The Silver Linings of the Border Between Perak, Malaysia and Yala Province, Thailand

Perak Darul Takzim, Malaysia, is considered the second richest state in Malaysia after Selangor Darul Ehsan, according to the Munich Personal RePEc Archive (MPRA) Report that was published in 2014. Perak also shares a common land border that stretches from the far end reaches in Kuala Perlis, Perlis, to Pengkalan Kubur in Kelantan. Similarly, in Thailand, Yala's border with Malaysia continued from the Western far end reaches in Satun Province and all the way Eastwards ends of Tat Bai in Narathiwat Province. This land border is undulating from the low lands at both the Peninsular Coasts to the inland frosted forested hills of Perak and Yala. Both Perak and Yala only shared one common crossing point. The town in Perak that's nearest to the Malaysian ICQS is Pengkalan Hulu (PH) or historically it's known as 'Kroh' or 'Keroh'. From PH, it's about 7 Kms to Bukit Berapit (BB) and that's the Perak border ICQS post and this post is known as the BBICQS. Walking a short distance of about less than 200 meters from the final police post at BBICQS is the Betong, Yala ICQS. Before getting in the specifics about these border posts, I would like to touch a little bit about the economic history and its development of these existing entities.

According to the MPRA report, these border posts existed to function the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Economic Zone or better known as IMTEZ. The Betong-PH border is one of the most liveliest economic entities and cross-border trade between Northern Perak and Southern Yala brought drastic economic development to Malaysia's Northern Corridor that affected cities like Seberang Perai, Sungei Petani, Gerik, and Baling. However, in this part of Southern Thailand, Betong has grown into a lightweight city of sorts that was once a backwater community for Malayan Communists and a town to launch cross-border attacks in Malaya.

PH is the most Northern town in Perak. PH was once called 'Keroh' or 'Kroh' and to many Malaysians and Thais alike, the history of this area or 'Keroh' is laced with interesting facts. Keroh' was once ruled by the Kingdom of Reman that was under the auspicies of His Royal Majesty the Siamese Kingdom. When the (King or Sultan) of Reman decided to get greedy and raided 'Klian Intan' (now called 'Teluk Intan') for the tin and the surrounding mines. The Sultan of Perak and its people felt besieged by the constant harassment and ill treatment of these so-called Siamese called Remans. And so it seemed the only way to negotiate out of this mess was to talk with the powerful Siam King in 'Krunthep' or Bangkok. Thus, under the 1909 Treaty between Siam, Colonial Britain, and the Sultan of Perak, Hulu Perak (where 'Keroh' or PH is now situated) and Perak, became a British Colonial entity. The Siamese, in exchanged, enhanced Siam with British Protection against the French threats arising from the Khmer region (that today is known as) Vietnam. And so Colonial Britain further rationalized the treaty and extended Westwards into Kedah and Perlis as well.

Today, PH or 'Kroh' is a small backwater town struggling like many small cities in Malaysia. It seemed today, it has become a stop over for many Malaysians wanting to visit Betong, Yala. As stated in the MPRA report, there are major plans to redevelop the region into a bilateral entity to attract travelers and tourists. However, the situation becomes delayed because in the city of Yala (about 2 hours from Betong) there were insurgent bombings. As indicated before, Yala together with Narathiwat and Pattani are major insurgency targets by rebels wanting a freer autonomy or even independence from the Kingdom of Thailand. As the talks are off and on between parties, it seemed from various parties and witnesses that the Thai Islamists (even labelled as PAS by Thai Malay Muslims) are in cahoots with the Thai Buddhist military or even militias to instigate these sort of threats to contain the South and even to give jobs to the military personnel. Having said that many ordinary Thai Malay Muslims and Thai folks (in the South) are frustrated with these politics because their livelihoods are contained and they cannot move forward with their lives and allow their provinces to progress.

On the otherhand, the Thai Southern Government have tried to make inroads by establishing major touristy cities like Dannok, Hatyai, Su'Ngai Kolok, and Betong as major tourist heavens for cross-border Malaysians and travelers alike. Some of these cities do look a bit like Malaysian cities and many crave the delicacies towards Malaysian tastes and even the languages here (despite Thai is the main language) many in these cities speak Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, and even Teochew. Many of these cities have drawbacks as well, its a major attraction for prostitution for many Malaysians who want to do a quickie across the border, hence, the issue of human trafficking is rife.

Having said that, the city of Betong came into existence in the 60s not because the city just sprung up by itself but because its a major refuge for Malayan Communists who hid deep in the hills and jungles of these parts of Yala province. Piyampit tunnels were just across the Malaysian border that sat just above and between 'Kroh and Baling. The tunnels were impressively dug and akin to those in Vietnam during the Vietnam-French wars - Ho Chi Minh could be impressed by the tunnels.

A major operation gathered pace sometime in the 70s between the Malaysian and Thai governments but unbeknownst to many Thais, those that started the Betong city were actually communist rebels but decided to lay down their arms perhaps for their sake of their families. Many of them are Chinese and they do speak the brand of Cantonese like my parents spoke - typical Guangdong style, slightly incoherent and nonchalantly numbly sort of way.

The Thai Government also encouraged various other ethnic Thais like Khmers from Ihsan (pronounced as ee-San) from the Northeast of Thailand and Barmans (from Western and Northwestern Thailand) to move to the rebellious and delicate South. Hence, the culture become an ordinate between Thai-Malaysian hybrid culture. The food is deliciously Thai with a hint of Malay and Malaysian mix. Halal food prepared by Thai Malays are similar to the many Malay food stalls in Malaysia that sold Thai-Malay food. The Chinese food is slightly different with a touch of a lot of herbs, especially the bitter-sour lemongrass is common in Thai food. And the Thai fish soy sauce is truly salty and pungent  to anyone who finds it repugnant or disgusting. For me, Thai food is deliciously sweet, salty, and stung my taste buds with those little beady bird chilies that perspire all over my face.

White foreigners may not find Betong interesting and perhaps called it a 'boring' town of sorts but they are wrong. Like many Thai towns, the Government is bent on improving its image having more bars and drinking oasis with thumping music ramping the background and Thai women from all over Thailand to attend to these patrons. One thing is for sure, Betong is no longer a backdrop insurgent town rife with ex-commie-rebels wanting to build a new life for their families, but for many Thai law abiding residents, it will be an example of peacefulness and progress.

The PH and Betong ICQS are perhaps one of the most organised ICQS facilties. On the Malaysian side there's a building block just like all the new facilities in the North. The question here that begs my understanding is, is the building block necessary? We are not talking about a simple one level block building but the building seemed like a real entire office block. Just look at the picture below, the building on the left is at least 3 storeys high! On numerous occasions, most of the immigration booths are empty, and there's perhaps one immigration officer only. Moreover, the Customs Department is mostly inactive. The day, I arrived, at the ICQS is a Friday after the Friday prayers at about 3pm. There's just one lady at the immigration booth and she seemed contented playing her game or watching a video on her phone and not even aware I arrived. Suddenly she looked up and saw me, and she quickly scanned my passport and I said "terima kasih, puan." She couldn't be bothered as if I was interrupting her activity.

A quick note about how to get to the BBICQS. Now from PH or 'Kroh', there aren't any public transport. As a matter of fact, this is one of the most expensive places if you don't have your own private transport. There's no Grab or Uber in PH. The only mode is either taxis provided from the bus station or bus terminus at PH right in the middle of the town or illegal tout runners (who are mostly of Malays of Thai nationality). The problem is most times from the Malaysian side, they will not fetch you from PH to Betong in one go. What they would do is drop you at the Malaysian side of the ICQS at Bukit Berapit and then you have to process your passport. After completing the process and on the way out of the Malaysian immigration, there are (so-called) bike runners waiting at the exit of the pedestrian immigration hallway. These runners will bring you all the way to Betong, Thailand  and at the same time even waiting for you to process your passport at the Thai side. Now the problem here is costs. The Malaysian taxi on the first instance (part) charges about RM 12.00 and the Thai runner charges another 100 Baht or another RM 12.00. So that's like RM 24.00. Its the same when you cross from Betong to PH and it can get more expensive because they know you are at their mercy. Minimum is about RM 25.00. The Thai touts can be very ruthless and they traverse between Perak and Jala regularly. I do hope the current Pakatan Government can resolve this instance with the Thai Government, soon.

Lastly, I just want to talk a little bit about surveillance and its not about the current immigration surveillance in these parts but surveillance during the communist era. Nevertheless, just a quick note, the current border programs and surveillance in PH - Betong area is pretty much controlled. Desperate migrants will never use these parts because these areas are too hilly, forested and PH-Betong is quite chilly in the mornings, meaning it does get very frosty at times. Unless you are an insurgent and running away to hide in no man's land, then perhaps these hills are ideal sort of way. But then again, one must be very adventurous and well trained in survival skills to survive these tortuous areas, not to say the least there could be vicious wild animals as well. Having said that I think the Communists during the 50s, 60s, and 70s did not just observe the activities daily on whether the Malaysian or Thai army penetrated their defenses. They did have some sort of technology to assist them and I came across interesting technology at the Betong Museum. According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), one of the best ways to get information is via information from your everyday news channels on tv or radios. Look what I found in the museum, and yes, high end 'NordMende' (German) radios with powerful Shortwaves (SW) and Longwaves (LW) capabilities.

Another interesting fact is that I think the information garnered from the Communists was not via daily observations but I think they do rely on stationary camera traps that were already in place then. That's how I think today animal conservationists rely on camera traps to capture whether certain species of animals in their habitats and to record their existence and their numbers. Those days, if the camera captured soldiers or border patrols reaching their areas were recorded on pictures, they could certainly calculate the distance and whether they should retreat further or organised ambushes. Eastern communists were very creative in their pursuits and not just relied on traditional strategies; just looked at ISIS, they didn't have the know how to create advanced drones, but they relied on crude drone ideals like powering up a man-made plastic or wooden craft, crude enough to fly and become missiles in the midst, if the drones are laced with bombs. Similarly, communists then relied on camera technology to capture the existence of government troops movements and whether they breached certain frontiers. Troops who were not versed with ideals of technologies would disregard them. But these cameras can be readily camouflaged and opposition troops would not be able to distinguish a block of wood from a camera or even a huge mushroom.

Surveillance has always been an important aspect of security. To an untrained eye, surveillance is just a careless dot or coma. But to a trained eye, there's more than that to that dot or coma. Snipers relied on patience, observations, and the understandings of each of the individuals involved in their scheme of observations before they even requested to take actions. Conservationists relied on camera traps not only to capture animals but also to study their behaviour as well. Thus begs the questions whether we need unobtrusive screenings and surveillance but at the same time allow officers to be their normal selves and not dwell in nervous searches which perhaps they do not like as well. However, unobtrusive measures can be duly invasive but if its done professionally and protect nationalities from drugs and other trafficking and smuggling activities, why not. Its still the best way.

A Third Kelantan-Thailand Border Crossing Near Jeli, Kelantan, Malaysia

On December 21st, 2007, the Malaysian and Thai Government officiated the third border crossing in the Kelantan-Narathiwat region. In Kelantan, this third border crossing is situated at the Bukit Bunga (BB) border on the Malaysian side and Ban Buketa (BB) on the Thai side. Bukit Bunga is in a small municipality of Kampung (Kg.) Bukit (Bt.) Bunga (herein, KBB). KBB is within a bigger municipality called Ayer Lanas (AL), and both KBB and AL are within the district council of Jeli (Majlis Daerah Jeli [MDJ]), Kelantan. Hence, MDJ administers this whole region, except the BB Immigration and Customs Quarantine (BBICQS). The city of Jeli is about 19.3 km to the BBICQS on Highway (Hwy) 4, which serves as the main road network in these areas.

The only public transportation that serve the Jeli-Ayer Lanas area are the Cityliner buses from Kota Bharu and (charted) taxis from Tanah Merah, Kelantan. The Cityliner bus from Kota Bharu's final destination is Kuala Balah but it passes by KBB, AL along the way. However, from KBB, the walking distance is about 1.3 km (roughly about 16 mins) on the dry and hot asphalt. Charted taxis may cost as much as RM 30.00 from Tanah Merah (TM), Kelantan, about a 40 minutes journey and depending on the traffic as well. The Cityliner buses from Kota Bharu do alight at TM Bus Station before proceeding onward to KBB, Jeli, and its final destination at Kuala Balah.

This BB, Kelantan-Ban Buketa, Narathiwat border actually serves more to the locals from this Southern region of the Narathiwat province. The people and folks here converse a heavy accented Kelate and many of the Jeli-Ayer Lanas area are also civil servant retirees who are either Kelantanese or elsewhere from other parts of the peninsular married to Kelantanese or Narathiwatians. The former Trade and Industry Minister, Dato' Seri Mustapa bin Mohamad ('Tok Pa'), a Member for Parliament for Jeli constituency, resides not far from these quiet areas. Not far from the border, a branch of the University Malaysia Kelantan, Jeli is situated on the Hwy 4 about 13 kms from the border. Jeli is also a place for many Malaysians who are convicted under a Preventive Corrective Order (PCO) and are told to serve their sentence by residing in this quiet pristine region of Jeli environs.

The Northern Kelantan between Kota Bharu and Kuala Balah has a significant amount of cross border relationships between both nationalities. Here, we are talking about family and community relationships. The third border crossing between Kelantan and Narathiwat actually alleviate the hardships of Narathiwatians in Ban Buketa and Waeng. Poverty, civil strives, and perhaps terrorism did take a toll on the lives of many livelihoods of residents in Ban Buketa and Waeng. Security is still very tight and just a month ago in Sungei Golok, a bomb went off and fortunately no one was hurt in that blast. A conversation with the Manager of Hotel Jeli Inn, what he informed me was seemingly interesting at least from the standpoint of at least another conversation I had with another Northern person in Thailand some years back. So what basically transpired was the fact that they told me there aren't any civil strife and the terrorism were carried out by the Thai military so that they are able to inject manpower security in the South of Thailand. He said that the Thai Malays do not have any misgivings at the Thai government and these acts of violence are the work of the military or gangsters. Of course when I tried to reason with him about some of the mugshots of 'wanted persons' I saw at the Sungei Golok ICQS (just outside the immigration complex); he refuted me and told me that those 'wanted persons' are gangsters or drug dealers. Of course, and again I did not want to rile a conversation with him since he was nice enough to bring me to the BBICQS and later returned me to the Inn. Moreover, I have serious reservations that this Kelantanese could actually be Thai as well and had lived in Malaysia for quite sometime for whatever reasons. From the conversations sought too, he's tacitly defiant about Thai nationalism and there are many like him that also refused to identify themselves as Thais and speak the language. In fact many Southern Thais (from Jala, Narathiwat, and Pattani) of a middle-age and older disposition have a dislike for the Thai central government. Perhaps in another part of this area on border surveillance, I will devote a whole part on the history of this region and my o' my is certainly an exciting journey to examine the history of Northern Malaya and the Kra Isthmus.

On Saturday morning, the Manager of Hotel Jeli Inn offered to give me a ride to the BBICQS in his Ford pickup. Saturday was a quiet morning in Kelantan after the Friday public holiday. The ride was peppered with his views about the KBB, the distance, and the folks that goes there. All which I have said pretty much in the earlier part of this write up. He looked a bit like a normal Malay guy but his intelligence is commendable and he spoke Bahasa Malaysia and not Bahasa Kelate. When he swerved into a paved asphalt road before reaching the BBICQS, I noticed the walled and fenced up structures just about 400 meters before the ICQS. It's impressively strengthened and as we approached the complex, it's huge like the ones at Bukit Kayu, Rantau Panjang, and Pengkalan Hulu ICQS.  As a matter of fact in terms of its width, its probably slightly smaller as compared to the Southern Integrated Gateway in Johor. Not sure whether a massive building like this would have any use in this remote area; perhaps many years later, these many spaces (in this ICQS) will nor be wasted otherwise it may become 'a white elephant'.


I alighted the pickup truck and headed straight to the immigration office. As Saturday is a public holiday, there weren't much activities. I walked straight to the signboard that mentioned 'Pedestrian Lane' (Laluan Perjalanan Kaki). As I walked to the windows, I noticed that the offices were closed and blue-colored queue control retractable stretch posts safs were used and stretched across to block the entrances to denote closure.  Another staff pointed further up advised that I proceeded to the vehicular immigration post as only one is operable on that very day. As the incoming traffic was particular naught, I was the only individual heading towards Ban Buketa. The immigration officer was pleasant and typically scanned and chopped my passport without much fuss despite asking me where I was heading. I told him I wanted to see the Ban Buketa Saturday morning market. He smiled and replied "von voyage" respectfully. I walked and observed that the traffic coming into Malaysia was slightly more active.  As I approached the customs, the customs officers were nonchalantly quiet and unobtrusive. Furthermore, their scanning x-ray machines on the other side was non-operable. As a matter of fact the top part of the machine is covered by tarpaulin.

As I proceeded further away and into the open areas of the other end of the complex and carrying my phone with me. Suddenly, two police officers in military T-shirts and khaki attires stopped me in my tracks and asked me to come over. They wanted to know whether I filmed them and demanded my phone for their investigation. They queried me why I was there and what I was up to and whether I filmed them or not. Apparently, they were aware of the fact that taking pictures of them was illegal. My intention was to see whether anybody was aware of the fact, apart from these officers. They reasoned, queried, and listened to my positions in a respectable and professional manner. I was impressed with their alertness disposition (as this was an important trait lacking in many of these border areas). After they were satisfied, they took a picture of my passport, allowed me to proceed, and advised me to be cautious whilst in Thailand.

The "Friendship Bridge" as its being labelled by both Thailand and Malaysia is solidly built and very impressive. As I looked forward and backward, I noticed that Malaysia spent a lot of money for the ICQS and the Thai side seemed nothing like it and rather more like an isolated wild west outpost. The Friendship Bridge crosses the Golok River (Sungai Golok) and at its low ebb, one can virtually cross the river easily even without using the bridge. Even the island in the river has some weeds overgrown. Apparently the bridge's lightings are powered by Thai solar systems. There's also some sort of a remote camera system that's powered by solar and peering down into the river (actually not very sure what's the reason for, perhaps as a sort of flood waters monitoring on rainy seasons). The Golok River was known to swell and become treacherous on rainy seasons.

As I approached the Thai ICQS at Ban Buketa, both sides of the opposite oncoming traffic had cars parked on the sides of them. Apparently passengers and drivers were required to parked and alighted their vehicles to get their passports verified and stamped. The queues were not particularly long today but I do think that on weekdays they could even stretch out to the Malaysian side of the bridge. The Thai officer verified, checked the tourist or traveler immigration card and returned to me.  There were a couple of customs officers but they smiled and waved me on.

Just off the Ban Buketa ICQS, there was a military checking post. Despite it's empty, and as I peered to the left, I noticed that soldiers were busy checking a vehicle. The soldiers were armed with assault rifles. Apparently they took time checking it as mentioned that a month ago, a bomb went off at Sungai Golok.

There was a time when in Songkhla and Thais advises were never to tour, visit, and travel the utmost South provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani, and Jala. Ban Buketa does not have much going at all. Despite the roads are properly paved and asphalted, many people in the surrounding areas are satisfied with the village or kampung life. Goods and foodstuffs are relatively simple, styled like five-foot-way simple convenient shop lots. Merchandises depending on who are selling and making monies, if its a Thai Malay stall, things are really cheap. The Thai-Chinese (even though the ethnicity is considered absolved into a one-Thai nationality) sold their merchandises in a much pricier way and the activities inside the sundry shop was busy in organizing and the bargaining of prices with another middle men or proprietor. Most of the goods do come from across the border from either Tanah Merah or Jeli but there are also some Thai made goods. As compared to Sungai Golok, it seemed the retailers there have decided to sell more goods made in Thailand. However, in Ban Buketa and the surrounding areas, it seemed only the morning market in Kampung Bukit Bunga just off the the road proceeding to the BBICQS in Malaysia is a more popular area. Its not that Ban Buketa is not popular, there is a morning market that sells mostly local foodstuffs like meat, fish, vegetables, etc., and that's just directly to the left of where the vehicle was checked by the soldiers.

The Southern region has become a sore thumb for vehicular and individual checks that many Southern Thais find it difficult to progress and do business efficiently. Just for example, when I came out of the Ban Buketa checkpoint, there's a military outpost as the one shown above. However, within the city limits and zones, there are at least four other military checkpoints. It's not even the checks on vehicles, and when I completed my tour from within the city limits, I saw a senior military figure walking into a mosque compound and shook hands with the hosts and an Iman (who also happened to be a (colleague) military officer). Presumably, its not an invitation but somehow it's to acknowledge the ceremony and to see who are the attendees. The question is whether these sorts of surveillance are effective in curtailing threats or are these monitoring and surveillance just bore brunt in the everyday normal livelihoods of these peaceful residents. Perhaps, what the driver told me could be true, the military themselves defaulting into acts of treachery to serve their purpose as military officers and a reason for job creations. The South is neglected (for a long time) and these harassments cannot be ideal way to resolve conflicts. When and if the bombings do get suspiciously serious then they'd be curfews and because of these curfews, the stress may get to these people as discrimination and thus a tit-for-tat revenge.

The tough monitoring and business interests do make many of these Thais in Ban Buketa, Waeng or any part of Southern Thailand to head South into Malaysia. The Thai Malays here identify themselves naturally by the conversant of the language they used and that is Kelate. Everyone speaks perfect Kelate and its difficult to acknowledge who's Malaysian and who's Thai, unless they lapsed into Thai language. Here in this Jeli Inn Hotel, most of the staff are Thais, especially the food sellers and cooks. Thai Malay food is popular in these parts.

One of the interesting facts about this border is the fact that many of the border areas within Bukit Bunga and Ban Buketa are pretty much under control. However, upon my return from Ban Buketa, and after crossing the Bukit Bunga ICQS, the Manager from Jeli Inn brought me to the illegal route where many would have utilized the route as a convenience either to come to Kelantan and within the Peninsula. The amazing thing is that this route is situated just behind and beside the Bukit Bunga ICQS. He told me that many locals from Kelantan and Malaysians, as well, used this very route to go to the Ban Buketa morning market that's just beside the Ban Buketa ICQS. He drove me close to the dirt lane and I saw a number of Malaysian cars of different plates from different states parked by the roadside by the lane. There were some 40 cars or so but I think most would have cross just to go to the market. Nevertheless, desperate people will make use of this illegal lane/s during odd hours of the day to cross into Malaysia or fugitives on the run to Thailand.

It's relatively difficult to control all illegal land routes. Normal and honest people will not use these places, unless its just for a short excursion to the market without any fuss. However, since the border is already that sufficiently weak and porous, such excursions are likelihoods for smuggling, trafficking, and even to a certain extent kidnapping. Nobody bothers this route and even if there are Thai nationals ready to participate to bring people over on their bikes for a nominal fee, with no questions asked, no one actually bothers to acknowledge the legality of it, and not even enforcement officers as well. The real dawning and blow-off-the-mind question is whether building such a wonderful and huge complex at the BBICQS can determine and deter smuggling and trafficking purposes, which in effect is countered by 'rat' routes or holes to filter across both sides of the divide. No wonder the customs officials when I crossed looked nonchalantly unobtrusive as they knew what's the point of enforcement when people from both sides can filter easily. No wonder they had their scanning x-ray machines covered in tarpaulin because they are not going to use it anyway when if desperate patrons saw the stiffness of surveillance they can just use these illegal 'rat' routes or holes. Its time the government look into these issues and address them evenly at each of these borderlands, otherwise, weapons and drugs will keep coming into Malaysia. Pastor Koh, that was cornered and disappeared in Petaling Jaya be very well could be brought into Thailand with these illegal 'rat' routes. The Thais in these parts are desperate, hence, with sufficient adequate funds anything is doable.

Malaysian Borders Become a Bane Even During Election Season

In a posting by The Nation, an online Bangkok social news media, it was reported that the authorities in Malaysia have tightened the borders when dual nationality Thais and Malaysians are securing monetary compensation to vote in the Malaysian election in the far reaches of the Kelantan North. There are some 200 of these dual nationality holders who were paid RM 50.00 or Thai Baht 400.00. And if these 200 dual nationality holders succeeded in voting on the 9th of May, they would be further paid RM 200.00 that's roughly about Thai Baht 1,600.00. As this will purvey irregularities in our election system, the authorities have only allowed two crossings on the election day. The article did not say who these 200 dual nationality holders would be voting for.

More can be assessed here:
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/asean-plus/30344916

Rantau Panjang and Su'Ngai Kolok: An Ideal Crossing in Malaysia

Kelantan is one of the most fortunate state in Peninsula Malaysia to have two border crossings. Earlier and yesterday, I made a good crossing from Pengkalan Kubor to Tak Bai in Thailand. Today, I made a third time crossing and this time from Rantau Panjang, Kelantan to Sungai Golok (Thai: Su'Ngai Kolok) in Narathiwat, Thailand. From here onwards I prefer to spell Sungai Golok as Sungai Kolok like how they write in Narathiwat, Thailand.

Sungai Kolok is a bizarre town and for a long time it has been one of the many popular crossings for travellers from Malaysia, much more than Bukit Kayu Hitam (in Kedah, Malaysia) and Danok (in Songkhla, Thailand) crossing. There was even once a rail connection between Rantau Panjang and Sungai Kolok but that has thus far become defunct for a long time - no one actually knows why the service is discontinued perhaps it was way during the Colonial times as more of logistical transport rather than public transport for commuters.

To get to Rantau Panjang, a commuter has to board the Cityliner bus No. 21 from Kota Bharu to Rantau Panjang. The travel time is about 1 hour and 15 minutes depending the amount of passengers alighting of various towns in between Kota Bharu and Rantau Panjang and that includes Pasir Mas, a relatively sizable town in Kelantan. The distance from Kota Bharu to Rantau Abang is about 45 km. And from Rantau Panjang to the immigration is another 2 to 3 km to the immigration that's close to Sungai Kolok. The bus trip from Kota Bharu to Rantau Panjang costs RM5.50.

Apparently, the Immigration, Customs, and Quarantine Sections (ICQS) have improved tremendously since I last visited. The pedestrian ICQS is simple and impressive. On the Malaysian side, despite there's a queue line for both Malaysian and foreign nationalities, on the other side of the counter, the Malaysian immigration authorities have set up a feasible passport reader and scanning machine for Malaysian passport readers. As I stepped into the booth the machine closed the booth's door, scanned me as the passport, scanned my thumbprint without any fuss and in a matter of seconds, confirmed me as the passport holder, and the booth's door on the other side opened to say that I was cleared. Similarly, on my return from Sungai Kolok, after four hours later, the machine on the returning side cleared me as well. Somehow, some officials saw my actions as bizarre, perhaps no one had yet to use the machines, and most Malaysians and Thais prefer the queue line to get their passports or travel permits (those that stayed on the borders and traverse along Kelantan and Narathiwat can get travel permits from the Malaysian and Thai immigration authorities) checked and stamped. I was the most glad person for this development - and on my way out I gave both my thumbs up and the authorities thought perhaps I was mad or what.

That was however untrue for the Customs side of the enforcement - there weren't anybody at all especially on the side where visitors from Thailand entering Rantau Panjang, Malaysia. The bag scanning machine was turned off and not sure where are the customs officials. Having said that, however, Malaysia ICQS have in fact one of the best vehicular inspection bays consisting of 5 vehicular bays. Perhaps Customs officials are better stationed to check vehicles rather than pedestrians crossing the borders.

The Thai side of the ICQS at Su'Ngai Kolok has improved tremendously since those days they stationed on the wooden bridge (along the Sungai Kolok) and a row of connected of offices were built adjacent to the then Thai immigration office. The Thai immigration office shifted inland and they set up similarly to the Malaysian ICQS. When I arrived at the Thai pedestrians' ICQS, its very organized and straightforward two queues in tow. The clearance is simple, efficient, and fast. I took my time to take a few pictures for this write-up and also took my time to fill up the traveller or tourist immigration card. Still the clearance only took like less than half-an-hour. The Immigration Officer was also meticulous as well and queried me as to my whereabouts in Sungai Kolok because I did not input a residence as I would be there for a few hours only. In the end, I did offer him my input that I will be hanging about in the morning market in Sungei Kolok and he was indeed satisfied. I wasn't annoyed at all, and thought his actions and questions were relevant, important, and commendable, as Sungei Kolok was troubled with a bomb blast a couple of weeks before and not far from the ICQS.

As I exited the Thai ICQS, I noticed a poster of wanted persons on banners. Not sure whether these individuals are wanted for a series of troubles in Narathiwat and Southern Thailand.

About 100 metres from the Thai ICQS, there's a military checkpoint with two soldiers in full military uniforms and weapons straddled on their shoulders. They were pleasantly nice and offered their "hellos" or "Sawadee Krap" as most Thais will do. Thailand like any country in the world, when their country is besieged with a violent problem, the full force of the military is called upon to make the presence felt rather than to enforce the law.

After the military checkpoint, the immediate building near the ICQS zone is the Thai Tourism Office and Exhibition Centre. The buildings are so massively built that it kind of reminds tourists and travellers that Narathiwat is not dangerous and patrons are free to visit and travel anywhere in Southern Thailand. I did not go there because I felt silly and felt the buildings are just 'white elephants'  because even from the outside, it seemed quite empty and not much actually feel the insides even though today is a Sunday. Trespassing is not my best suite anyway and decided to prod on towards more exciting places.

My aim is to find out where the Sungai Kolok Train Station was.

As I proceeded on, I saw another banner in fact one big banner was actually stationed across the Tourist and Exhibition Centre and its about the International Competition on Chinese Lion Dance and to be held sometime in May 2018. Participants from Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and Australia are invited to the competition together with the Thai competitors and it will be held in the Exhibition Centre. Further down there were smaller banners hanging straight down on the lamp post.

 Just after the Genting Hotel, the shops came into view; I was surprised to see so many shops and further into avenues, five-foot way shops sprung and there were security checkpoints with policing figures stationed at these checkpoints. In these controlled areas apparently, many Thais of various ethnic groups (despite majority are still Malay Muslims) conducted their businesses. Most are Chinese owned shops and they employed Muslims to run their shops - whether its eateries, sundry goods shops or pharmacies. Most of these Thais spoke dual languages, Malay and Thai. And some even can converse in local Chinese dialects like Hokkien or Teochew to my delight.

The odd thing about this, is that, it seemed the controlled secured areas are run by Thais whom have assimilated comfortably into the Thai culture. It seemed as compared to Tak Bai, Thai Muslims in Sungai Kolok are pretty comfortable with their lifestyles and have assimilated more readily. When I was having my lunch at one of the eateries, they played and sang along with Thai pop songs that one could listen readily in Bangkok and not those traditional Thai music. And to my delight most of them are Muslims and yet they don't feel the uncomfortable and at ease.

I managed to arrive at the Sungai Kolok Train Station, and the station had metal detecting machines and military figures but it seemed they either uninterested or lackadaisical in their attributes. Hence, the metal detecting machine is for show as deterrence rather than for enforcement. I went to the ticket window to inquire the ticket price for a lower berth sleeper from Sungai Kolok to Bangkok and got a favorable answer.

I did not hang around that long and decided because this place is anywhere like Thailand and thus did not thrill me at all, apart from the vegetarian lunch I had and thought it was delicious.

I returned to the immigration and observed what are the impossibilities but it seemed, on the Thai ICQS side, one have to go to one of the vehicle bays and not back to the office. Nevertheless, everything's efficient as well but I just feel its rather queer to have to be examined and checked at a vehicle bay.

All in all, my experience with the Rantau Panjang and Sungei Kolok crossings is one of positive note, if not the best, and most efficient crossings of all times. Despite, the crossings is considered well enforced but still I could see bike runners offering rides to pedestrians, however, I did not see any of those who want to risk crossing illegally.