I SEE, I SAW BUT I NEVER CONQUERED SINGAPORE, MY DEAD-DREAM

by CLETUS SOLOMON (Indonesia)

A leap into the unknown Singapore

“I SEE, I SAW BUT I NEVER CONQUERED SINGAPORE, MY DEAD-DREAM” “I see, I saw but I never conquered Singapore” is a very interesting and at the same time very disappointing and lesson-filled travel experience I will never, ever forget in my life. In 2010, I was a student of the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) in Brunei Darussalam pursuing my postgraduate study. During the winter vacation in December 2010, I decided to spend my Christmas holidays in Malaysia volunteering. I was issued a 2-week Malaysia tourist visa. When my 2-weeks visa was nearing maturity/expiration, I was convinced that I wanted to stay longer, so I could spend Christmas in Malaysia because the experience was quite mesmerizing. The only way I could extend my stay was to exit to Singapore and re-enter Malaysia so that my passport could be stamped with another 2-weeks tourist visa. With this well-orchestrated/calculated plan, I confidently embarked on my journey from Kuala Lumpur to my dreamed land, Singapore by bus. This was the beginning of my troubles and frustration to enter Singapore due to my travel inexperience. The journey from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore border was quite long, overnight, and very tiring. We finally arrived at the Singapore immigration point at about 9:30 A.M., and queue for immigration clearance to enter Singapore. When it got to my turn, guess what happened to me, to my surprise, shock and disbelieve, the immigration officials told me this “we cannot clear you to enter Singapore”. I asked with disbelieve, “you said what”? He repeated the same statement, and I exclaimed “Oh my God, what is the problem”? I then went on to explain “I am a citizen of Ghana and don’t require a visa to enter Singapore”. The officer affirmed my conviction but added that “you need to understand the immigration laws, rules and regulations”. Explaining further, the officer added that even though you don’t need a visa to enter Singapore, which is quite explicit, the immigration laws require that you enter Singapore by flight with a return ticket. As it stands, the officials continued, there is no way we can clear you to enter Singapore because we don’t have the required sophisticated equipment and security apparatus to do a comprehensive screening of foreign traveler at land immigration border check points. What? I exclaimed once again with disbelieve, and it appeared to that I was dreaming but believe it or not, the decision was conclusive and irreversible, and I never entered Singapore, hence, the heading “I see, I saw but I never conquered Singapore”, as I travelled to the border and my eyes beheld Singapore but my feet never landed, touched or entered Singapore. The story however, did not end here, and frustrated and disappointed, as I was, I was still desperately determined to enter Singapore by any legal means. So, I went to purchase my return flight ticket at a travel agent to enable me enter Singapore at all cost. The travel agent did not explain to me that I had to return to Kuala Lumpur to board my flight before I could fly into Singapore, and little did I also know that I could not enter Singapore by flight from that border town but had to return to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and fly from there into Singapore until I finished purchasing my ticket and asked where the airport was before I was told I had to return to Kuala Lumpur to board my flight there. Oh my God, I exclaimed, what? The agent explained that the distance from the border town to Singapore is just a stone throw and there was no airport there, and so could only enter Singapore from there by road. At this point, I had no choice but to embark on my journey to Kuala Lumpur, a journey of about 10-12 hours to catch my flight. But unfortunately for me, I could not catch my flight, the plane was already in the air when I got to the airport. I will never forget this experience in my life but it was an eye-opener and a very expensive travel experience which has made me an experienced traveler today.