{"id":4815,"date":"2009-08-14T07:11:01","date_gmt":"2009-08-13T23:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=4815"},"modified":"2009-08-14T07:11:01","modified_gmt":"2009-08-13T23:11:01","slug":"%e2%80%9cwelcome-to-whichever%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2009\/08\/14\/%e2%80%9cwelcome-to-whichever%e2%80%a6%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWelcome to (whichever)\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last day or two, there\u2019s been a couple of letters published in TODAY<\/a> on Singapore immigration. The first two are below, and two more on the paper’s web site:<\/p>\n

Our unpleasant return to Singapore<\/strong>
\nLetter from Randy K M Khoo
\n05:55 AM Aug 12, 2009
\nMY WIFE and I returned to Singapore on Monday and what transpired at the immigration counter at Changi Airport left us feeling embarrassed and disappointed.<\/p>\n

We usually approach the immigration counter together to show our passports. Indeed, we did that when we left Singapore on Saturday and the immigration officer then did not raise any objections. However, upon our return, when we tried to do the same, the officer frowned at us and ordered one of us to return to the queue.<\/p>\n

When I tried to tell him we are a married couple, his reply was: “Don’t care – one only.” As we did not want to make a scene, I asked my wife to go ahead and I went back to the queue in silence.<\/p>\n

I understand if this was done for security reasons, but the officer’s choice of words in front of so many tourists was disappointing. A firm but courteous statement was all that was needed.<\/p>\n

And there was a follow-up too:<\/p>\n

Altogether or one at a time?
\n<\/strong>Letter from Andreja Baraba
\n05:55 AM Aug 13, 2009
\nI REFER to “Our unpleasant return to Singapore” (Aug 12).<\/p>\n

A similar incident happened to me and my young children on Aug 7 at Changi Airport. I always hold the family’s passports and at every airport, we always approach the immigration counter together.<\/p>\n

On that day, we approached the immigration counter and the officer said: “One at a time”. I said I had all the passports.<\/p>\n

He repeated loudly: “One at a time!”. So I gave the passports to my children and stepped back, only to have him yell : “Behind the line!”.<\/p>\n

I was astonished at his behaviour, and the children were bewildered as they did not know who should go forward and who should not.<\/p>\n

I felt like a criminal.<\/p>\n

Personally, my experience going through immigration when I\u2019m at an airport or ferry terminal has never been what one would call \u201cpleasant\u201d. It\u2019s always been cool and maybe brisk at best, and when at its worst, as though I\u2019m being interrogated by Gestapo-like officers.<\/p>\n

My earliest clear memories of this was in 1995 when I was clearing Australian customs after just landing in Melbourne for the Australasian Debates. There were these two large looking Aussie armed officers standing behind the row of counters. This was well-before the days of 9-11, and even back then I had to nicely explain my business for being in someone else\u2019s country.<\/p>\n

Coming back to Singapore; maybe it\u2019s because customs is still all jittery post-terrorist with a limp<\/a> and who escaped under everyone\u2019s noses. I think all adults, even in a family, should approach and clear immigration individually. You wouldn\u2019t want another case where immigration here fouls up by letting through someone who\u2019s holding onto his son\u2019s passport. But for children it should be alright for one parents to shepherd them all through at the same time.<\/p>\n

And oh yeah. Matt has his own hilarious account of getting through Singapore customs and immigration. His post right over here<\/a>.:)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the last day or two, there\u2019s been a couple of letters published in TODAY on Singapore immigration. The first two are below, and two more on the paper’s web site: Our unpleasant return to Singapore Letter from Randy K<\/p>\n

Read More \u201cWelcome to (whichever)\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-letters","wpcat-12-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4815\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}