Last few weeks, there is a little bit of discussion about what exactly is the monetray code for Malaysia ringgit; RM or MYR? The discussion in local star newspaper started by ABDUN NIZAR AHMAD asking if "Our currency wrongly denoted?". He is saying that prices or monetary values used in Malaysia are denoted by the acronym RM and pronounced as Ringgit Malaysia (or Malaysian Ringgit). However, try picking up an Asian edition of an international magazine or checking our exchange rates via an international financial website, chances are Malaysia currency is often denoted as either MYR or MY$, while currencies of other countries (including those of neighbouring ones) are correctly used.
Another Star reader PROUD MALAYSIAN RINGGIT reply that "Forex code for our ringgit is correct". He is saying that the currency code in the international foreign exchange market for Malaysian Ringgit is “MYR” while “RM” was introduced some years back to replace the “$” in our day-to-day transactions. This practice is no different from many other currencies in the world. For example, the Great Britain Pound is denoted as “GBP” in the international forex market while “£” is used in day-to-day transactions. Likewise, the Japanese Yen is denoted as “JPY” in the international forex market while “¥” is used in day-to-day transactions. It is also important to note that in conversations when referring to “RM”, we should merely say “ringgit” and not “ringgit Malaysia”.
Exactly, MYR is a currency code for Malaysia Ringgit. ISO 4217 is the international standard describing three-letter codes (also known as the currency code) to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The ISO 4217 code list is the established norm in banking and business all over the world for defining different currencies, and in many countries the codes for the more common currencies are so well known publicly, that exchange rates published in newspapers or posted in banks use only these to define the different currencies, instead of translated currency names or ambiguous currency symbols.The first two letters of the code are the two letters of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (which are also used as the basis for national top-level domains on the Internet) and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself. So Japan's currency code is JPY—JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the names dollar, franc and pound being used in dozens of different countries, each having significantly differing values. Also, if a currency is revalued, the currency code's last letter is changed to distinguish it from the old currency. In some cases, the third letter is the initial for "new" in that country's language, to distinguish it from an older currency that was revalued; the code sometimes outlasts the usage of the term "new" itself (for example, the code for the Mexican peso is MXN). Other changes can be seen, however; the Russian ruble, for example, changed from RUR to RUB, where the B comes from the third letter in the word "ruble".
The sign "RM" (Ringgit Malaysia) only introduced in the 1990s, to replaced the use of the dollar sign "$" (or "M$"). Internationally "MYR" (MY being the country code for Malaysia) is more widely used. "RM" is just the sign to replace the "$" and "MYR" is the the currency code for Malaysia Ringgit. As you can see on the picture above, the old banknote used the sign or symbol "$", the new one using RM as banknote sign. Normally this banknote sign is on the banknote itself. I hope both of the local Star newspaper reader will read my post and understand what is "RM" and "MYR".
Source: Star.com.my (opinion section), Wikipedia
