How I Almost 'Sneaked' Into Malaysia Again

In a flash, National Day was over. It has been more than a week since I last updated this blog. The "radio silence" is due to yours truly being out of town for most of the week and the subsequent catching up caused me to lose quite a bit of momentum. In fact I only came back on the night of August 9 after the NDP celebration. It was a close shave at the Johor Bahru CIQ and if Abang was a bit more fussy, I might not have made it back during National Day. What happened?

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station - closed on the night of June 30 and reverted to Singapore on July 1.

About a month after the last train left Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, I embarked on my next railway journey upcountry, to relive the train-taking memories and to check out what has changed since I last sat on a train in Malaysia - that was many months ago. When demolition started and the rail corridor became off-limits, my rail adventures progressed from track exploration to intercity route exploration. The National Day long weekend was a chance not to be missed and I found myself an excuse to join the exodus of folks out of town. Majulah Singapura.

What has changed for us since KTM shifted their operations to Woodlands Train Checkpoint? For passengers to Singapore and I was one of them - nothing! I can't say for passengers to Malaysia as my mode of exodus was not the train. You still get to clear immigration on board the train at JB Station (they built a new station JB Sentral to replace the old one which I heard is now a mini railway museum) and you still have to alight at Woodlands Train Checkpoint for CIQ clearance.

This notice which I found in the train carriage gives a good summary of the changes. Trains no longer terminate at Tanjong Pagar but at Woodlands.

It was at Padang Besar Station - Malaysia's version of our Woodlands Train Checkpoint - that I sensed trouble on the horizon. Padang Besar is similar in many ways to Woodlands: for example, CIQ facilities for both countries are co-located, with the station, in the same complex (in Malaysia territory); and both CIQs clear mostly train passengers.

History was repeated here, a different variation on the same theme. Two years ago I "sneaked" into Malaysia with the blessing of their Immigration [link]; now I would do it again with their tacit approval. As a dutiful visitor to Malaysia and per customary practice, I asked for the "white card", the disembarkation card otherwise known as Imm.26. The request was put forth not to the immigration officer at the counter but this nice lady decked in hijab and white uniform who ushered us to the counters. Can you believe it, she just waved me through! Even the officer at the counter did not complain, he just made me go through their new immigration procedure but there was no chaos. That was really new because when I cleared their CIQ to enter Malaysia at Sultan Abu Bakar Complex few days earlier, there was no such procedure.

View from my window of the new JB Sentral station, my first time using the station but I did not disembark. Can you see the distance marker above the tracks?

A day later it was evening when I reached JB Sentral, the last station before Woodlands and therefore the logical place to clear Malaysia immigration. As expected their officers boarded the carriages; and you can imagine the manpower deployed and the excruciating wait we had to go through as the carriages were packed like peak-hour MRT due to the long weekend. The officers cleared passports with a stroke of their pen; it was then and there that I realized for Malaysian passports they only gave a cursory look at the profile page, so there is a loophole in the exit control procedure for Malaysians after all?

Thanks to the number of Malaysians on the train, it did not take that long for Abang to reach my seat. The first question he asked was, "no immigration card?" I held my breath and answered in the negative. Something must be wrong because he could clearly see the Padang Besar chop on the page. He wrote something which took longer than expected and tore away the identification sticker slip from my page. I guess the sticker must be some kind of receipt generated for the new immigration procedure or could it be a replacement for the Imm.26?

My Padang Besar chop and the sticker slip. What is the purpose of the slip, anyone knows? The officer left a remark "no immigration card" above the chop and a date in red ink below the sticker.

For once, the threat of a squat in the detention centre seemed so real. Unlike the anomalous immigration clearance at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station last time, this Imm.26 waiver at Padang Besar could not be normal procedure. I know it because when Abang knew my partner-in-crime did not hold a red passport, he left us and took the passport with him to a position behind us. Presumably he was seeking instructions from his superior or consulting his colleague on the anomaly. I dared not turn my head back to find out.

Immigration clearance for both of us took longer than usual. This pair of aliens in Malaysia must have attracted a few stares, we were after all delaying a much delayed train late in the evening. Thank goodness Abang did not raise a ruckus over the Imm.26 and we were cleared in the end.