Renewal of Malaysian Passport in Singapore - No More Fanfare!

Last week, I found out that my passport was due for renewal.

Unlike renewing a Singapore passport, doing a renewal for a Malaysian passport has always been a stressful event for me.

I remember it as the need to go to the Malaysian High Commission by 8am and join the long queue just to wait for your turn to enter the High Commission. If you got to join the queue and were given a queue number, that meant you were in time, within the first 100 people of the day. If you didn't, you would have to go home disappointed and try again another day.

Then you would be given an A4-sized form with tonnes of Malay words on it. No English version or translation. So for the Malay illiterate, you would need to pay a sum of money to have a man in a van parked outside the embassy to fill it up for you. I recall keeping a copy at home so that I could fill it up myself next time.

And even though you had your own passport photo taken with a blue background, the man in the van would advise you that it was not the right shade of blue and you would need to have another picture taken, and of course another sum of money paid, to have the correct blue background for your passport photo.

I remember the renewal process as a complicated and stressful event that I have to trudge through every five years.

So, after my last ordeal, I googled for the procedure again.

I found one of the blog posts really helpful and decided to document it for myself. An updated one no less.

Important documents to bring:

- Singapore IC and a photocopy of it on both sides
- Malaysia IC and a photocopy of it on both sides
- Passport due for renewal
- An extra photo ID eg. driving license or any ID with your picture and name on it

Address:

High Commission of Malaysia
301 Jervois Road
Singapore 249077

Getting there by public transport:

Take a train to Orchard MRT and take Bus 14 or 65 from opposite Orchard Parksuites.
Alight at the 4th stop in front of Valley Point Condominium /Mall. The building is recognisable by the Starbucks Cafe at the frontage.

Taking a cab there from Orchard MRT cost between $5 to $10 depending on the time of the day.

When to submit your documents:

- Monday – Thursday: 8am – 12pm
- Friday: 8am – 11:30am
- The embassy is closed during both Malaysian and Singaporean holidays.
There is now no limit on the number of submission per day. They will accept any submission done before 12pm. Phew!

Procedure:

1. Go to the guard house to exchange a photo ID for a pass. Tell the guard you are renewing your passport.
2. He will give you a pass and a simple form with English translation on it with which you need to fill up.

As simple as it can get - even if the amount stated on the form and the amount required at the counter differ!

3. Go to the Immigration Section and queue up at counter 10 to get your documents (form, old passport, original and photocopies of your Malaysian and Singapore ICs) checked.
4. If everything is in order, a number will be given to you and the waiting game begins.


There is a man minding a photocopying machine so there is no issue if you did not have photocopies of your ICs.

5. When it is your turn, the lady at the counter will take a picture of you at the counter itself and collect the renewal fee of S$67 from you.

6. A receipt will be given to you to inform you of the day of collection. Usually, one working day is required for the passport to be renewed and given to you.

I reached the High Commission at about 10.30am and I was out of the place 11.45am. I had read that it is better to reach the place just 30 minutes before 12pm so that you don't have to wait that long.

As you leave the High Commission, remember to go to the guard house to exchange the visiting pass for your driving license or photo ID.

Collection:

1. Return to the High Commission between 2.30pm and 4pm and exchange your photo ID at the guard house for a visiting pass.
2. A man in the Immigration Section will call for numbers held by people with yellow passes first, followed by those holding the blue passes.
3. Join the queue when your number is called.
4. Check your particulars on the new passport.
5. Your old and new passports will be returned to you.

After Renewal:

After renewing your passport, it is important that you go online to transfer your re-entry permit to the new passport.

You will need a Singpass and its password to complete the process. My password had expired and account locked so I went to a CPF office building to acquire one on the spot.

Go to the right-hand column and click on 'Apply for/Renew Re-entry Permit (e-REP)'

Click 'Login with Singpass'

Click on 'Transfer of Re-entry Permit' and follow the instructions to key in your new passport number.

Print the transferred re-entry permit out and save a soft copy in your computer.

It will take a week or two before the transfer is completed in the system, so if you need to travel right after the transfer, it is better to go through the manned immigration counter instead of the self-service counter.

Liar Liar, Pants on Fire

If you ask me what I think of Najib's announcement of MH370 news, that it was lost over the South Indian Ocean and no one survived, I can only have an image of a male cow excreting ultra long and black waste:

BULL. SHIT.

After 17 days of not knowing what to do and what there was, suddenly, they were sure that the plane was lost over the Ocean and there was no survivor.

It looks more to me like they had discussed among themselves:

"We'd better find something to say to quickly close case. If not, no end leh. Very stressful. And we cannot spend all our time on this stupid matter. We don't even know when we can find anything. At the rate it's going, it will take forever. Let's just say something to make this bunch of Chinese pigs give up. The votes were against us during the Election, but we still managed to fool those Chinese. They could not do anything to us even when they knew we cheated big time. They are pigs. Stupid like shit. So we just tell them the plane is lost and everybody died. They also cannot do anything to us. And CASE CLOSED! Yes! Let's do it!"

I would believe this  anytime. Even if it's bullshit. It's a much better, more acceptable bullshit anytime!

In case it disappears with time, I'll copy it here:

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Now Clearly A Government Cover-Up: All Evidence Contradicts Official Story

The “official” story of what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is now a blatant cover-up. After an endless stream of wild incompetence from the Malaysian military and government concerning the radar signature of the missing flight, we are now told by the Malaysian government that the flight “went down over the southern Indian Ocean” and that all lives are lost.


This explanation smacks of an obvious cover-up for several crucial reasons, all of which are now being utterly ignored by the conventional press:

#1) If the plane went down in the ocean, it would have broken up on impact and debris would be easily spotted

A Boeing 777 does not — and cannot — survive impact with the ocean and remain intact. It simply does not have the structural integrity to survive such an impact, which is a lot like hitting a cement wall at terminal velocity.

If Flight 370 hit the ocean, it would have been broken into tens of thousands of pieces, many of which obviously float on water (such as the seat cushions) and would be witnessed washing up on regional shores or easily spotted by search teams.

The lack of such debris is strong support that Flight 370 did not crash into the Indian Ocean as we are now being told.

#2) The plane continued broadcasting data to Boeing for 4 – 7 hours

Remember the fact that the airplane was broadcasting data for at least 4 hours after the transponder was turned off? This fact is now suddenly being dumped from history and from our memories as if it never happened.

We already know Flight 370 flew for 4 – 7 hours after diverging from its planned flight course. We already know this could have taken the plane to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran or even North Korea. (Click here to see my map showing possible destinations.) The fact that the plane broadcast this data for hours is not in dispute!

Wall Street Journal: “U.S. investigators suspect that Malaysia Airlines 3786. Flight 370 stayed in the air for up to four hours past the time it reached its last confirmed location, according to two people familiar with the details, raising the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds of additional miles under conditions that remain murky.”

The Guardian: “MH370: Missing plane could have kept flying four hours after disappearing, US investigators say… Engine data shows plane could have kept flying for four hours after disappearing”
Washington Post: ” the plane may have flown for at least four hours after it dropped from civilian radar, U.S. officials said Thursday. A senior U.S. official said the information came from data sent via a satellite communications system by Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. That data has convinced U.S. officials that the plane’s engines continued to run for at least four hours after all other communication was lost.”

So how does the Malaysian government now explain this? They don’t. They simply gloss over this fact and hope we all forget it. They claim the plane went down in the Indian Ocean without flying very far at all. This makes no sense whatsoever and cannot be reconciled with the flight broadcast data received by Boeing.

#3) There is ZERO evidence the flight crashed into the Indian Ocean

What is the Malaysian government’s evidence that Flight 370 ended in the Indian Ocean and “all lives are lost?”

They have no evidence. They have no bodies. They have no debris, no flight recorders, no sightings and no radar signatures that would put the aircraft in the Indian Ocean.

They have zero evidence. So they are now floating a cover-up to try to put this issue to rest in order to distract from their own incompetence and their bizarre failure to track the radar signature of an aircraft flying well within the range of their radar.

In fact, the only debris floating around right now is made of all the fragments of the Malaysian government’s inept cover-up attempts that smack of a true “rookie attempt” to roll out a cover-up that’s full of holes.

This utter lack of evidence did not prevent the Malaysian government from announcing, “we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived.” (USA Today)

#4) Another crucial fact: It’s clear that the transponder was manually turned off in order to hide the plane’s new flight path

If the pilot of Flight 370 was suicidal and wanted to fly the plane into the ocean, there would be no need to switch off the transponder before doing so.

In fact, there would be no need to make all the complex, intentional flight maneuvers which Flight 370 clearly took as has been widely reported.

The fact that the transponder was manually disconnected followed by the plane making deliberate maneuvers that put it on a new flight path is near-absolute proof that the persons controlling the aircraft had no intention of flying the plane into the ocean. It’s also strong evidence that they did not want governments to track their new flight direction and destination.

Without question, they intended to take the plane somewhere else and land it somewhere else, which is exactly why the aircraft continued broadcasting flight performance data to Boeing for 4-7 hours.

The Malaysian government is now hoping you forget all these facts in believing their bizarre cover-up explanation.

Malaysia’s 9/11 official story

Flight 370 is now Malaysia’s 9/11, complete with nonsense “official” stories and attempts to memory hole all the facts that originally came out in the mainstream media.

We are soon going to be told outrageous lies like “Oh, Boeing never received any flight data broadcasts from the aircraft, didn’t you know?”

Anyone who now cites all the facts which have already been reported in support of the theory that Flight 370 continued on to another destination will be called “conspiracy theorists” and kooks.
The mainstream media will start scrubbing stories and retroactively altering its reporting to match the “official” government story. We’ve seen this before. It’s how governments and media outlets sweep 239 lives under the rug and try to discredit anyone who asks skeptical, scientifically-sound questions based on the actual evidence.

In truth, the Malaysian government’s bizarre new claim that Flight 370 “ended in the Indian Ocean” is the biggest conspiracy theory of all. It’s sheer lunacy to reach such a conclusion without compelling evidence to support it, especially in light of all the other evidence that Flight 370 continued on for hours after the transponder was intentionally disabled.

Most likely explanation at this point: The aircraft is being turned into a weapon

Based on the Malaysian government’s obvious cover-up attempt (which is incredibly transparent and childish as far as cover-ups go), it now seems increasingly likely that the Flight 370 aircraft has, indeed, been delivered to a rogue nation where it is being transformed into a weapon.

Malaysia has already proven that it is so incompetent that it cannot track huge aircraft flying across its airspace. This means a weaponized Boeing 777 is essentially a “stealth aircraft” to the Malaysian military — a shocking revelation about military incompetence and lack of national security readiness in that nation.

Apparently, this same Boeing 777 can also fly undetected across the airspace of other nations — most likely by “shadowing” existing flights while turning off its own transponder.

Whoever took control of Flight 370 now has a massive stealth weapon which an incredibly long flight range. This aircraft can now be outfitted with nuclear weapons and dispatched to almost any desirable target anywhere in the world, including cities like New York and Washington D.C., unfortunately.
I was the first journalist in the world to suggest that Flight 370 had been captured and turned into a weapon. That same story was also the very first story to suggest Flight 370 passengers may still be alive.

I still believe Flight 370 passengers may have survived the flight and the landing at the new destination, but now that world governments are rolling out their “official” stories, there is no question in my mind that they will do anything to support those official stories, even if it means discarding the lives of all the passengers. Sadly, I am now forced to recalculate the odds of Flight 370 passengers being found alive at no better than 1 in 5. (It was previously as high as 1 in 2.) But it is not zero! There is a realistic chance the passengers are being kept alive as some sort of international bargaining chip.

You can now expect the governments and media outlets of the world to start scrubbing their archived stories and statements, altering the “news history” to fit this new Malaysian government cover-up.
I wouldn’t even put it past these people to now secretly sink some aircraft debris in the Indian Ocean so they can “find it” and thereby complete the cover-up.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my years as an award-winning investigative journalist, it’s that you should never trust official stories… especially when they contradict all the earlier evidence. 


This article originally appeared on Natural News by Mike Adams

Some China artistes have expressed their angry sentiments on Weibo, China's version of Tweeter.

No one say it better than they do.

And did you see the way Najib made the statement? He looked down immediately after the announcement, seemingly to avoid making eye contact with anyone, since all eyes were on him. It reminds me of the HK drama serial in which the mind-reader protagonist said that liars usually point away from themselves when they tell a lie.

I can't believe words that come out from a corrupted heart.

My thoughts on Cameron Highlands

It was raining when we arrived at Cameron Highlands. I had the runs the first night we got there.

My elder sister surmised that it was the pasar malam food that we bought. I was the only one who ate a packet of spicy bee hoon. The only good thing about the diarrhoea was: it usually happened in the morning and at night when I was at the hotel and after I had food.

Before we went, I heard from my aunt and family that Cameron Highlands is colder than Genting. It got me a little worried as I remembered how freezing Genting was and I don't like cold places.

However, I found Cameron Highlands relatively bearable. Just very wet. Genting was cold and dry (if my memory serves me well) while Cameron Highlands was cold and wet.

For the 2 days that we were there, we heard the siren of the ambulance four times. We thought it worrying but thank God nothing bad happened to us despite the long and windy road up and down the hills. Baby and her cousin threw up in the car though. Having read online that there were two roads, Tapah and Simpang Pulai, we chose Simpang Pulai as it was newer, wider and had gentler slopes compared to Tapah's narrow and pot-holed road. Besides, Simpang Pulai was nearer to Brinchang.

I was a little disappointed that Cameron Highlands wasn't quite what I had imagined. From what I have heard, Cameron Highlands is an expanse of greenery with fresh, crisp air. It has rows of beautiful roses in different colours. It is a piece of untainted land which inhabits simple people who own farms and plantations.

From what I have seen, Cameron Highlands is quite the contrary. It is very residential and touristy. We stayed in the Brinchang area as it was close to most attractions. We saw many hotels and motels in our hotel area, and many restaurants that catered to tourists, as marked by their red table cloths. On our way up Cameron Highlands, we passed by many farms and plantations that targeted tourists ie. "Pick your own strawberries/fruits" signs.

Food was not fantastic at Cameron Highlands, something that is in common with Genting Highlands. Something I find puzzling about Malaysia is: tourist attractions usually serve awful food. You'd think that they would have perfected their culinary skills after having tested them on hundreds, if not thousands, of tourists every year.

Cameron Highlands is no different from any other towns that are inhabited by ordinary folks. It is just very tourist-dependent for its livelihood. Nevertheless, we made the best of our time there and for someone who hates long drives, it was good to have explored a small part of Malaysia.

Day 4 (15 Dec 2013): Boh Tea Centre, Pasar Malam and Bye!

Next on the itinerary was Boh Tea Centre

 Had a tea break there too!

A whole hill of tea leaves!

The sheer expanse and greenery of the plantation looked refreshing and beautiful!

The information boards at the centre educated me on a few things about Boh Tea - that it had to rival and weed out imitations in the market, that Boh Tea was started by ang mohs, and Cameron Highlands was discovered by any mohs.

On exiting Boh Tea plantation, we drove past this tea leaves site that allowed us to be very close to the plants.

So we got down to take some pictures!

Before we left the hotel, we visited the pasar malam which was a stone's throw away

Natural honey with foam

The guy claimed that the dark brown ones were the sweetest but I hadn't the courage to buy. My sister's friend commented that she didn't think they were any different from the honey we buy from supermarkets.

Souvenirs - loads of strawberry items

Sea coconuts

The sign read: Cordyceps. $10

They were simply cordyceps lookalike vegetables or plants that are used as soup ingredients, so said my aunt.

More strawberry items

Apparently, Cameron Highlands has quite a few strawberry farms

After browsing the pasar malam, we strolled back to the hotel

We dropped by Ipoh for a famed chicken rice meal

Oh my goodness, I haven't eaten chicken as smooth as this! It was really very good!

Apparently, it is a well-known fact that An Ji serves fantastic chicken rice. 

There were pictures of local and overseas artistes with the boss on the wall.

We reckoned they use kampong chicken

Day 4 (15 Dec 2013): Hotel Country Lodge and Big Red Strawberry Farm

We headed to Cameron Highlands right after we left Kidzania at 3.30pm as we did not want the road up the highlands to be too dark for travelling in the later part of the day.

We booked a family room at Hotel Country Lodge for the 2-day stay.

When we reached the hotel, it was 9pm. We retired to our room to rest after I made a fuss over the horribly wet bedroom floor at the reception. 

 View of the area from the balcony

The next morning, Big Red Strawberry Farm it was!

Some pretty lettuce

Nothing comes free!

Picking the strawberries

Prior to this, we had never seen strawberry plants, so we were surprised to see strawberries planted in small flower pots. 

"Got 1/2 kg already or not? Is it too much? Should be okay lah huh?" was what we kept mumbling about when we were picking the strawberries.

The vegetables were really beautifully green. They looked so fresh you'd feel they were fit to be bitten as they were.

Grape vines lined the top of the walkway

The farm was quite big. On the other side was a display of many cacti and potted plants.

Pots of pitcher plants!

It was quite an enjoyable experience for us as it was our first time at a strawberry farm. No doubt it was touristy and therefore artificial, we had a great time nonetheless. We left the farm after we explored all that there was.