POSTCARD N.216 - MALAYSIA

Postcard sent on the 6th January; received on the 25th March 2026

Postcard image: Suria KLCC Shopping Mall and Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

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The Phantom started the year wondering around as it is his custom, and on his ramblings he went to Malaysia, from where he kindly sent me a postcard.

Danke Sehr, Alex!

The twin Petronas Towers were once the tallest building in the world, having been since surpassed by some 20 other buildings, mostly located in Asia.

Still, it continues to rank as the tallest twin towers structure in he world.

Having started to be laid on paper in 1992, construction would begin in March 1993 and be concluded in 1996. The inauguration of the building took place on 31 August 1999.

The stamps used are part of a set of five values (30; 50; 2 x 60 Sen + 5 Ringgit), dated of 05DEC2024, dedicated to Student Organisation uniforms, 

The 30 Sen stamp (on the left) is illustrated with an image of a marching group of young lads, members of the Student Cadets, a  corps specific to the Ministry of Education for primary schools, which aims at fostering discipline and patriotic spirit among the young students.

The 60 Sen stamp is dedicated to the Girl Guide Association of Malaysia, founded in 1916.

The set to which both stamps belong was issued within the framework of  Stamp Week 2024.

On the left of the card the First day postmark of the last issue of 2025, dedicated to rubber research in Malaysia, was also included.

 

Postmark from the “Biro Peminat Setem, Ibu  Fejabat Pos”, which  Google tels me means something like  Philatelic Bureau of the Post Office Headquarters.

POSTCARD N.157 - MALAYSIA

Postcard sent on the 4th July; received  0n the 19th August 2024

Postcard image: St. paulk's Church on St. Paul's Hill, Malacca city
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Ravindra keeps enticing me with great postcards with images which bear a relation to my Portuguese heritage. This time not from his own Sri Lanka, but from Malaysia, and the city of Malacca: the oldest European building east of India, the church of Saint Paul, first built in 1521 as a small chapel, under the orders of Duarte Coelho, who named it Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Anunciada (Our lady of the Annunciation) as a token of gratitude for his having been saved from a storm in the South China Sea.

The Chapel was later donated to the Society of Jesus represented by St. Francis Xavier, who had been sent by the Portuguese King D. João III on an evangelisation mission to the Eastern territories where the  Portuguese  had been present 

The chapel  was enlarged and a belfry added to it in 1590, its designation changing to Igreja da Madre de Deus (Church of God's Mother).

The name by which it is now known, Saint Paul's Church, was given by the Dutch, who, after expelling the Portuguese from Malacca, reconsecrated the Church to St. Paul.

The British, who occupied Malacca from 1826, used the church as a powder magazine, and over time it was left to deteriorate to its present state.

Ravindra used a 100 ringgit stamp part of a 4 x 100 Ringgit se-tenant strip joint issue with Singapore, issued in celebration of the centenary of the Causeway between Johore and Singapore.

The four stamps, issued on 28JUN2024, are illustrated with paintings of views of the causeway in 1930 and in 2020, as seen from the Malaysian and Singaporan sides of the infrastructure.

The stamp on the postcard reflects the view of the causeway from Singapore in 2020. 

The Postmark reads Pusat Mel Nasional (Pos Malaysia National Mail Centre) Malaysia, which is located in the city of Sha Alam, State of Selangor.
 

COVER N. 426 - MALAYSIA

Postmark: Pusat Mel Kota Kinabalu Sabah 12.02.2024 

Posted on the  12th February; received on the 19th March 2024

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A rather full envelope from Malaysia, with plenty of stamps on its face. Terima kasih, Ka Ming!

The first time Ka wrote me,  the letter took about 3 and a half months to get to my doorstep, It seems things have improved quite noticeably because now it took just about a month and a week to travel the same distance, which is, of course, great news.

As in the first letter he sent me, Ka Ming made sure there were a lot of stamps on the envelope, something he asked me to also try to do in my response, but which I unfortunately find quite hard to  consummate since series with "small change" stamps is something of the past, in many places, Portugal Included. Anyway, I'll do my best, with domestic postage stamps, next time I write him.

Stamps Left to right

- "Traditional Carftwork of Malaysia", such was the theme chosen for a four stamp set (60 and 80 sen; 1 and 5 Ringgit) issued on 04DEC2019. The 80 sen stamp from this set on the cover is illustrated with a  Sarawak Vase, The origins of Sarawak pottery being traceable to Chinese  immigrant artisans, it seems.

- The Penang Funicular in Georgetown, Malaysia, started its operation in 1923. Over the years it has suffered natural adaptations in terms of its rolling stock, this being the theme chosen for the very beautiful set of three stamps (30 and 60 sen; 1.30 ringgit) issued on the occasion of the centenary of the infrastructure. It should also be noted that in 2010, the funicular suffered a major update with the introduction not only of new rolling stock but also of new tracks.

The stamps were issued on 22AUG2023 and the lesser value stamp, with the original funicular carriages can be seen on the cover.

- Invasive species are always a problem, because they conflict with local ones, sometimes overrunning them to a worrying degree. That is not to say that invasive species cannot be beautiful and attractive. In fact they usually are, this being the reason why they were once imported in the past.

This is the case of Ipomoea indica, Blue morning glory, which in my country goes by the name of Bons-dias, and which is believed to be a native of the Americas, from Florida to South America.

I once spent a full day in the coast of the Arrábida region, in a voluntary team, participating in  a cleaning operation of the  the local vegetation, during which we removed a lot, and I mean a lot, of this beautiful flowering plant of the Convolvulaceae family, which also includes the much beloved sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).

there are two stamps with the same image of a blue morning glory on the cover. The one i the block of four (90 sen) was issued on 01JUL2010, as part of a definitive series themed on garden flowers.

The 40 sen version on the right corner,  is part of a 6 stamp set dedicated to flowers issued on 31DEC2007.

- The Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducula aenea) occurs in large parts of Asia,  "from Nepal, southern India and Sri Lanka eastwards to southern China, Indonesia and the Philippines"  as mentioned in Wikipedia. 

A member of the Columbidae family, this forest dweller is the subject of the beautiful 5 Ringgit stamp issued on 14MAY2005, part of an eight definitive stamp set themed on "Birds".

- It is believed that shadow play, a form of theatre that uses back lit puppets whose shadows are projected on a translucent screen, originated in China or India, somewhere in the 1st millennium BC. From then on it grew to be a much cherish tradition in various parts of the world, but especially in and around southeast Asia.

Malaysia, where shadow play is known as Wayang Kulit has this tradition deeply enrooted and one of its contemporary masters, both as performer and trainer of other performers, was Hamzah Awang Amat.

The Shadow Play Master, (1940-2001), was one of the Malaysian Art Laureates honoured on a three stamp set (50 and 60 sen; 130 Ringgit) stamp issued on  26SEP2023. 

The postmark indicates that the envelope was mailed from the city of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian State of Sabah, in the island of Borneo.

COVER N. 374 - MALAYSIA

Postmark: Pusat Meo Nasional (?) Selangor, Malaysia - 06.12.2023

Posted on the 6yh December; received on the 19th December 2023

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Another of Ravindra's extremely interesting covers, this time from Malaysia. Thanks a lot, Ravindra!

Left to right, top to bottom:

Four stamp set all of identical face value - 60 sen - dedicated to Malayan marine fauna, issued on 21MAR2012. The beautiful illustrations depict:

Blue sea star (Linckia laevigata)

Leopard Moray Eel (Gymnothorax melanospilos)

Red-spotted Coral Crab (Trapezia rufopunctata)

Mandarinfish (Synchiropus splendidus)

Four stamps of a five stamp set 1; 2x 30; 50 sen; 5 ringgit , issued for Stamp Week 2009 on 07DEC2029, themed on Malayan Arachnids.  Again, the illustrations are absolutely marvellous and further to the general portrait of the species there is also a side panel highlighting a more detailed area of the subject. Species depicted are:

Golden Orb-web Spider (Nephila maculata)

St Andrew's Cross Spider (Argiope versicolor)

Curved Spiny Spider (Gasteracantha arcuata)

Malayan Fighting Spider (Thiania bhamoensis)

The set includes also a souvenir sheet with a single  hexagonal stamp  - 5 ringgit - depicting a Black Emperor Scorpion (Heterometrus longimanus).

Positions 1,2 and 5 of bottom row, three stamps from a six stamp definitive issue (5;10;20;30;40;50 sen) dated of 31DEC2007, flowers on the cover stamps are:

Chinese Hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)

Hydrangea macrophylla

Cacao tree  (Theobroma cacao)

Stamps on position 3 is of a six stamp definitive set issued on 21FEB2017, themed on Malayan orchids. With a face value of 1 ringgit, it depicts an Aranda (Arachnis flos-aeris).

Finally, stamp on position 4 was issued on january 2011, as a reissue of a stamp included in a definitive set themed on garden flowers. issued on 2007. With a face value of 2 ringgit, it depicts a Golden trumpet (Allamanda cathartica).

The postmark hails from the State of Selangor, one of the 13 in the Malayan federation.

COVER N. 215 -  MALAYSIA

Postmark: Pusat Mel Kota Kinabalu - Sabah 07.11.22

Posted on the 7th November 2022; Received on the 19th February 2023

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Another much welcomed surprise, the more so since it allows me to tick another box in the list of countries: Malaysia.

A fellow collector took the liberty of writing me asking for a stamp swap. I will have to rapidly find something that falls within his sphere of interest to send him back, since he is probably thinking that either I didn't get the letter or I don't care to respond, given that so much time has passed since he mailed his letter. I know Malaysia is quite a long way from my little rectangle by the sea, but three and a half months is also quite a long time.... 

There is a touch of classy nostalgia in this, though.... in an age when everything is more instantaneous than preparing a cup of instant coffee, it does taste (nice pun, isn't it?) quite good to receive a letter that not only is handwritten, but also took its time to get here.

All things considered,  Thanks a lot Ka Ming! Response will be on its way as soon as possible... even if first I will have to order a couple of items to send you. All things going well, you should get it by the middle of the first monsoon....

Stamps, left to right, 

- On 12MAY2022 Pos Malaysia issued a three stamp set (50, 60 and 90 Malaysian sen) dedicated to the Waterfalls of Malaysia, each stamp featuring not only a photo of the waterfall itself but also a little thumbnail photo in the left lower corner of a flower, presumably associated with the waterfall location. 

The 60 sen stamp can be seen on the cover, and it features photos of the Tawai Waterfall  (Air Terjun Tawai) and of the Nepenthes rafflesiana, a famous carnivorous plant local to Sumatra, Borneo, Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.

- The  5 Ringgit stamp featuring the Malaysian Flag over a map of the country with the distinctive silhouettes of the Petronas towers, the tallest twin towers in the world (452 m tall) and  and the Kuala Lumpur Tower (421 m) is the highest value stamp of the set of 6 definitives issued on 01OCT2016, illustrated with images of sundry themes related to the country. 

- The 10 sen stamp illustrated with an image  allusive to Malaysian Festivals,  of which 5 can be seen on the cover, is the lesser face value stamp of this definitive series. 

- The 10 sen stamp illustrated with a painting of an Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) is part of a 6 stamp set dedicated to flowers issued on 31DEC2007.

- The very beautiful boat stamps featuring  a Lepa on the 1.5 Ringitt stamp and a Bangkong on the 30sen stamp constitute a set, issued by Pos Malaysia on 29JUN22 dedicated to traditional boats.

Lepas, I read, used to be the houseboats of the Sama-Bajau, communities that used to live mostly as sea nomads but who now are settling on land so much so that their house boats are now used as fishing and cargo boats.

The Bangkong were the war boats of the Dayak people, so tells me Wikipedia, Dayaks or Ibans being noted for their strange head hunting  hobby ........😀

The postmark informs that the envelope was mailed from the city of Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the Malaysian State of Sabah, in the island of Borneo.