“Not valid unless signed”. I find that at the back part of my ATM card. And we’ll find similar request to legalize certain cards and documents. Just open your wallet and try to count how many signatures there are.
What is signature? According to Oxford Learner’s Pocket Dictionary, signature is defined as person’s name written by himself/herself. So, it’s a person’s handwritten name, not handwritten symbol or secret (referring to the dictionary).
In my culture (Indonesian), most people do not make their names as signatures. They usually make unreadable handwritten symbols as their signature. For instance, my father’s signature has nothing to do with his name. And it is officially acceptable.
Years ago, I watched a TV Show about a successful businessman (Rhenald Kassali) who visited the US for the first time, and he was asked to put his signature on certain documents. After signing the documents, surprisingly the official asked him again: “Please, put your signature, Sir”. The official said that the signature should be readable. Mr. Kassali then insisted that it was his signature. I forget what happened next.
I know some international people, and I learned that most of their signatures are readable. When I tried to put “signature” keyword at the Google Image Searching, I found that most signatures are readable.
So, what’s up with the signatures in my culture? Why people try to make their signature as difficult as possible so that the others can’t fake?
In my opinion, there are two reasons for this. First is lack of knowledge. To my experience, I had to put my first official signature on the Elementary School graduation certificate. At that time, neither my parents nor my teacher told me how the signature should be, or how it would be used in the future. So, my first signature looked like my father’s. I changed my signature when I graduated from Junior High. I made another change during the Senior High and started to be consistent when I was in college. I learned that signature should be handwritten related to my name.
The second reason why people tried to make their signatures complicated is because there are many faking cases related to the signature. For instance, when parents pass away, and they still have properties such as land or a house, the children can not sell those properties unless all children signed the documents. When they can’t make a deal, signature faking may happen.
So, is your signatures readable?
