Hi this is my first post to start off with!
Travel has always been my forte and I would like to share the experiences I had during my travels. They always say to start with a happy note but to differ I would like to take the bitter pill first and here is one!!
It was early in 2009 when I embarked on a trip to Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore and this incident happened when I was travelling from Malaysia to Thailand. An experience … may be the worst one as it clearly reflects the attitude of the bureaucracy of a country which boasts itself as a developed nation. It was on the 14th of April when I took a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Hat yai in southern Thailand. The next morning at the Hat yaiimmigration I was refused entry on the pretext that I didn’t carry enough US dollars. I showed them my valid visa, my credit cards, hotel bookings and the money I carried, but all in vain. Stranded at the Thai border with my fingers crossed I was trying to impress upon the officials when the driver of the bus in which I came approached me and told to pay RM 100 and get myself cleared. Yes! A bribe of RM 100 to the Thai immigration made me enter Hat yai though I had in my possession all the valid documents. My eagerness to visit Hat yai made me succumb to it and I paid for my entry. Well at that time Thailand was going through a political turmoil with the red shirt movement and probably the officials took it as a right opportunity to make a fast buck. This shouldn’t have happened but however I had no choice. But the worst was yet to come on my return to Malaysia in the form of Malaysian Customs.
It was on the 17th of April, on my way back to Singapore by bus I was stopped by the Malaysian Customs and was asked to open my bag. I promptly opened my bag and offered myself to check. The Customs officials treated me like a drug peddler and checked every nook and corner of my bag as I quietly stood in a corner as a mere spectator when the whole exercise took place in front of me. Unable to see my things strewn apart, I approached them and introduced myself as a Customs Officer from India and showed my identity card to them. Looking at my credentials one of them gave me a weird look and said “Does this make you immune to checks?” I didn’t know what to answer when cornered by such a question…I just said, “Well Sir please carry on with your check”. They checked all my bags and took out the souvenirs I picked up from various countries and started to appropriate them. The souvenirs may be cheap stuff but I had bought them bearing in mind my friends and relatives and of course they had an emotional value attached to them. They then took out the half bottle of Regency Brandy and said that I cannot carry it. I argued that I was allowed to carry 2 litres of liquor…..but it went to their deaf ears. I had a pack of Indonesia Gudang Garam Cigarette … the limited version one with just 12 sticks which a friend gifted me back in Thailand, quite an expensive one in my pocket. One of the officers put his hand in and took it out. When I objected he said he loves to smoke that! Quite a reason he had! They offered to let me go if I parted with the things I had or they said that I would have to wait for a couple of hours to meet a senior official and to get things sorted out. They put me in such a fix as they knew that I had a bus waiting for me to take me to Singapore and that I would eventually leave the stuff with them. Added to that driver of the bus was complaining that he was late and had to hurry. My bags were in a total mess: all the things spread out in the table. I had no way but to give away the bottle, some of the souvenirs, the pack of cigarettes…and then I was allowed to go with my clothes. This is the state of affairs of the Malaysian customs at the border. They just appeared to be like the bandits in the old medieval period robbing off the helpless travelers.
The Immigration and Customs Officials are the first representatives of a country a foreigner encounters on his day of arrival. How they treat him in the first instance goes a long way in the memory of the foreigner and creates a positive vibe about the nation he visits. I being a customs officer, having the privilege to have worked in two major Indian international airports took the above incident on a positive note as I had gotten to see things from a passenger’s perspective. In fact this incident has made me to put up always a smiling face when greeting a visitor and it definitely does give a sense of comfort to a passenger who arrives after hours of boring travel. I am happy to see that smile on their faces as they move towards the exit; the very smile which I was deprived of in Malaysia!