Kuan Yean

Author: Lee Kuan Yean

  • HOW TO… collect unaccompanied baggage in KL

    A 3 10 15 20 step guide to collecting your unaccompanied baggage at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    1. Forget airway bill, or not have it on you because you’ve just flown in from a weekend break.
    2. Go to the cargo terminal at Kuala Lumpur Airport Services, conveniently next to the terminal where I landed.
    3. Find out that I need to get a security pass from KLAS customer service, which is next door (one big loop round airport drive).
    4. Get lost at KLAS customer service building, which is in a building attached to a medical centre that looks largely abandoned, though it has lots of signs directing you to the office. One of them sends you a little wayward with its ambiguity but otherwise not a drama.
    5. Except when you find out that you need the airway bill. Call friendly cargo man at (what I think is) Cathay Pacific Cargo, who faxes airway bill to security pass office. Phew.
    6. Go back to the cargo terminal, flash security pass and go to the wrong cargo bay (KLAS cargo, not MASkargo… duh).
    7. Go to the Cathay Pacific Cargo office… it’s locked. Place phone call to friendly cargo man (FCM) who is confused that I should be at the Cathay Pacific Cargo office… receive directions to go to the end of the corridor, exit to an external staircase and then “can you see me waving at you?”. He’s waving frantically from yet another cargo bay about 400 metres away. Go to meet FCM.
    8. FCM gives me a party pack containing customs forms and directions to get customs clearance prior to collecting my stuff. Drive to customs building about 800 metres away (but inside the terminal).
    9. Directed by customs officer on ground floor of customs building to proceed to “IDE office” at level 3 to get customs clearance from someone at an operation called Dagang.Net.
    10. Directed by lady at Dagang.Net to the Free Commercial Zone (FCZ) office  across the hall for further clearance of some sort. Pay MYR5 in FCZ fees.
    11. Take receipt back to Dagang.Net and fill out a customs declaration form. Friendly lady behind counter accepts form and then appears to write an epic novel on her rattly keyboard. When satisfied with her final draft, she collects MYR 22.25 for customs clearance.
    12. Take growing pile of forms and receipts back to level 1, where customs man stamps my forms (and the Dagang.Net lady’s epic novel) and asks me to collect my goods, do some sort of “100% check” across the street and come back.
    13. Back to FCM at KLAS cargo bay. Directs me to a cashier two bays down to pay for security fees and fuel surcharges… MYR40.
    14. Back to FCM to present receipt. FCM issues another form to show to the security guard at the cargo bay door.
    15. Security guard gives form to manic forklift driver (they’re all manic here) who retrieves goods and brings them back (nearly 90 minutes in and this is the first I’ve seen of them). Sign security guard’s form.
    16. Load stuff into car and take it to “100% check” across the road from the customs building. Open one of the boxes to show goods to customs man and explain that all of the 3 boxes are identical. He ponders this thought and then signs the form. Doesn’t this make it a “33.3% check”? Not complaining, just sayin’…
    17. Go back to customs building, ground floor, to present evidence of “whatever % check”. Man signs form and gives me back a copy so I can slip it in with what is now basically War and Peace. Customs man smiles and cheerily announces “All complete!”. Nearly.
    18. Exit customs building… security guards smile and remind me to return my security pass. Also one of them points out that I’m about to lose my pass (it’s dangling off my jeans). While correcting this, I notice a sign conveying a stern warning that short pants and slippers of any sort are not allowed in government buildings.
    19. Final big loop around airport drive to return security pass next door.
    20. Go home and hope that the niece likes her new play pen.

    [cetsEmbedGmap src=http://maps.google.com.my/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=KL+Airport+Services+Sdn+Bhd+Sepang&sll=2.736304,101.719451&sspn=0.005916,0.013733&ie=UTF8&hq=KL+Airport+Services+Sdn+Bhd&hnear=Sepang,+Selangor&ll=2.731256,101.721554&spn=0.011295,0.01929&t=h&z=16&iwloc=A]

  • Ouch

    One of the inherent risks of living in a former haberdashery:

  • Another troglobyte

    Graeme Wood, founder of Wotif, joins the ranks of IT cavemen who are blind to the real value of the NBN. At the World Computer Congress here in Brisbane he has lauded the benefits to business and government, but cannot see any value to private users of the internet.

    If the mix of the normal usage – email, music, video, Facebook, gaming, stays the same, but just happens faster – is there an economic or social benefit in that for the private user?

    Well he kind of answers his own question… incorrectly. Normal usage of the internet is going to change so drastically over the next 5 to 10 years that we will wonder how we survived without fibre. Where is the vision that someone like Graeme should have?

  • They got the gong!

    The wonderful folks at the Queensland Division of the Institute of Public Administrators Australia took home the award for best brand extension at the Australian Marketing Institute award luncheon today. Congratulations to the team who have worked tirelessly for the last few years to build the iQ brand, and I wish them all the best at the national awards in Melbourne next month!

    Now for a plug: ConsortiumWeb was responsible for the framework and back-end of the website. Check it out here.

  • Turnbull 2.0

    Malcolm TurnbullI am thrilled at the news of Malcolm Turnbull’s appointment as Opposition communications spokesman. I do believe that he is qualified to hold the post and he will do well in his endeavour to keep Stephen Conroy on his toes. I mean, the man has his own iPhone app for crying out loud! In his “acceptance” blog post, he highlighted the $43 billion cost of the ALP’s National Broadband Network, which is a great concern. I do notice that no mention has been made of the Coalition’s broadband model, which has been largely (and rightly) rubbished since it was announced during the election campaign. I can only hope that he goes back to the drawing board, and realises that FTTH is the way to go – but that it must be done with a close eye on the purse strings.

    What does worry me (as usual) is the first comment on the blog post:

    As an IT professional working from home do I need a 100MB connection? Absolutely not. Does my 76 YO Mum need 100MB? No…

    This argument is so short-sighted that poster Craig should be ashamed to call himself an IT professional. If there is any profession that changes on a daily basis, it is the IT profession. The 24 MBit connection serving my office today is just enough for me now, but would it have been too much 10 years ago? Absolutely. Will it be adequate 10 years from now? Absolutely not.

    Craig also misses the defining point of the NBN, which is that it is universal. France recently recognised broadband as being a basic human right, and I am certain that in the future it will the the case in every developed nation. To leave it to private enterprise to roll out the last mile is to consign rural Australia to the dark ages of the Internet, making the tipping the balance of rural/urban living again strongly in favour of the urbanite.

    I’ll say it again: the NBN is a necessity for Australia. Even if you don’t appreciate a personal benefit from it, there are millions of Australians out there who will.