A Chinoy Student's Travels, 1967

Here is a passport that I have been wanting to have for quite some time now. It is not very easy to find Philippine passports issued before the 1970s not only because not many people were issued passports, but also because many are kept by the bearers' families long after they are gone. Unlike in most Western societies when the personal effects of someone who has passed away are sold off in estate auctions, given away, or simply dumped in the garbage, Filipinos tend to keep them as remembrances of their departed loved ones. Also, the fact that your predecessor was issued (and used) a passport in the olden days is a sign of affluence and one would certainly like to hold onto that.

That is why I jumped at the opportunity to nab this passport when I saw it on eBay. Perhaps some other collectors out there also have a gap in their Philippine collection as the bids for this old thing were very high, especially considering that this is a damaged passport (it was wet and it seems a rat or some termites ate off part of the edges) and the visas and stamps inside are not very interesting - there aren't even any revenue stamps!

Nonetheless, I certainly wouldn't let this big fish get away! And so I am proud to present it here.

This passport belonged to a Chinese Filipino (Chinoy) student born in Manila and living in Pasay City at the time. What is interesting is that the person to contact in case of an emergency lived in Cebu, so I wonder if his family was originally from there and not Manila. This young man travelled to Japan and the United States on this passport. Surprisingly, he spent only a few days in each country on both trips. Was he there for academic purposes? For a conference or a contest, perhaps?

An interesting stamp from his Japan trip is one that indicates that he exchanged $19.05 at the Haneda Airport Exchange Office of Mitsubishi Bank on 19 Dec 67, the day he left on his flight back to Manila. I am guessing he thought it would be wiser to exchange his Japanese Yen into USD dollars in Tokyo rather than exchange then into Philippine Pesos upon his return to Manila. Perhaps the exchange rate for the Yen was bad back home?

His port of entry for his US trip is Honolulu, but I think it was just a stop-over on his way to San Francisco as his Philippine departure stamp indicates "SFO" as the destination. Because the flight was long-haul, most planes at the time (no jets yet!) would stop over in Hawaii and/or Guam on their way to the mainland.

The passport itself is very similar to US passports issued at the time. Like its contemporaries from the US, the Philippine passports had windows on the covers to show the passport numbers indicated inside. There are also spaces for the bearer's address as well as the address of an emergency contact in the same area: on the inside of the front cover. The layout of the information pages are also similar to those of US passports in the 1940s (the Philippines gained independence from the US in 1945) and the perfin on the upper right that reads "DFA" (for Department of Foreign Affairs) is similar to the perfin on the US passports at the time which read "USA."

A Vietnamese Girl Flees to Hong Kong, 1968

Here I proudly present what I believe to be a neat piece of history: a South Vietnamese passport issued in 1968 during the Vietnam War to nineteen-year-old young lady. I suppose she was among the well-to-do in Saigon, where she lived, as I am sure not many people at the time had the means to travel outside the country by air. Note also that the passport number is 00085, which might hint that either (a) passports at the time were issued few and far apart, so having one means you are among the fortunate few, or (b) this young lady was among the very first to receive a passport when they began issued them, which means she was among those of influence and power. There is also the possibility that (c) they simply ran out of serial numbers and so started from 000001 again, but I would prefer (a) or (b).

Also interesting is the fact that many visas were granted to the passport holder, but only one was used: the one for Hong Kong. This, plus the fact that there is no Hong Kong exit endorsement on this passport, leads me to believe that the reason why this young lady applied for all these different visas was to give immigration officials the impression that she was embarking on some sort of tour of Asia. In fact, the passport was valid only for travel to South Korea, Taiwan ROC, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia; and she procured visas for all of these countries (except the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia - perhaps they did not require visas?) without fail. This was probably done to boost the credibility of her story.

The visas issued were:

Japan 18 Nov 1968
Taiwan ROC 19 Nov 1968
Thailand 19 Nov 1968
S. Korea 21 Nov 1968
Hong Kong 25 Nov 1968

To further support my theory that the young lady's real intention was to flee to Hong Kong, the evidence shows that the very next day after the issuance of her Hong Kong visa, she took off on flight CX060 bound for Hong Kong!

I imagine that she fled with her family, although there is no evidence on this document that would support that theory.

It must have been an exciting time for her - deciding to up and leave her country in the midst of a radical war and in hopes of greener pastures! Of course, maybe she was terrified by the thought of leaving all she ever knew until that point in her life, and maybe she did not want to leave, but the fact that she did leave (most likely to escape the threat of the ongoing war on her safety) is a very interesting story for it would be the product of an infamous era of our history.

There is a possibility that Miss Dan My Diem is still alive to tell her story and confirm or disprove my theories as she was born in 1949 and would be 61 today. If she is still alive, she might be in the United States as that is where this passport was found.

Did she manage to make it all the way across the Pacific in search of a better life? Why did she? Was it because her life in Hong Kong terrible? Unbearable? And if she did, how did she? Was she granted leave to enter the United States with refugee status? She certainly id not use this passport for her onward travel, so she either stayed in Hong Kong for more than two years (the passport expired in 1970) or maybe she procured fake travel documents for her onward voyage to America? There are many spaces in the passport for renewals and extensions and all are blank. Did she have to go into hiding? Did the Vietnamese government condemn those who fled the country and, if so, is that why she had to procure other travel documents that this one? Or did she return to Vietnam? If so, how did this passport make its way to California, where its seller lives?

There are so many questions and so few answers, but that is the beauty of collecting such items as these: they tell you a story and leave it to your imagination to get carried away with trying to figure out the rest of it.



Above is an exit visa that reads in Vietnam and English, "Issued to Mlle. [Mademoiselle] Dan My Diem. Authorized to travel to Rep. de Coree [Korea], Rep. de Chine, Japon, Philippines, HongKong, Thailande, Singapour, Malaisie and to return within un mois [one month]. This visa is valid for (?????) from the date of issue. Saigon, 13 Novembre 1968."

A Chilean in Europe, 1966

This Chilean passport was issued in Santiago to a man who used it for travel to Europe. The passport indicates that he would be travelling to Europe, but it also indicates "Valido para Cualquier Pais," or "Valid for any country."

Given his last name of "von Moltke Steavenson," I suppose he has some Dutch or Germanic roots and maybe that is why he also visited the Netherlands during his trip, which lasted from 3 January to 5 March, 1966. There is a visa to Portugal, but there are is no evidence in the passport that he ever cleared Portuguese immigration. Perhaps Portugal did not at the time stamp the passport when you already had a visa? Or perhaps he was simply in transit and so was not given any entry stamps?

Also, it seems that French and Dutch exit stamps are missing. I know that France stamped passports at departure, so that is quite strange that this has no such stamp.

A Spanish Resident in the Philippines, 1968

This will be the first of many posts I will publish of scans of the passports I have in my collection. I am quite proud that I have many interesting pieces in my growing collection. This one was among the first I received (that were not issued to relatives or parents).

This passport was for a Spanish citizen who was a resident in Manila. I suppose that he moved to the Philippines and was not born to Spanish subjects here (many of the Spaniards living in the Philippines in 1898 chose to leave the country after the Treaty of Paris was signed and the Philippines handed over to the Americans, but some did stay). He seems to have been a businessman and made very frequent trips to Hong Kong and Japan, although he did apply for a US visa (perhaps as a measure to convince immigrations officers to grant him visas/entry?) and did make a trip to Taiwan once.

Because the endorsements (especially the entry stamps in Hong Kong) were so large, the passport was cancelled even before it expired since there was no more space!

Personally, I do not find the stamps too interesting as they are repetitive, but at least I get to have many examples of Hong Kong, Japan, and Philippine immigration endorsements at that time and get to compare them. Notice how the Philippine entry and exit stamps have no common design and are not uniform. I also have an interesting "story" of a Spanish national living in the Philippines who frequently flew to Hong Kong and Japan on JAL and PAL, not to mention a nice Taiwan visa issued in Manila!

Singapore

Singapore, an island nation, is known for being a city-state. While Singapore lays claim on a total of sixty-three islands (most of them tiny and unpopulated), the large majority of the country is found on a relatively tiny island (officially called Pulau Ujong) which measures 704 km². For an Asian Tiger with a booming economy and a per capita GDP that matches many Western, First World countries, it is surprising that Singapore is so small in size!

Perhaps due to its burgeoning economic activity and the plethora of people commuting into and out of Singapore, despite its small size, Singapore has many points of entry. According to the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority, Singapore has the following checkpoints:

Air Checkpoints

»	Changi Airport
»	Seletar Airport

Air Cargo Checkpoints

»	Airport Logistics Park
»	Changi Airfreight Centre
»	Parcel Post Section

Coastal Checkpoints

»	Singapore Cruise Centre
»	Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
»	Changi Ferry Terminal
»	Jurong Fishery Port
»	Marina South Pier
»	West Coast Pier

Land Checkpoints

»	Tuas Checkpoint
»	Woodlands Checkpoint
»	Woodlands Train Checkpoint

Ports Checkpoints

»	Ports Command HQ
»	Brani Gate
»	Jurong Port Main Gate
»	Jurong Scanning Station
»	Jurong West Gate
»	Keppel Distripark
»	Pasir Panjang Terminal Gate 4
»	Pasir Panjang Scanning Station
»	Tanjong Pagar Gate
»	Tanjong Pagar Scanning Station
»	Sembawang Gate

I suppose that most of these are not open to civilians and that many of the ones listed above (such as the Air Cargo and especially "Ports Checkpoints" are only for transporting goods). To my knowledge, there are seven points of entry and exit that can be used by civilians:

Changi Airport
Tuas Checkpoint
Woodlands Checkpoint
Woodlands Train Checkpoint
Singapore Cruise Center
Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
Changi Ferry Terminal

Of these seven, I have used four. Here are my immigrations stamps from Singapore (not including two more which are unintelligible except for the dates):

This first one from 2007 is an excellent stamp; it is clear enough that you can read the permit message: "Permitted to enter and remain in Singapore for ninety days for Social Visit only from date shown above." Most Western passport holders get 90 days while most Asian passport holders get 30 days. This was applied at the Singapore airport.

This was my first passport stamp from a country other than the US, Canada, the Philippines, and Korea (although the Korea ones were just transit stamps - I didn't spend more than 24 hours there).

Exit stamps from the Woodlands ("W") train checkpoint. I also have one from the Woodlands pedestrian checkpoint, but it is heavy and not very nice, so I did not include it in this post. Anyway, it also uses "W" as its checkpoint code, so you can't really tell the difference unless you know the story (as in my case) or you have access to Singapore's archives and can check where the immigration officers were posted that day (using their officer numbers).

This is a Woodlands entry stamp which is generic in the sense that the number of days you are permitted to stay is written in by the officer rather than incorporated into the stamp design. Perhaps this generic one was issued to make it more convenient for the immigration officers; instead of switching from 30-day to 90-day stamps when processing different passports, they can just easily write down the number of days. Strangely, though, the others who were with me when I made the crossing (and they also hold US passports) received chops with "90 days" already on the stamper..... I do not recall, though, if they got rectangular stamps (like this one), hexagon stamps (like the ones for 90-day permits), or round edge rectangular stamps (like the one shown below, used for 30-day permits).

The stamp above is not very clear, but it gives you an example of how the 30-day rounded-edge permits look - quite similar to the 30-day entry stamps of Indonesia. This one was applied into my Philippine passport. This was applied at Terminal 1 of Changi airport.


One of the benefits of the Philippine passports is that it does not have images for its background designs on each page, so stamps can be seen more clearly. This stamp above is very sharp and clear and was applied at Changi airport Terminal 1. Perhaps the reason it is very sharp is because it is the stamp used by the immigration "station" and not the immigration counters. This is because the immigration officer escorted me to the special immigration station since he has a problem with the fact that my passport was due to expire in less than six months and I was not heading for my "home country." I explained to them that I was a permanent resident in Macau and that I was flying back via Penang. The officer at the immigration station consulted their superior who replied something along the lines of, "Well, he's leaving Singapore, so it doesn't matter." After that, the rather rotund Indian-looking lady applied this stamp on my passport very clearly. It is probably sharp because, unlike the others, it is not used on so many passports.

The episode was a bit humiliating, however, because I was a Filipino passport holder being held at immigration and the first question that one of the staff asked the one escorting me was, "Overstayed?" Ironically, this was the second time I was held at immigration in less than two weeks! The first time I was ever "detained" was while crossing the Gongbei border crossing on the Macau side, but that anecdote is for the post on Macau.


This is a stamp from Tuas checkpoint. I had to manipulate the image a bit to make it clearer since the boat in the background has such a complicated design that it makes the stamp (which is actually a bit darker in reality) difficult to read. You can, however, make out the big "T" for "Tuas."


Unlike in 2007, this time the immigration officer at Woodlands used the 90-day hexagon on my passport. This may have been because I asked him to stamp clearly for a "souvenir" and so he thought it would be best to use the right stamp rather than write in the number of days permit. This officer was the first I have encountered who as very meticulous about his work. The process was very slow and he made sure to check my information page thoroughly and even looked through all my visa pages. When he finished processing me (after he had already stamped the passport), he gave the thing one more hard look before returning it. I am not complaining, but I was just a bit surprised. Many other immigration officers in this region (especially in thoroughly used border checkpoints like Gongbei in Macau and KLIA-LCCT in Kuala Lumpur) seem like they couldn't really care less. Perhaps there is a negative correlation between frequency of use of a checkpoint and thoroughness in checking (of not-so-exotic passports)?

The departure stamp is, like the one last time, very clean and sharp. It was applied by an elderly, rotund Chinese officer, whom I asked to please stamp my passport clearly. She did stamp clearly, but on top of the entry stamp, so it's not as "clear" as I would like it.

The next time I visit Singapore, I really want to take a ferry to Malaysia from Changi Ferry terminal, where I believe the checkpoint code is an "R." There are few ferries that operate there, and they are quite small 12-seaters that leave only when full (!).

Doing the In-Out, In-Out through Malaysia

Malaysia is a country that I have visited often, not only in transit (with Air Asia), but also out of interest for the many cultural heritage sites and natural wonders it has to offer. I have been to Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Johot Bahru, Melaka, Kuching, Labuan, and Kota Kinabalu. Because of all these trips, I have been able to amass a collection of different immigration endorsements from many different entry points in Malaysia over the past few years. From my many visits, I have come to learn that Malaysian immigration has some quirks to it, especially when traveling to and from Sarawak in East Malaysia as well as traveling by train from Singapore.

I am very proud of this collection an present it here in chronological order.


This was the first Malaysian immigration that I have ever received and it is in my third US passport (I am now on the fourth one). What is cool about this one is that the checkpoint "Johor Bahru" no longer exists as it was replaced by the new Sultan Iskandar Checkpoint in December of 2008. More information on this new checkpoint from this Wikipedia page. Fortunately, I also have a clear chop from the new checkpoint, which I received during my trip to Melaka a few days ago.

From what I remember of the old checkpoint, I can say that this new one is a MAJOR improvement. The old one was small, a bit dirty, and not air-conditioned and the immigration counters and facilities were not impressive. Some of them used computer monitors which looked like they were from the early 90s, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were.

The new one is huge, air-conditioned, and the largest checkpoint of its kind in Malaysia. It is very impressive and is comparable to the one found on the Singapore side of the causeway - if not better! I guess Malaysia is leveling up and showing the world (most especially Singapore, I suspect) that it can meet first-world, international standards and that it is indeed capable of providing modern, high-tech services and facilities. I am not sure how it is in other government offices, but certainly this and all the other checkpoints I have gone through are impressive and world-class.
What is cool about these two immigration stamps is that they weren't planned. It's just that I had some time to kill and so I decided that I might go to the Woodlands checkpoint and have my passport stamped for my collection of passport chops. It's great that this spur-of-the-moment decision to make the short "visa run" gave me the opportunity to have an entry stamp that reads "Johor Bahru," especially considering that the next time I entered Malaysia was by train and they do not apply any stamps when you clear immigration there.

Some more information on this strange arrangement, from Wikipedia:

Since 1992, KTM has worked with Singapore on re-aligning its railway tracks at Woodlands when Singapore built a new immigration checkpoint there to replace the old checkpoint, and with new facilities to carry out train passengers' immigration clearance at the point of entry into Singapore rather than at Tanjong Pagar. In 1993, Malaysia responded that it would transfer its CIQ operations to the new Woodlands checkpoint.

However, in June 1997, Malaysia stated that the Malaysia-Singapore Points of Agreement of 1990 would come into effect only after it decided to relocate Tanjong Pagar station. Malaysia also informed Singapore that it had changed its mind and decided not to co-locate its CIQ with Singapore's at Woodlands Train Checkpoint (WTCP) but to remain at Tanjong Pagar. In April 1998, Singapore informed Malaysia that it would be moving its CIQ operations to Woodlands while Malaysia would have to move its CIQ out of Singapore from 1 August 1998. Malaysia requested, instead, that space be made available at the WTCP, as an interim arrangement, for Malaysian Immigration officials to operate from there and thereby overcome the problem of sequence of exit and entry stampings by Singapore and Malaysia immigration authorities.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Home Affairs of Singapore dated 24 July 1998:

• Singapore will allow Malaysian customs officials to operate at Tanjong Pagar railway station. Singapore officials will be present at Tanjong Pagar railway station to lend their authority to Malaysian customs officials during the interim period.
• Singapore has agreed to Malaysia's request to allow Malaysian Immigration to put some desks for its immigration officers on the passenger platform at WTCP to clear passengers after Singapore has cleared them for exit from Singapore. Singapore Immigration must clear departing passengers for exit from Singapore before Malaysian Immigration clears them for entry into Malaysia. Otherwise, the sequence of immigration clearance will be illogical and it will cause problems in crime investigation and prosecution. These interim arrangements will overcome the problems which would be caused if Malaysian Immigration were to remain in Tanjong Pagar railway station.

However, Malaysia refused to have its immigration clearance on the passenger platform: they insisted that Malaysian Immigration should be inside the building at WTCP. If this was not possible, they said that Malaysian Immigration would remain at Tanjong Pagar. Singapore argued that Malaysia's decision to locate its Immigration Control Post in Singapore is not in compliance with Malaysia's own law. Under Malaysian law, it is Johor Bahru railway station, not Tanjong Pagar, that is gazetted as an Immigration Control Post for persons travelling by train from Singapore to Malaysia. Singapore also pointed out that this was confirmed by the endorsement on the passports of passengers boarding the train at Tanjong Pagar, which showed:

"MALAYSIA IMMIGRATION
JOHOR BAHRU
SOCIAL/BUSINESS VISIT PASS
Reg. 11. Imm. Regs 63
[Date]"
Permitted to enter and remain in West Malaysia and Sabah for one month from the date shown above"

On 1 August 1998, Singaporean Immigration ceased operations in Tanjong Pagar and moved to WTCP while Malaysian Immigration continued operating in Tanjong Pagar. Malaysia decided not to endorse the passports of outgoing rail passengers from Singapore and promised to provide legal arguments to show that Malaysia's CIQ has the legal right to stay at Tanjong Pagar.

The immigration clearance procedure which resulted from the impasse, and which is currently being practised until railway and CIQ operations cease by 1 July 2011, is:

• Towards Singapore, Malaysian immigration officers carry out immigration clearance on board the train at Johor Bahru railway station. After clearing immigration, the train crosses the causeway and stops at WTCP, where all passengers must proceed to Singapore Customs and Immigration. Therefore, travellers entering Singapore by rail are following the correct order of immigration clearance, that is, exit granted by Malaysian Immigration in Johor and entry granted by Singapore Immigration in Woodlands. After clearing immigration at Woodlands, passengers may disembark or continue their journey to Tanjong Pagar by train.
• Towards Malaysia, passengers must board the train at Tanjong Pagar and clear Malaysian Customs and Immigration before boarding. The train travels about 30 minutes to WTCP and stops for another 30 minutes to allow sufficient time for passengers to clear Singapore Immigration. In this case, passengers are granted entry into Malaysia before clearing Singapore Immigration, which is contrary to international practice. To circumvent this problem, Malaysian immigration officers do not stamp on passengers' passports.

In early 2007, news of a Singaporean woman being jailed for failing to have her passport stamped when entering Malaysia threw the spotlight on the unusual clearance procedures when travelling by train. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded Singaporeans that their passports will not be stamped when departing for Malaysia by train, but will instead obtain a stamp on the disembarkation card, which must be retained until departure from Malaysia. The entry records are also entered into a computer system. Even then, this arrangement continued to present problems for some commuters.

Above is my departure endorsement at Kuala Lumpur airport at the end of the trip. The immigration officer penned in Malay "Masuk melalui KTM [Keretapi Tanah Melayu, tr. Malaysian Railways] Tg. [Tanjong] Pagar pd [pada] 24/5/07," which means "Entered through KTM Tanjong Pagar on 24/5/07." Perhaps the Malaysian immigration officers are used to this or have been made aware of this because we were not asked any questions as to why we had no entry stamps. But it was really cool having our entry information handwritten, like in old times.

This is the first of many entry stamps I would receive at the Kuala Lumpur LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal). It was applied while I was in transit to Cambodia. If you are familiar with the new US passports, then you would see that this is on a passport different from the ones above. Notice that the checkpoint code is a "B." I believe that the endorsements at the Kuala Lumpur airport (the nice, big one) have a code of "A." I hope to one day also have an endorsement with a nice "A" on it.


Here is another sample of a Kuala Lumpur airport "B" departure stamp.This stamp applied at the Penang airport is found on my first Philippine passport, and it is quite interesting because there is a handwritten annotation that reads "Less Than 6 Month [sic]." This is because that passport was to expire in March of 2011 and usually immigration authorities do not let you enter if your passport is valid for less than six months. Fortunately, as I was just in transit to Macau, the rather rotund immigration lady let me through and simply wrote in the annotation above after consulting the immigration officer next to her in the same booth. The strange thing is that I cleared immigration at the same airport not more than a week earlier and there was absolutely no problem, and that time I was not in transit - I was actually there to spend 3 nights in Penang! Also notice that Philippine passport holders are granted only 30 days on social visit while US (and most other Western) passport holders are granted 90 days.

The reason why I decided to use my Philippine passport was because my exit stamps from Macau was in that passport as my residence permit to Macau was in that passport as well. I wanted to have Penang airport stamps in my two passports and since I was going on a short trip to Singapore from Penang, I would have to clear Malaysian immigration again en route to Macau. So I thought that it would be great because I could just switch passports from Singapore to Penang. That didn't happen because I had to leave my US passport in Penang for Thai visa processing, which is a better deal since (1) I get a free Thai visa, (2) I got the special 6-month annotation, and (3) because the Philippine passport has not messy-looking background images, the Penang stamps I have are very clear.

Here is my first entry stamp from the Kota Kinabalu International Airport. On this trip, I cleared immigration at this airport twice (I went to Brunei and returned to this airport before returning to the Philippines), and twice were the chops unclear and very light, so much so that they might fade just like the chop I received in Niagara Falls in 2004. I suppose that the "S/V" written at the top stands for "Social Visit." Also, the date was written in hand in the space below, unlike inmost other chops which have 30 or 90 days already written on them.


Here is a sample of a Kota Kinabalu airport exit stamp.


This was applied while I was on another "visa run" (just because I wanted an endorsement from a different checkpoint), this time from the Tedungan checkpoint in Sarawk, which is on the Brunei-Malaysia border. Notice how this one reads "Permitted to enter and remain in Sarawak/Malaysia" while the previous ones all read "Permitted to enter and remain in West Malaysia and Sabah." More on that later.

Also interesting about this chop is that it grants a stay of only 30 days (although I was in and out of Malaysia in less than 30 minutes). This is probably because the lady at the immigration checkpoint expected only to receive ASEAN passports at her checkpoint. This is because I noticed that many of the pedestrians who cross this border are actually workers in Brunei who want to extend their stay in Brunei by clearing immigration again and receiving another 30-day permit for Brunei (or maybe they are required to exit Brunei every once in a while even if they have legitimate papers?). At any rate, perhaps the lady was too tired to bring out the 90-day chop and so she just used this one.

It was also surprising that we were no longer required to fill in an entry form. It was convenient at the time, but in retrospect, I think it was not a very good idea as exiting Malaysia might have been made difficult if we did not have the departure card. Then again, perhaps the lady could feel that we would exit from the same port and the officer on the other side could just walk over to her and consult her personally about the matter, should a problem arise.

No problems came up and we were given an exit stamp from Tedungan with no questions asked.

This immigration endorsement is from Kuching international airport, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak. It wouldn't be strange for me to have this stamp had I flown in from another country, but I was actually flying in from the neighboring Malaysian state of Sabah (these two states are located in the north of Borneo, which is known as East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo. This is why some guidebooks sometimes specify "Peninsular Malaysia" when referring to the Western half of Malaysia.)

Kuching and Sabah are peculiar in that, when it comes to immigration matters, they have their own policies as though they were different countries from Malaysia! Even Malaysian coming in from West Malaysia and Sabah have to go through a checkpoint so that they could enter!

Here is some information from Wikipedia:

Residency in the states of Sabah and Sarawak are distinct from the other 11 states. While Sabah and Sarawak each has autonomy in immigration affairs (which includes imposing immigration restrictions on Peninsular Malaysia residents), residents of Sabah and Sarawak are exempted from the immigration controls of their own states. A Malaysian citizen born to a Sabah or Sarawak resident would have Sabah or Sarawak residency, regardless of where the person was born. Birth in Sabah or Sarawak alone does not make a person a resident unless one of his/her parents is a resident. A person may become a Sabah or Sarawak resident by obtaining Permanent Residence (PR) status issued by the respective state immigration departments. The residency status of a person is indicated by a letter on his/her MyKad below the photo, with, "H" for Sabahans, "K" for Sarawakians and none for Peninsular Malaysians.

Above is the immigration endorsement I received when I land in Kota Kinabalu airport (Sabah) on a flight from Kuching airport (Sarawak), which are both in Malaysia.

Here is another Tedungan entry stamp, this time on a Philippine passport (my second one) and with the correct stay permit of 30 days.

The immigration endorsement above is very interesting an unique in the sense that it is a "transfer endorsement" to transfer my exit stamp from my Philippine passport to my US one. This is because I wanted to get a Brunei stamp on my Philippine passport, so I decided to do what I usually do and switch passports while crossing borders. Malaysian immigration, from experience, is rather lax when it comes to switching passports and I have done it a number of times.

But Brunei immigration is not as lenient. I exited Brunei with my US passport and then entered Sarawak, Malaysia, on my Philippine passport so that I could show my immigration exit stamps from Malaysia to the Brunei officers and make them less suspicious. The immigration officer on the Malaysian side was a bit iffy to let me in on my Philippine passport at first, but I convinced him by telling him I had switched passports before and after checking with his superiors, he endorsed my Philippine passport. He was actually very friendly and accommodating, not really the serious type. I even noticed when I passed through that he was playing Warcraft on his computer!

Exiting was no problem either. But when I got back to the Brunei side, they asked why there were no previous Brunei endorsements on my Philippine passport when there were Tedungan endorsements. I tried explaining that I wanted to enter with my Philippine passport, but a senior-looking officer said that they did not allow people to enter Brunei on different passports. I wonder if this was just a twist of fate and if I would have cleared immigration in Brunei had the senior officer not been there.

At any rate, I was made to walk back to the Tedungan side to ask them to transfer my Malaysian exit stamp to my US passport. Thankfully, the Warcraft officer was good-natured and did not mind my disturbing him with my strange requests. He brought me into a back room where his superiors were and consulted them about my situation. The superiors seemed to be having lunch or some snack as it was about noon at that time. Perhaps they really did not care too much or maybe my US passport kept them from flaming up in fury that I was bothering them with strange situations, but the superiors seemed to just wave it off and instructed the Warcraft guy to escort me to the rotund (and jolly-looking) exit officer (there are about five immigration counters, but only one immigration official on both the entry and exit sides).

Fortunately, both were good-natured and the rotund and jolly exit officer did not hesitate to cross out my exit stamp and write "VOID" over it and then stamp my US passport and write "Transfer endosement [sic] from Philipino [sic] passport (XX0000000)." It's cool to have these special endorsements as they have cool stories behind them.

This is my entry stamp from the Sultan Abu Bakar checkpoint, a "new"checkpoint opened in 1998 to ease traffic on the Woodlands causeway by attracting private vehicles with its smoother and faster procedures. More information on this can be found here. I was completely unaware before my trip to Melaka just a few days ago and the fact that our bus went through this checkpoint was a pleasant surprise as it gave me the opportunity to add a new checkpoint stamp to both my Malaysia and Singapore "collections."


This last stamp from Malaysia (at least for now) was also a pleasant surprise as I was expecting to cross the border again at Sultan Abu Bakar and Tuas, but the bus driver for some reason instead chose to go through the old Johor Bahru-Woodlands causeway. Because of that, I now have a stamp from the "new" Johor Bahru checkpoint opened in 2008.

What a coincidence that the first and last stamps on this post are from Johor Bahru!