Thus it just keeps circulating until it's brown and in terrible shape and falling apart. Yet, people still keep accepting it as legal tender. You should note, however, that it is not considered polite to pay someone with excessively dirty bills the recipient may be offended and would certainly prefer you give them cleaner money. Like everyone around you you use them at the pasar , to pay toll fees or for those bothersome traffic control hoodlums on Jakarta streets. Your bank should be able to provide you with new money, though you may need to order small bills ahead.
Small bills are in low supply due to various supply and production problems.
Rp 1000 coins are being used more and more for change, weighing down everyone's wallets. While counterfeit money is found around the world, it has become a serious problem in Indonesia in recent years. The most commonly counterfeited bills have been the Rp 50,000 and Rp 20,000 bills. In 2000, there were raids and reports of the capture of various individuals involved in counterfeiting in Indonesia. Then, the government withdrew the old issues of particular banknotes from circulation.