Malaysia

Malaysia

This cover is quite interesting because it was franked by a postmark much smaller than the usual large postmarks that I usually get on Malaysian covers.


Here is a nice cover with 5 of the 18 stamps issued to show the different types of traditional houses found all over Malaysia.


This 3v issue from 2003 features the endangered Southern Serow, a solitary animal similar to a mountain goat that lives in densely forested mountain areas. It was once thought that if you were to see one you would have bad luck. Despite being herbivores, they are feisty and considered courageous as they won't back down from a fight, even when outnumbered. A Serow's saliva is considered a cure all and it is not uncommon to see Khmers (Cambodians) with their hands and feet poking into the Serow enclosure at the Wildlife Rescue Centre, hoping for a lick. Also, they are still hunted because their flesh and blood are said to enhance strength and vitality. The Serow are endangered due to their being excessively hunted and also due to habitat loss and fragmentation.


This second cover has the 2004 3v set commemorating the Cartagena Biosafety Protocol. The Biosafety Protocol seeks to protect biological diversity from the potential risks posed by living modified organisms resulting from modern biotechnology.

The Biosafety Protocol makes clear that products from new technologies must be based on the precautionary principle and allow developing nations to balance public health against economic benefits. It will, for example, let countries ban imports of a living modified organism if they feel there is not enough scientific evidence that the product is safe, and it requires exporters to label shipments containing genetically altered commodities such as corn or cotton.

Living modified organisms (known as LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology are broadly equivalent to genetically modified organisms. The difference between an LMO and a GMO is that a Living Modified Organism is capable of growing, and typically refers to agricultural crops. Genetically Modified Organisms include both LMOs and organisms which are not capable of growing, i.e. are dead. 'Modern biotechnology' is defined in the Protocol to mean the application of techniques that overcome natural physiological reproductive or recombination barriers and are not techniques used in traditional breeding and selection.


Lastly, here is a cover with a 4v set of stamps that remind us of the Cold War. The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), whose 13th conference held in Kuala Lumpur the stamps commemorate, is an international organisation of states considering themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. The movement is largely the brainchild of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, president of Egypt Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito. It was founded in April 1955; as of 2006, it had 118 members. The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries" in their "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, racism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics." They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and comprise 55% of the world population, particularly countries considered to be developing or part of the third world.

LONG TIME NO UPDATE!

Hello again!

Wow! It has been weeks since my last update. Been so busy lately, but, then again, that always seems to be the case. I'm 3 months behind in posting covers! Which means I have a lot of catching up to do. And, mind you, I'll have to be up to date by mid-July as I will be leaving for Macau by then....

Well, anyway, for my comeback post, here are some covers from Malaysia.

This issue, released 20.02.09 celebrates the golden jubilee of Institute of Engineers Malaysia and showcases engineering feats that have helped foster national development. The three setenant pairs, from left to right, top first, have the themes (1) Telecommunication and Power, (2) Roads, Bridges, and Dams, and (3) Transportation and Ports, and show the development of infrastructure through the juxtaposition of pictures from past and present.

More info here.

This second cover shows the 3v set entitled the FEI 5 Star KL Grand Prix 2007, which was issued 13 Dec 2007.

First conceptualized in 1998 to bring the very first top international equestrian event to Asia, the FEI 5 Star KL Grand Prix made its debut as an annual event in 2003 at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The only five-star international show jumping event in the Asia-Pacific region, the KL Grand Prix has carved an important milestone in the history of world equestrian sports. 5 Star is the highest possible rating for an equestrian event.

The KL Grand Prix brings together each year the world's top-ranked riders including Olympic gold medalists, World Cup Champions and World Champions and their prized horses to Kuala Lumpur where they vie for the coveted title and one of the world's richest purses.

There are perhaps as many as 160 breeds and types of horses throughout the world today, each with different abilities, characteristics and temperament. The horses depicted in the three stamps here are Warmbloods, which have gained enormous popularity in the past years as sport horses.

More info here.

Above is an FDC for the issue. On a personal note, this FDC brings back some memories as it is one of the first FDC's that I have ever received posted to my address.

Next up is an FDC for the 9 Apr 09 issue showing the four heritage sites in Malaysia included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites, namely

1. the historic towns of Georgetown and Melaka (collectively known as the Historic Cities of the Sraits of Malacc; listed in 2008),
2. Taman Negara Gunung Mulu near Miri, Sarawak (which encompasses incredible caves and karst formations in a mountainous equatorial rainforest setting; listed in 2000), and
3. Taman Negara Kinabalu (established as a national park in 1964 and Malaysia's first UNESCO world heritage site; listed in 2000).

The issue also includes a souvenir sheet, shown below:

In fact, I will be visiting the historic city of Georgetown in November of this year. I must admit that this issue was one of the factors that convinced me to go. In fact, I have plans of going to all four sites as they look very beautiful. If this was a marketing strategy of the Malaysian Tourism Board, I must say that it worked pretty well on me!

Last we have an FDC for the 1 Dec 08 issue on the Malaysian cartoon series called "The Kampong Boy."

The younger generation of Malaysian youth will know Lat as the creator of the animation series, Kampung Boy that is shown on Astro Network. The 26-episode animation series from the cartoon book Kampung Boy that was published in 1979 is very popular ever since it was shown in 1998. This animation series is also shown on television in Canada and Germany, and has won the Best Animation Award at the Annecy Animation Festival, France, in 1999.

On the other hand, the older generation knows Lat from the 1960s, when he became the cartoonist for Berita Minggu newspaper. Since 1974 until today, Lat has been drawing his cartoons for the New Straits Times Newspaper.

The Kampung Boy, a cartoon book published in the 1970s, is based on the life of it's creator, Malaysia's renowned cartoonist Dato' Mohd Nor Khalid also famously known as Lat. It tells the life story of a child born and raised in a typical Malaysian village in the 1950s and 1960s, according to the traditional Malay life, living in harmony with nature. The cartoon portray the lighter side of family life, school, and home-made games in a rural environment.

Malaysians in Space

Here is one of my favorite FDCs. It commemorates the launch of the National Angkasawa program of Malaysia.

The Angkasawan program was an initiative by the Malaysian government to send a Malaysian to the International Space Station on board Soyuz TMA-11. The program was named after the Malay word for astronaut, Angkasawan. It resulted in Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor becoming the first Malaysian in space on October 10, 2007.

The evidence suggest that the main objectives of the program are to uplift the national image and to instill in the younger generation greater interest in Maths and Science. At the launch, the Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jamaluddin Jarjis said: "It is not merely a project to send a Malaysian into space. After 50 years of independence, we need a new shift and a new advantage to be more successful as a nation. "We want to awe and inspire, and spur Malaysians to attain greater success by embracing science and technology.

The program sought to elicit interest from the Malaysian youth by setting up experiments in space, some of which were spinning a top in zero gravity and tossing the Batu Seremban (a Malaysian traditional five-stone game). It also included a live Physics lecture to be made by the Malaysian astronaut to show Malaysians the effect of zero gravity.

The cost of sending Sheikh Muszaphar into space has been estimated at RM 105 million (approximately USD 26 million). The Malaysian space program has been criticized as a waste of money for a developing nation that could ill afford such indulgences. Officials defended the funding of the program as part of a US$900 million defense deal struck with Moscow in 2003 to buy 18 Sukhoi Su-30 MKM fighter jets.

I personally also think that it was a waste of money, considering that the country could use some development in its rural areas, which I must say from first-hand observations are quite underdeveloped. However, considering that Malaysia seems to be a progressive country - undeniably more progressive than the Philippines at the moment - perhaps the government has something up its sleeve.

I also consider this one of my favorites because, although it may seem a waste of money, it is still nonetheless a symbol of national pride, development, and achievement for a Southeast Asian country!

The first Filipino to reach the peak of Everest made it in 2006, but I highly doubt that the next Filipino (representing the Philippine and no other foreign state) will make it to space any time soon. I mean, the Philippines doesn't even have adequate infrastructure, what more this "luxury"?

Malaysia, 中國, and 대한민국

The Korean Government declared 2007 as the Year of Biology in hopes of stimulating interest in the basic life science among the Korean people. It launched many events such as the "BioFestival" scheduled to be held nationwide, a "Special International Exhibition on Biotechnology and DNA/Mutation," "Biology Merges with Culture," conferences, symposiums, and lectures aimed at general public, and others. In this light, Korea Post also played its role by issuing an S/S seen in the cover below.

The S/S, issued 19 March 07, shows, in silhouette, chromosome and DNA, together with a sunflower, green frog, brown-banded butterflyfish and stag beetle. Appearing on the background of the small sheet to show animal lineage (origin and evolutionary process) are paramecium and euglena, hydra, squid, earthworm, butterfly, starfish, fish, salamander, turtle, crane, eagle, Jindo-dog, and the human being.

As we all should know, biotechnology such as medicine and, most recently, GMOs and cloning are all possible because of this discipline and, as such, it is just right that we devote more time and effort into developing it so that it can help us help each other.

This next cover sent from China actually took a very long time to get here! I noticed that the stamps were chopped on 13 April and the cover arrived 10 June! Perhaps the sender decided to send it via surface mail? But the postage on the cover amounts to RMB 3.5 and regular air mail costs only RMB 4.5. So I wonder if it was worth a wait of two months just to save RMB 1 (USD 0.15)?

Anyway, like I said in my previous post, I cannot understand Chinese so I really have no information regarding these stamps. The most striking of the three for me is the middle one, which I take celebrates the 80th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China and the world's largest political party. Its paramount position as the supreme political authority in China, while not a governing body recognized by China's constitution, is realized as the supreme power through control of all state apparatus and of the legislative process. The CCP was founded in 1921, and came to rule all of mainland China after defeating its rival the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War. The party's 70 million members constitute 5.5% of the total population of mainland China.

The other stamps, the one to the left, most probably illustrates the ushering in and/or celebration of the coming of the year 2000. The children seem to be doing the new year dragon dance iconic of the Chinese new year. Perhaps this stamp shows a piece that won a contest for youth drawing?

The stamp to the right depicts something about Chinese culture - exactly what I do not know.

This last cover is an FDC of the St. John Ambulance in Malaysia Centenary. The St. John Ambulance, better known as "St. John," carries a name synonymous with First Aid and other humanitarian services in Malaysia as well as all over the world. As the leading First Aid organization in Malaysia since 1908, the St. John Ambulance of Malaysia (SJAM) has been rendering First Aid and Home Nursing services to the needy in almost all public and private events throughout the country.

To celebrate 100 years of this organization's presence in the Malay peninsula, Pos Malaysia issued a 3v set in 2007.

The set show picture of the ambulance in action. The 30-sen stamp shows the Emergency Ambulance Service vehicle; the 50-sen stamp shows a demonstration of First Aid; and the 1 Ringgit stamp shows an attempt at Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, or CPR (the stamps says, "Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation, which is wrong because Cardiopulmonary is one word).

Speaking of words, an interesting piece of trivia to know is that the word "Ambulance" finds its roots from the French "(hôpital) ambulant," which literally means "walking hospital."

Malaysia

Pos Malaysia has never failed impress me with its FDCs. The cachets are always beautifully designed and formatted with the philatelist in mind. That is why I ask my friends in Malaysia to purchase them and send them over even after the first day of issue. Here is an example of one such FDC.

The set featured on the FDC exhibits the cultural heritage of Malaysia by showing three artifacts used by different ethnic groups of the peninsula, namely the Batu Giling, the Supu, and the Kukur Kelapa. More on these tools:

The "Batu giling" or stone grinder is a traditional tool consisting of two parts made of stone, referred to as "mother" and "child". The "mother" is the millstone or base part of the grinder where the chilli or spices are placed, whereas the "child" is the smaller piece of stone used to roll onto the base stone to crush and grind the said spices. Using this stone grinder will produce a fine and well grounded paste of spices or chilli. Something I found interesting about the "batu giling" is that, in Tagalog the word "bato" (which is most probably realted to "batu") means "stone" and the word "giling" also means "grind." I guess this is evidence that proves that Tagalog borrows heavily from the Malay language.

The "Supu" is a small container used to keep tobacco. Made of silver and beautifully decorated with fine carvings, it is also used as a decorative accessory by the Bajau community in the district of Kota Belud, Sabah. Amongst the Dusun Tindal community, it is known as "kuapu" and is used as a decorative accessory for the bride and bridegroom's wedding costume. Another Philippines-related bit of info; the Bajau/Badjao people can also be found in Bohol, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga, Surigao, Davao, and other areas in the Mindanao region of the Philippines.

The "Kukur kelapa" or coconut grater is a tool used to grate or scrape the flesh of the coconut from its shell. The traditional coconut scraper is shaped out of a piece of wood for the seat and at the end is a sharp-edged metal spur. Creativity from the artistic Malays have resulted in the "Kukur kelapa" carved based on the design of a four-legged animal complete with the tail and other carvings of nature-inspired motives such as plants.

The coconut grater was once a very important tool in every Malay household as coconut milk is an essential ingredient in Malay cooking. Although its usage by the city folk have reduced due to the preference of electric tools, this tool is still much in use in the outskirts. The exact same goes for the use of coconut graters Philippines, except the ones here are not as ornate or "special."

This set was issued 10 June 2008, but as you can see, it dos not bear the special franking. This is because it was sent to me after the first day of issue. I guess Pos Malaysia franks first day covers on the spot on the first day of issue? Am I right?

Here in the Philippines, FDCs are released at least a month after the date of issue (since Philpost is way behind schedule due to lack of postal employees), but they all bear the special postmark and the cover (including postage) can still be used any time.

Sometimes, I wonder if what Philpost is doing defeats the purpose of issuing first day covers since it's virtually impossible to send out the cover on the first day of issue. Any thoughts on this?

Malaysia

Wow! It's been quite a while since my last post! Been so busy lately that I never found enough time to just sit down and write about stamps. Anyway, for my next few posts, I'm going to backtrack a bit and show some covers I received quite some time ago. I really liked these ones and wanted to share them for others to appreciate.

The covers we have here is obviously from Malaysia. One has a souvenir sheet and the other a 4v set; both commemorate the 50th year of Malaysian independence. As you may recall from my first post, Malaysia also issued a 2v set in 2003 to celebrate its 46th Independence day. Here we have souvenir sheet and a 4v set that celebrate the 50th.



These stamps were actually collages that celebrate everything Malaysian, and each stamp has it unique title. Clockwise from the upper left, the titles are: Religious Diversity and Tolerance, Cultures and Craft of Unity, Flora and Fauna, and Golden Treasures of the Sea.



The stamps were issued on 19 March 2007. The site did not say whether or not the souvenir sheet was issued on the same day, but I assume they were.

Unfortunately, the cancels are quite unreadable, but I recall that these envelopes were sent sometime in Dec 2007/January 2008.

A little more on Malaysian history and independence:

Following the Japanese Invasion of Malaya and its occupation during World War II, popular support for independence grew. Post-war British plans to unite the administration of Malaya under a single crown colony called the Malayan Union foundered on strong opposition from the Malays, who opposed the emasculation of the Malay rulers and the granting of citizenship to the ethnic Chinese. The Malayan Union, established in 1946 and consisting of all the British possessions in Malaya with the exception of Singapore, was dissolved in 1948 and replaced by the Federation of Malaya, which restored the autonomy of the rulers of the Malay states under British protection.

During this time, rebels under the leadership of the Malayan Communist Party launched guerrilla operations designed to force the British out of Malaya. The Malayan Emergency, as it was known, lasted from 1948 to 1960, and involved a long anti-insurgency campaign by Commonwealth troops in Malaya. Although the insurgency quickly stopped there was still a presence of Commonwealth troops, with the backdrop of the Cold War. Against this backdrop, independence for the Federation within the Commonwealth was granted on 31 August 1957.

2007 was Tahun Melawat Malaysia or Visit Malaysia year and the government had a campaign to encourage tourists to visit the country. I remember seeing a billboard along the highway here in the Philippines and I must admit that I was quite surprised to see the Malaysian government advertising even within Southeast Asia!

I myself visited Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru in May of that year and was lucky enough to avail myself of a few promos and discounts that the government was giving to tourists in celebration of the said event. Kuala Lumpur is a beautiful place. I stayed at a hotel near the Petronas towers and KLCC and had a great time walking around the streets and shopping at Suria mall, which is located at the base of the Petronas Towers. Kuala Lumpur was very first-world and, thankfully, very clean. This is, however, in stark contrast to Johor Bahru, which is on the tip of the Malay peninsula and the closest Malaysian city to SIngapore. I happened to pass through Johor en route to KL and was disappointed to see that it differed very little from Manila in that it was dirty, crowded, polluted, and - er- unsafe. I planned on staying the night but decided in favor of the contrary lest any fortuitous event occur during my stay.

Malaysia

I first saw a scan of the stamp on the right on a stamp website and told myself that I just had to have that stamp. Luckily, I have a friend in Malaysia who still had a set to spare and he was able to send me this neat cover.

It turns out the these stamps make up a 2v issue entitled 46th Independence Celebration, released 19 Aug 2003. The inscription at the bottom of both stamps reads "Sambutan Ulangtahun Kemerdekaan Ke-46/ 46th Independence Celebration" and the inscription on the right of the 30-sen stamp (depicting the large flag on the 95-meter flagpole at Merdeka Square in KL) reads "Kibarkan Bendera Kita / Raise Our Flag." The cover was postmarked at Pusat Mel Bukit Raja, Selangor, on 02 Feb 2008.

An interesting thing to note is that the word for flag in Filipino is "Bandera," which is borrowed from the Spanish language; in Bahasa Melayu, it seems to be "Bendera" and I find the similarity quite striking as Malaysia was never colonized by the Spanish like the Philippines was... or maybe the similarity is just a freak coincidence? But I did read on Wikipedia that "There are also Eurasians of mixed Filipino and Spanish descent [in Malaysia], mostly in Sabah. Descended from immigrants from the Philippines, some speak Chavacano, the only Spanish-based Creole language in Asia."

Follow-up on this:

I consulted a Malay dictionary today and looked up "bendera." It seems that the word is of Portuguese origin and so that probably explains the resemblance to Filipino "bandera." An interesting thing to note is that "bendera" is defined as: "a flag (of European type)." I guess the Malays had a different concept of how a flag looked?