The Indonesian rupiah, which offered a very attractive 15% back then, has plunged 53% since.
The Indonesian rupiah seems to have come under pressure largely because Indonesia is located near Thailand.
From the end of 1996 through December 1999 the Indonesian rupiah did the worst relative to the greenback.
On February 5th the most bruised currency of all, the Indonesian rupiah, stood at 9, 250 to the dollar.
And because the Singaporean and Malaysian currencies have depreciated far less than the Indonesian rupiah, the rewards for working there are even more attractive.
In the week beginning on December 15th, the Indonesian rupiah, Philippine peso, Thai baht and Malaysian ringgit all touched historic lows against the American dollar.
Villas can cost between eight billion and 50 billion Indonesian rupiah.
This type of property can start as low as 280 million Indonesian rupiah, and is usually a long-term leasehold, up to 70 years in some cases.
"The Indonesian rupiah looks the most interesting, " says Malik.
One problem has been that bond issues have been largely denominated in U.S. dollars, a construct designed to protect buyers from holding bonds in a volatile currency such as, say, the Indonesian rupiah.
An investor who purchased stocks one year after the 1997 Thai baht devaluation, 1997 Indonesian rupiah devaluation or 2002 Argentine peso devaluation would have more than doubled his money during the ensuing 12 months in each instance.
Bank Indonesia said last week it would boost dollar availability, but investors said they are nervous about trading the rupiah, or Indonesian stocks and bonds, given the difficulty of getting out of the currency.
In the face of a plummeting rupiah, the Indonesian despot gave no thought to currency controls and imposed a 60% interest rate instead, crushing banks and companies en masse and throwing millions out of work.
The fall of the rupiah sparked concerns about an Indonesian debt default that could spread to Thailand, hurt the fragile Japanese banking system and undermine South Korea's efforts to contain its economic problems.
The Indonesian currency has strengthened from 15, 000 rupiah to the dollar in 1998 to 9, 300 now, affording the central bank leeway to lower interest rates.
Equally important, just about every large Indonesian corporation will go bankrupt and default unless the rupiah stabilizes at a rate substantially higher than the current 9, 000 to the dollar.
Many Indonesian companies cannot afford to repay their loans with the rupiah as weak as it is.
The rupiah's exchange rate is also important to the health of the Indonesian economy.
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