When death happens while travelling overseas - Tips on repatriation of mortal remain

Just recently, I have found out a little information that I like to share with you. A friend has recently passed away while overseas. His remain was repatriated back to Malaysia with the assistance from family members, friends here and abroad and most of all with the assistance from Chartis TravelGuard coordinators. There are several procedures to adhere to before the mortal remain can be repatriated to the home country.

Here are the overview of the procedures involved.
The main documents required are the Death Certificate, Police Report and Medical or Hospital Report of the Death and Autopsy report if any. Thereafter, it has to be notified to our home country Embassy or Consulate office in the foreign country. The foreign country may require the deceased's family or next of kin to claim the mortal remain from the local hospital or mortuary or funeral parlor.

First, the deceased family members that are going to travel to the foreign country to claim the mortal remain have to apply for traveling documents such as a passport or temporary travel pass and visa through the local Malaysian Immigration Office This can be quickly arrange under special emergency circumstance such as this.

Next, the family member/s traveling will have to book and secure the earliest flight to go to the nearest airport to the city or town where the deceased's died and his remain is located. The pre-trip preparation will require the planning such as some cash and currency to bring for the travels and lodging expenses and the other cost related to the repatriation documentations. The clothing to wear and bring as the weather may be different from our Malaysian weather. It will be better if we can inform the Malaysian Embassy or Consulate Office in that foreign country through our Foreign Ministry at Wisma Putra, Putrajaya, Malaysia of our travel and repatriation arrangements and the assistance required from them. Therefore, we need other family members or friends at home to prepare and coordinate this as the traveling member/s may not have the time to do all this before taking off to the foreign land.
The family members that are not traveling can at the same time arrange with the local undertaker who preferably have the expertise to handle custom clearance of the documentations at the airport when the cargo arrived safely in Malaysian soil.

The family members traveling to the foreign country will have to get in touch with the friends or hospital or hotel which the deceased's death have been notified through them to pick them up at the airport to ease the arrival in a strange and foreign land and to get the best help that they could provide or to contact the airport authorities such as the local airline counter, police and the embassy staff.

After that, it is going directly to hospital or mortuary or the funeral parlor to view the deceased's remain face to face. The family members have to be strong emotionally and prepared for acceptance of the death due to whatever causes and strange circumstances.

Thereafter, it the the filing of documents to claim the remain which may be a gargantuan tasks for the family members as we may be required to follow the procedures that are unfamiliar to our own home country. Important to retrieve and collect the deceased's passport or traveling visa from the hospital or hotel or police there. It may require us to go from their local government department to another authorities to obtain the certificates and traveling release and to have the remain placed in the special casket for it to be put on a flight to our home country. There are several certificates such as fumigation, disinfectants and seals that need the notary and the Malaysian embassy or consular office to witness the documents and sealing of the casket.

It is then that the next procedure is activated. Time to book for the flight home for the family members and the mortal remain in the special casket by cargo. The local travel or ticketing agent at the foreign land will have to prepare special airway bills for the shipment subject to the availability of the flight for the cargo space to our home country and the connecting flight if there is no direct flight to our home city. Therefore, the family members can choose to accompany the casket on the same flight home or fly home earlier depending on the flights schedule availability. However, if there is no direct flight from the foreign land to our home city, we may have to appoint another local undertaker at the main Airport such as Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to clear the custom documentations and declarations and prepare another airway bill for the onward flight to the next home destination.

Upon arrival at the home city airport, the family members of the deceased will have to lodge a local police report at the nearest police station and surrender the deceased's death certificate,the Malaysian embassy or consular letter, passport and visa when making the report while the local undertaker arranged for receiving the casket at the cargo complex. the deceased's travel documents will eventually have to be surrendered to the Immigration Office. Usually the local undertaker will assist in the arrangement for the burial certificate and prepare the other funeral rites for the family if requested at the point of arrival and journey home.

The local undertaker will then transfer the mortal remain of the deceased to another casket according to the family's request and then proceed to home of the deceased or the funeral parlor.

Therefore, it is important to note that whenever we travel overseas to foreign lands, we are not only stranger to their foreign laws but when we actually leave many inconveniences for our loved ones if we are to depart for good in a strange land as our loved ones or family members may or may not have been to that country and do not speak or write a word of their local languages.

Only those who have undergone real life experiences can shed more on these than I do of their encounters and give useful tips for our benefit. Having someone, especially from the locals in the foreign land to assist us in time like this is very crucial and important so that things could be done smoothly and we can go home quickly with the deceased's mortal remain. The whole process could take three to six days depending on how fast things are done and the flight and cargo space availability to home country from the foreign land.

In conclusion, it is best to travel with a travel insurance at all time that provides benefits such as emergency evacuation and repatriation of mortal remain besides the accidental death and permanent disability lump sum payments, accidental and medical expenses, flight delays, flights cancellations and curtailments, lost of luggage and travel documents. Chartis TravelGuard is one travel insurance plan that you should consider when you book your next flight out of the country. However, we must also take note of the exclusions as some of the benefits are subject to our pre-existing health and physical conditions or exclusion such as war at the country and etc.

Milestones Album by Roger Wang

I just purchased Roger Wang's Milestones Album directly from Roger Wang as I did not have the leisure to go to the CDRama stall to get my copy. He was in KL recently but I just did not have the spare time to be there to see his live performance at Loud + Clear.

Anyway, I learned to add a new gadget which displayed Roger Wang's music clips on the blog. The HTML codes were supplied by Roger. You can now listen to the sample songs at Bigfoothill. Hope you like to listen to his music and relax.

Thanks Roger for your help. I am looking forward to receive my copy of your album personally autographed by you from the courier service provider, Poslaju soon.

Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad comes to Bukit Mertajam

Today is an auspicious day as Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad, a general insurance company has officially launched its Bukit Mertajam branch located at 1st Floor, No. 50, Jalan Limau Manis 3, Off Jalan Song Ban Kheng, Taman Limau Manis, 14000 BUKIT MERTAJAM, PENANG, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.  Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad's CEO, Mr Matt Harris was in town together with his team of senior management lead by Mr Ganeswaran Subramaniam, Head of Agency and Branch Channel Management and executives to grace the occasion.

View Directions to 37 Lebuh Pantai, Georgetown, 10200 George Town, Penang, Malaysia in a larger map
Agents and business associates, panel workshops and panel adjusters and clients were invited for tea and refreshments and witnessed the opening ceremony.  The day began with big bangs from the fire crackers and the beats of the drums and cymbals of the lion dance troupe.  There were two golden lions to usher the VVIPs and guests to the ribbons cutting ceremony then followed the signing of the plaque by CEO, Mr Matt Harris for Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad mounted on the wall of the new branch office.

The new office is headed by Branch Manager, Sam who is a local bred of Bukit Mertajam and has been Chartis's Sales Manager of the Year 2010. He was based at Ipoh branch prior to his posting here.  Welcome back to BM your hometown, Sam. By the way, Mr Ganeswaran Subramaniam is also from Bukit Mertajam, Penang.

Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad CEO signing the Bukit Mertajam Branch opening ceremony plaque

Twin Lions at Chartis's reception counter

Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad Bukit Mertajam Branch Office

Lions near Conference Room

Lions presented CEO with oranges

Lions dancing at the training hall

Welcoming guests at the main entrance

At the lobby and agent's corner

Mr Ganeswaran delivering his welcoming speech and Mr Matt Harris

Chartis Malaysia Insurance Berhad CEO, Mr Matt Harris

Sharing some light moments and eating the cake

CEO congratulates and gives gift to one of the the winners of quiz

Lunch

Oil Prices gone up and Asian major share markets tumbled. Malaysia two by elections due to heart-attacks

It has been a turbulent period in the Middle East regions especially with the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.  Now there were some unrest at Libya, which is reported to be a country with the largest oil field reserves in Africa.  There are some protests reported in Bahrain as report in the news channels and media.  There was an earthquake measuring 6.3 at Christchurch, New Zealand.  It seems there are so many negative news around the world but how does it affect me in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia?

First, life goes on as usual in Bigfoothill and people here just lived in peace. If you are an investor in the stock market and commodity, you either profit from the above situations as the oil prices have gone up and if you own petroleum stocks and commodity, it is a gain for you.  However, if you are investing in some other stocks that are averse to the increase in oil prices, such as airlines and shipping companies, you probably have to cut your losses by selling the shares as it tumbles as these companies are likely to incur higher cost for running their operations and thus reducing their profits.  There are investors who are having sleepless nights if they are investing on margins as they may soon have to top up with cash. KL Stock Exchange (KLSE) or Bursa Malaysia also saw the main benchmark index dropped by two digits from yesterday's closing point at the close of today's morning session.  So perhaps, it is an opportunity for bargain hunting time for small investors.

As for currency traders, those who are holding NZ Dollars are having their exchange value drops against major currencies due to the earthquake disaster.  How is it going to affect me non-politically but financially? Gold prices also soar as it is a commodity that is seen as a safe haven.  So if you are planning to get some gold jewelries for weddings and other happy occasions, it is going to be expensive to buy now than previously.

The importers of NZ produce will be able to buy goods from NZ at cheaper price if its countries currency appreciated against NZ Dollars.  So probably, I can go to Tesco and expect sales of Kiwi fruits at cheaper price per kilogram.  However, it can be more expensive if the natural disaster have caused the Kiwi Fruit farms to be destroyed or affected and thus reduced the availability of the fruits for export.  The same goes to the milk and diary products from New Zealand.

Well, a professional investor will be busy at work at this hour as the above situations around the world are affecting us globally and present an opportunity to make quick profit from buying cheap stocks and commodity and selling it later at a higher price when market situations improved.

I am just looking at it from a general view of a layman who is happy to live in a peaceful nation.  Though some of Malaysians studying and working in those affected countries are directly affected by the events in those countries, majority of Malaysians are just busy with their daily routine. Probably, the politicians are a little concerned as there are going to be two simultaneous by-elections at Merlimau, in Melaka(Malacca) and Kerdau in Pahang.  These two by elections are due to the incumbents elected representatives died due to heart-attacks. Let us hope the political parties are making a better decision in the future when they pick their candidates who are healthy to serve the people and not waste our people's money.

Last night, I was following the news on Malaysian TV1 and the Election Commission Chairman said he had budgeted and requested for an allocation for a whopping RM50millions in anticipation of the Sarawak State Election that will be held soon and he does not want to be caught unprepared as these huge amount of money are used to hire 4 helicopters, speed boats, 4 wheel drives and many other logistic and election supervisors and workers.

I wonder a poorer nation in a third world country could put to good use this huge amount of money to upgrade the standard of living of its people.  But then, there is such a risk of the leaders of the poor country keeping the wealth to themselves and suppressing the human rights of its people so much so that one day in the future the people will rise up and demand for their rights and that will be the day that we will be seeing events like the one in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya now.

The Chinese Valentine's day -The Final Day Celebration of Chinese New Year of the Rabbit

It is a second chance to date your Valentine in a week as Thursday February 17, 2011 coincided with the fifteenth day of Chinese New Year of the Rabbit.  In the Chinese calendar, it is an auspicious day for the singles to make a wish to marry a good spouse by throwing a orange into the sea off the Esplanade.  If you are in Penang, it the time again to go to Georgetown at the Esplanade near the spot where Captain Francis Light landed in Penang, and old British fortress known as Fort Cornwallis and City Council building are located.

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There will be live concerts and stalls selling goodies which you may want to bring your family, friends and your love one to join you to have fun and carry on the tradition of throwing some oranges into the sea to wish for a good husband in the year of Rabbit , especially for the single ladies.  Single guys, here are your opportunity to survey who is available and who is hot.

For the married couples, save the oranges for yourselves as you cannot throw away what you already found and caught in your hands.

Here are the highlights of the happenings found at the Visit Penang. The Fireworks will be let off there later in the evening.  So bring your cameras to shoot the scenery and displays of colorful fireworks.

USB Cable connectivity is like a lifeline

I got his USB cable for myself about a month ago but did not get to use it until today to connect to my computer and download files, especially pictures that I have taken with my Nokia E-72 mobile phone when I did not have my Olympus or Sony Cameras handy.  I had misplaced the original cable at a hostel in Ipoh, Perak about a year ago. Imagine I can do without it for so long.  I could have used the Blue tooth feature to transfer the files but I am not into it.

It is like a lifeline to me as I got the chance to download some pictures that I wanted to share with you later as I connected it to my mobile phone and PC just now.  Not all mobile phone and accessories shops in Bukit Mertajam are selling all models of Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity Adapter Cable.  So it took me awhile to shop around before I found this CA-101 model cable at one of the shops at Jusco Shopping Mall. By the way, this picture is taken using the Nokia E-72 which has a automatic flash that lit up.

Landmarks demolished at Bukit Mertajam - End of sweet memories

After Gymnasium Cleared. Former General Post Office reduced to rubble

Still left standing is part of the former Telecom office front

This is what is left at the demolition site of the former General Post office building and the Telecom office building at Bukit Mertajam which a few days ago were still standing. Let us see what will the development bring to the place in the near future.  To those who have been working there years ago, those who sent their letters, post cards and telegrams, Sweet Valentine's cards to their friends and loved ones, and those who used it as a meeting point, part of that memories are deleted from memory just like some of our storage files in the floppy diskettes are being put away with no back up as newer personal computers and notebooks do not have floppy disk drive.

So back up your memories with photographs.  That is why I like photography as it can bring back or restore some lost memories and passions of the past. Life must go on.  Some people lived in the past and preferred to be still living in the past even today and refuse to change with time just like when we like to talk about the good and funny experiences we shared with our schoolmates, partners and colleagues as we meet up again and again over the years with them such as the Chinese new year reunion dinners and gatherings functions, the old boys club. It sorts of bring us together and close affinity with the things that we know we cannot do again as we get older.  I am like that too. I got the chance to share and recount the joys of my youthful days. The tide of change will destroy some but bring joy to others.  Nothing is permanent here.

So let us look ahead.  Some are too futuristic and live in high expectation of things that may not exist and get fascinated by their own desire of a better life which do not match the reality of present day. It is dangerous as we may easily get disappointed if things do not turn out the way we expected it to be.  We may end up at asylum.


Live for now. Keep it simple. Today is what I am living for as I still need to do all the house chores, send my kid to school, provide for the household needs and serve others as in the nature of my insurance business.  I am being reminded by the sermon I heard  from the pastor at Bukit Mertajam Baptist Church last Sunday where the Holy Bible talks about little creatures like the ants that you see that are busy moving and crawling about in our house. It never stops moving or gathering food unless we stop them or they are already dead.  I guess I missed watching the animated movie ANTS. I got to find sometime to bring my kid to the cinema to watch some children movies and it could be the special moments that we can touch our children and they in turn will treasure the moments spent together laughing aloud like nobody's business in the cinema like everyone at the funny episode of the movie, as they reflect back when we are permanently changing home address to another world.  Leave a legacy.