Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (Singapore Office) - 80 Robinson Rd

Very welcoming place. Many brochures to choose. Mr Nazri at the Customers' Service is very helpful. The downside is the Office was blocked by the Bustop.

An open letter to the Malaysian Tourism Board Yesterday, I attempted to cross the border from Singapore into Malaysia. I was with my wife, my niece and her husband, and my nephew, and we were on our way to spend four days at a Malaysian beach resort. This short, family holiday was planned as part of my wife's 50th birthday celebrations, the first phase of a two-week holiday to Singapore, Malaysia and Bali. I say "attempted" because, having easily transited Singaporian passport control, we then waited for over an hour at the Malaysian border, before being informed that the senior officer at the Malaysian border crossing had decided that I did not have a valid passport. We were refused entry into the country and ordered to return to Singapore. Of course, we once again had no difficulty in crossing the border back into Singapore using the very same passport that was deemed to be invalid at the Malaysian border. I am a British citizen, holding a British passport. The passport in question was issued by the British government on the 3 March 2017. Since then, I have used it to travel to and from France, The Netherlands, Germany, Croatia, Qatar and Singapore, as well as my home country, the United Kingdom. The only time this document has not been accepted was yesterday, at the Malaysian side of the Singapore/Malaysia border. Of course, this had the effect of completely ruining my wife's birthday celebrations, something that she did not deserve, and something that her family had invested a great deal of time, money and effort to arrange. More seriously, it robbed the Malaysian economy of the thousands of dollars which my family and I were going to be spending in your country. I don't know how much the marketing budget of the Malaysian tourism board is, but I do know that, for the rest of my life, every time I see any media advertisement, extolling the value and attractions of Malaysia as a tourist destination, I will be reminded to retell this story. I will relate how rude, unwelcoming and unreasonable the Malaysian authorities are, and then go on the list the many other countries around the world that I have visited that would be much more welcoming and enjoyable. Needless to say, I will never willingly attempt to travel to your country again, and will also go out of my way to avoid any products or services that will benefit your country. National borders, and the people that guard them, are an important part of every country's sovereign identity. They exist to keep citizens and residents safe, and protect nations from external threats. However, when the power and responsibility that they are given to do this important job can be wielded vindictively to restrict and compromise the movement of law-abiding travelers, then they are demeaning and dishonouring their station and the country they exist to protect.