariat to encourage Kelantanese to save more dinars and dirhams.
“As the entity closest to the community, the penghulu institution is able to encourage the society to achieve our aim,” HarakahDaily quoted Najahuddin as saying when met after the 2024 New Penghulu Induction Ceremony in Kota Bharu recently.
“Our latest programme is focused on the community whereby we find it timely to spark awareness on our very own Kelantanese dinar and dirham as a form of saving.
“We are currently promoting this at cooperative level, including within the penghulu cooperative, whereby we’re doing our part in the form of idea sharing and they (the village heads) can later disseminate such information to villagers in their respective mukim (administrative division).”
A company fully owned by the Kelantan Menteri Besar Corporation (PMBK), KGT was incepted on Oct 23, 2008 after the Kelantan state government launched the use of dinars and dirhams in 2006.
To further promote its Kelantan dinar and dirham scheme, Najahuddin said KGT has also launched an online dinar and dirham purchase and sale system (e-DnD) in July last year.
With the technological sophistication of internet facilities and online transactions, he expects sales and purchase transaction to become easier in the future, including immediate cash withdrawal.
“Once you have access to our account portal, buying and selling can be done directly besides the account holder switching between dirhams and dinar,” explained Najahuddin.
“They (those who are not IT-savvy) can also withdraw cash from the KGT’s head office at the PMBK (Perbadanan Menteri Besar Kelantan) building or at our seven branches nationwide.”
Economists generally agree that the use of dinar and dirham as currencies offer the advantage of minimal inflation and stable exchange rates across countries.
Different from paper money or coins whose value is established by the laws in place in a country and are also pegged to the US dollar exchange rate, dinar and dirham are said to stand out as an international currency for bullion is universally accepted throughout the world compared to paper money. – Jan 29, 2024
