da Post Code

I must be very ancient. While everyone else is talking about the da Vinci Code, I'm still in the dark about our very own Pos Malaysia Poskod. Even my local postman was not so sure about da Code and thanks to him, I now have different postcodes registered at different places.

When the postal services first implemented da Code, many thought that our correct postcode should be 06900 Yan because the village is in the district of Yan. We found out that letters took longer time to arrive they would be re-routed from Yan back to Alor Star, then to Sungai Petani for re-distribution by the Bedong post office.

Apparently, those nice people at da Yan post office thought it would be too much trouble to ride through the hilly road of Tanjung Jaga to deliver our letters. After all, the name "Jaga" (meaning caution) came from the advice against off-duty pirates and robbers village folks gave to travellers crossing the hills in the olden days. But living in a village called "Singkir" (to cast out, put away), we kind of take it in our stride without as much of a wince.

So we changed our postcode to 08100 Bedong and letters were delivered on time without a hitch. Before his retirement two years ago, our local postman advised us that the Merbok post office was a lot closer. In fact that's where we village folks conduct most of our business. So, my postcode was again changed to 08400 Merbok and the change was reflected in my (sorry!) MyKad. Until the replacement postman reported for duty after that.

Our new postman advised me that the correct postcode for the village should be 08110 Bedong. Sheesh! By this time I thought I should have the information verified. Yes, he was correct, so there I go again. I applied for a new MyKad, and filled all forms from then on using da new postcode. I shouldn't have bothered because banks and government agencies still send their warnings, threats, summonses, etc. at the old postcode.

But I still wonder which is actually da Code -- just the five-digit number or the number AND the town name? When they first came out with da Code, the user guide said the whole string of numerals and the full spelling of the town's name make the full code. The name of your state is optional as the first two numbers are already coded to indicate which part of the postal territory and state your address is located. And da Code should be on the last line of your address or it will confuse the hi-tech character readers of their top-of-the-line letter sorting machines!

I did just that once and was scolded by the counter staff who queried me on how would the postal workers know which part of the country 45600 Batang Berjuntai is if I don't write down the state! I told her that da Code was sufficient but she insisted that it would be much easier for them if I wrote down the name of the state. I told her that there was no space for me to write it after the long postcode. She gave me a funny look and pointed to the space below the last line. Ahhh! How stupid of me!

As for the name of town being part of da Code, I have always thought even the government departments are not very well informed on the implmentation and use of da Postcode because they keep printing official forms with only five boxes for the postcode. That was before I had to use other services available at the post office. All forms you need to fill out for Poslaju, PosExpress and even the old Money Order application carry only five neat boxes for the postcode.

Isn't it about time someone at Pos Malaysia crack da Code and give us a simpler addressing convention?