Kukup Concession of Syed Muhamed Bin Ali Alsagof banknote

all information is from Malaysia Brunei & Singapore Banknote &coins book by KN Boon

In 1819, most of the land in the Johor state was covered by trees, and the number of residents was still low. Till 1844, Temenggung Ibrahim authorized the Johor State Government to issue the first "Surat Sungai " (meaning letter of river) to a Chinese entrepreneur Lau Lib Keng, who started the migration of Chinese Singaporean to the Johor State. The State government controlled the farmers by using the "Kang-Chu" system( means the head of riverbank). Wong Ah Fook, another Chinese entrepreneur who conducted a large farm, was also given the authority to print banknotes for his own farm usage. The token, which is a private banknote, was in the form of receipt validated by the farm's private stamps. In early 1870, Syed Muhamed Ahmad Alsagof was given the authority to bring in foreign workers to his farm Estate of Constantinople, a large piece of land granted by the King of Johor. He has printed a series of private banknotes for use in the farm valley. These came in the form of 25 cents, 50 cents, 1 dollar, and 2 dollars. The token was only valid within the area of Kukup. The concession was then withdrawn in 1917. Another Chinese entrepreneur, given the concession of land and printing of private banknote, was Loke Yew.