Philately Journal - Variable

Today I received a copy of the latest (April 2010) issue of Variable - a philately journal on franking labels published by ATEEME based in Spain. Variable is a quaterly bilingual (Spanish and English) journal. I received a copy of the latest issue of the journal because I contributed partially to the article on PAM of Malaysia. Yes, there is a long article (8 pages) on PAM of Malaysia with a lot of nice illustrations/pictures and good information.

It is shame that the Malaysian Philatelist did not come out with an article on PAM on its last issue (December 2009), and I am not sure the coming issue (due in June 2010) would have a write-up on PAM. I had communicated with the editor of Malaysian Philatelist some time end of last year on the matter of write-up of PAM for the December 2009 issue, and I was told that someone had planned to write about the PAM. When the December 2009 issue came out, however, I did not find PAM write-up..... I did mention to the editor that there are some stories/write-ups should be given priority than the others. One of the stories should be given priority is PAM.

Mel Rakyat

Pos Malaysia released a domestic aerogramme called Mel Rakyat on April 26, 2010. However, the Mel Rakyat was launched (not sold) on April 22, 2010 at Kuala Kubu Baru. The Mel Rakyat was on sale only at GPOs on the day of release. However, the sale of Mel Rakyat at post offices throughout the country will only start on May 3, 2010. It was a very good thought of kkkhor to send me this Mel Rakyat from Ipoh on the day of release (April 26, 2010).

Two Covers from Thailand

Two nice covers from Thailand were sent on April 23, 2010 at Phetchaburi.

A Cover from Portugal

Amadora; date: April 17, 2010

1-Malaysia Personalised Stamp - Ring Flaw

The 1-Malaysia personalised stamp was initially released on Februaty 4, 2010, and it received very good response. Within two weeks time, all the stamps were sold out. Pos Malaysia "reprinted" the 1-Malaysia personalised stamp later to cater the good response from customers. The "reprint" 1-Malaysia personalised stamp has a ring flaw on the foot of the figure "1". The ring flaw occurs on the forth stamp of the first row of the stamp sheet. This flaw is constant but less common. Check up your 1-Malaysia personalised stamps to see if you also have the ring-flaw stamp!


the top stamp has a ring flaw and the bottom stamp is normal

enlargement of the stamp area with ring flaw

2010 - Medical Excellence

I went to post office to buy new stamps which were issued today (April 26, 2010). I bumped into a fellow stamp collector who happens to visit to my this blog regularly. He commented that I have not updated my blog for a few days, and he can't wait to read my next blog entry. Yeah, he is right that the last update was done on April 22, 2010. Anyway, I find blog writing on philately is fun, and it makes my stamp collecting more colourful and more feeling...... :) And, of course, it feels good to know that there are people who care what I feel about philately :)

OK, back to today subject - new stamp issue. Yeah, Pos Malaysia issued a set of three stamps on topic of medical excellence. Three "great" acheivements on medicine by Malaysia are portrayed on stamps - limbal stem cell deficiency (30s), premaxilla retractor (50s) and arm transplant (RM1). I'm not going to talk much about these acheivements, but I would rather to talk about philately of these stamps. There is a Malay translation of arm transplant (pemindahan lengan) in RM1 stamp. However, no Malay translation is give to stamps 30s and 50s. Nevertheless, the first day cover brochure does have a Malay translation of 30s limbal stem cell deficiency as kekurangan sel stem limbal. How about the 50s premaxilla retractor? Well, let me do a bit of Malay translation for Pos Malaysia - retraktor pramaksila..... hehehehehehe

Domestic Registered Cover 041

PP Bidor K3, Perak; date: April 15, 2010

Domail 1994

Pos Malaysia on February 8, 1994 issued a postal stationery called Domail (abbreviation of Domestic Lettermail). The Domail looks like an aerogramme but it was for local/domestic sending. The Domail contains a 30c pre-printed stamp, but it was sold at a price of 40c.


front view
back view

Business Mail Centre

I always think that there is only one mail centre in Bukit Raja handling mail from Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Puchong, Klang, Kuala Selangor etc. The cancellation from the mail centre reads as "Pusat Mel Bukit Raja", and there are at least three cancellation machines (sorting machines) to process the mail. Lately, however, I obtained a machine cancellation reads as "Pusat Bisnes Bukit Raja". I ain't quite sure if this "Pusat Bisnes Bukit Raja" is located within the "Pusat Mel Bukit Raja" or it is just another separate mail centre to handle specifically business mail. I have not seen other "Pusat Bisnes". If you have any other than "Pusat Busines Bukit Raja", please do let me know.

Altitude of Stamp Collecting in Malaysia - II

I was a bit emotional...... as somebody commented..... hehehehehe

I'm still on expressing my feeling on stamp collecting in Malaysia..... hey, this is part II :)

Well, PSM forum is definitely well-known among stamp collectors in Malaysia or even overseas who have interest in Malaysia philately. Malaysia stamp collectors who have access to internet would most likely be members of PSM forum. There are a few dedicated members in the forum will try their best to answer or give opinion to any questions posted on the PSM forum.

There is another stamp/philately forum similar to PSM forum but hosted by Australian. Majority of the members there focus on Australian philately or sporadically on other countries. So, if you have any queries on Australian stuff, there is the place where you should go for. The forum is definitely not strong on Malaya or modern Malaysia philately. Well, there was a member in the Australian forum who happens to be a Malaysia/Malaya collector, and more importantly he/she is located in Malaysia. He/She posted a query on a printing flaw on a postal product by Pos Malaysia released in 1993. He/She asked about the flaw and wanted to find out if anyone has this flaw product...... it ended up that nobody answered his/her query, and there was another forum member (from Malaysia) suggested him/her to post the same query on PSM forum, and he/she thanked the suggestion..... until now I still have not seen the same query being posted on PSM forum.... I'm still waiting.....

Now, the point I want to make here is that why in first place he/she posted that query on the Australian forum knowing well that his/her query would receive cold response. By judging his/her "active" involvement in the Australian forum, I pretty sure he/she should be a member of PSM forum as well. Now the second point I want to raise here is that is he/she active as well in PSM forum (there is no way I may know his/her id in PSM forum)? If he/she is active in PSM forum as well, then I find it weird that why he/she did not post the query in PSM forum..... If he/she is not active in PSM forum, then I also find it weird why he/she did not want to give support to PSM forum..... weird, weird, weird.......

Happy stamp collecting :)

Hornbill Stamp from Indonesia

I just acquired this bird miniature sheet of Indonesia. The miniature sheet is an overprint one for Jakarta International Philatelic Expo 2009 (28 October - 1 November 2009). I like this miniature sheet because it has a hornbill stamp on it. The hornbill species depicted in the stamp is wrinkled hornbill (Aceros corrugatus). Wrinkled hornbill is distributed in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo. You may view the original hornbill stamp here.

2005 Bird Definitive 30 sen - 2009/11

The serial number for 30 sen bird defintive is now 2009/11........... Is this the last number for year 2009? If not, then how many more before the appearance of serial number 2010/1?

Domestic Registered Cover 040

PP Taman Perling K4, Johor; date: April 8, 2010

A Cover from Latvia

Riga; date: April 1, 2010

Attitude of Stamp Collecting in Malaysia

I ain't going to show you any stamps, covers or labels in this blog entry. I am going to grumble how I feel about stamp collecting in Malaysia....... Stamp collectors in Malaysia generally are selfish lots. They don't seem to be very keen on sharing information because they are afraid of other collector fellows taking over him (I hardly to see female collector in Malaysia.... hehehehehehe) in obtaining certain philatelic materials....... really "kiasu" lot! Everybody (those serious/senior collectors) knows about something "rare" or "precious", and everybody tries not telling anybody to search for these "rare" or "precious" materials! Everybody thinks that he's got the materials and not the others..... but, it turns out that everybody has got the materials but not only himself....... so, the "rare" and "precious" materials have finally become not too "rare" or too "precious". Funny isn't it? This selfish attitude of serious/senior collectors really kills off the spirit of young/new collectors who may have intention to venture into more specialized areas/aspects of Malaysia stamps.

Philatelic Society of Malaysia (PSM) Forum is a good place/platform for discussion on Malaysia philately. However, many serious/senior collectors do not seem to be taking part in the discussion. They like to visit to the PSM forum to see other people to discuss and then go away without leaving any note...... This is not going to help much in stamp collecting. We all Malaysia stamp collectors need to share information and knowledge to cherish the stamp collecting in Malaysia. We need to create a conductive atmosphere so that more new comers to join in the Malaysia philately. Sometimes, I am just wondering how these senoir/serious collectors with plenty of Malaysian philatelic materials are going to sell off their investbed/accumulated materials if there are no more new comers to take up the hobby.

An ATM Cover from Spanish Andorra

Julia de Loria, Andorra; date: April 1, 2010

2005 Bird Definitive 50 sen - 2010/1

The serial number for 50 sen bird defintive is now 2010/1...........

Pos Laju Labels

I didn't realise that Pos Malaysia produces beautiful Pos Laju labels.......

A Cover from Wallis et Futuna

date: March 11, 2010

A Cover from Thailand

Phetchaburi; date: March 30, 2010

PAM - Kuantan GPO

Pos Malaysia installed her second PAM machine at Kuantan GPO, Pahang. The PAM machine in Kuantan GPO started operation in March 2010 (I couldn't remember the exact date but will find out later). The PAM from Kuantan GPO can be recognised by its number 002 (the first three digits of the PAM serial number). Another feature which can be used to distinguish Kuantan PAM from Kuala Lumpur PAM is the flying birds of the Pos Malaysia logo in the PAM. Kuantan PAM has three flying birds with different shades while the Kuala Lumpur PAM has two black flying birds and one grey flying bird. Showing below is a set of pre-set valued (30s, 40s, 50s, 100s and 200s) PAM from Kuantan GPO printed on April 1, 2010.

Bird Definitives - Original Print and Reprint

I have writen an article on the 2005 bird defintives and submitted the article to Malaysian Philatelist (the journal of Philatelic Society Malaysia) for the coming issue which will be out some time in May/June 2010. In one part of the article I write about the design (image layout) difference between the original print (in format of 20-stamp sheetlet) and the reprint (in format of 100-stamp sheet). Up to date, only five (20s, 30s, 50s, RM1 and RM5) out of eight denimontions have been reprinted. The desgin difference between the original print and reprint is so minute, and only close inspection could reveal it. It looks like there is a reposition of wording in relation to the bird image in the reprint. The bird image in the reprint is slightly shifted downwards in relation to the wording if compared to the original print. Showing below is the comparison of original print (on the left side) and the reprint (on the right side) for five denominations (20s, 30s, 50s, RM1 and RM5).