If you are caught, just blame someone!

On my way to KL from Kuching, i was stuck at the immigration minutes ago. I wasn’t having proper documents to travel, which was actually a stamp/receipt from immigration that i should’ve received during my arrival from Kl few days back.

This was what happened:-

1- I was from KL to Bintulu, transit for 1 hour in Kuching.

2- Immediately after i got out of airplane, i went straight to MAS counter to ask for assistance, as i was not sure what to do, whether i have to exit the airport, immigration, also checking my bags were already checked in for Bintulu.

3- I was told to follow the Yellow sign for immigration clearance, which i then go.

4- There was no one at the counter. I followed the sign that wrote “Penumpang transit ke Bintulu” which directed me to counter 19. I walked past the counter 3 times, looking for a person where i could get my transit visas, there was none execpt 2 empty desks.

5- Having a few assumptions on my head (maybe dah tukar procedure kot), i sat down a waiting area at the side of the immigration counter/desk. Hoping to see any immigration officer coming back to their counter/desk. For some reasons i don’t know, apparently i was the only one wating there.

6- I waited there for almost 1.5 hours (my flight was delayed due to some VIP event), no one was there. At this point i taught “counter tu dah tak pakai kot“. Oh, and there was not much of immigration officers around as well, as i could see lines of VIP cars & 2 40pax buses at the runaway, which later then  i learned that  Dato Sri Najib was in one of those cars.

7- I boarded my flight to Bintulu without a glitch.

Now i’m back to Kuching, the officer told me

“Encik tak cop boarding pass ke masa sampai haritu?”

“Saya tak dapat apa-apa cop, saya pergi di counter 19 tapi tak ada orang, saya 1st time datang sini”

Luckily i still got my boarding passes from KL-Kuch-Bintulu.

“Sepatutnya Encik dapatkan cop tu, kalau tak ada orang di counter encik cari la, boleh tanya MAS staff mereka akan carikan”

“Saya sampai haritu saya terus tanya MAS staff apa kena buat, dia bagitau saya kena pegi counter tu dan saya ikut saja”

At this point she was confused, took my boarding passes & went to her superior.

“Lain kali Encik kena dapatkan cop tu, kalau tak ada orang di counter Encik boleh pergi cari, pejabat kami dekat saja di bawah”

I was forcing my self not to drag this conversation further,as she was clearing my documents & letting me off, so i said “Ok”.

I learned a few lessons from this incident:-

1- Never assume things/systems are right in place in Malaysia. Always ask (2-3 times) if in doubt.

2- If i go to Sarawak, i have to clear through immigration counters for a stamp/receipt. If there’s no one attending the immigration desk, i have to go and look for them even if they are having coffee at Starbucks or busy looking at VIP cars flashing on the runaway.

3- If you are caught not doing your job, just don’t apologize, find someone to blame!