Singapore and Singapore Airlines

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 06/16/2007 9:29 AM  |  Opinion

I am a Bangladeshi and currently living in Indonesia as my wife works here for one of the UN organizations. Last month we planned to go to Thailand and Singapore. When I approached the embassy of Singapore in Jakarta for a visa, they told me, being a Bangladeshi, to get a visa I needed a sponsorship letter from a Singaporean national who lives in Singapore.

I don't know any Singaporeans and told them so. In that case, they said, a visa cannot be issued and they handed me a paper regarding visa issues, mentioning names of some countries including Bangladesh whose nationals need sponsorship in order to get a visa. Interestingly all the names mentioned there are Muslim countries (without Indonesia and Malaysia).

One can easily understand why Singapore exempts these two countries. I told them the reason why I live in Indonesia and showed them my wife's laissez-passer, UN passport (LP), on which I am included. After checking the LP, I was told that if I travel with my wife to Singapore then I don't need a visa as I am on the LP. I also got the same information from the travel desk of my wife's organization.

After our Thailand trip we arrived at Singapore Airlines' check-in counter in Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok on June 7, to take flight SQ 625 to Singapore. There the drama started! After issuing the boarding pass, the lady at the check-in counter found out that I don't have a visa on my national passport and told me, ""You cannot fly, you don't have a visa for Singapore."" I explained to her that I was told by the Singapore Embassy in Jakarta that if I travel with my wife on her LP then I don't need a visa on my national passport.

She called her supervisor, I told the same thing to her as well and they discussed something in Thai (most probably) for a while and the supervisor took our boarding passes and three passports (my Bangladeshi, my wife's Dutch and her LP) and told us to wait as she sent a telex to the immigration department in Singapore about my case.

I again tried to explain my situation but she did not want to listen to me. While waiting, a few times we tried to talk to the supervisor without success but after a few attempts, she pointed to a person seated at a desk at the end of the counter and said that he is in charge of Singapore Airlines' affair here. ""Please talk to him,"" she said. We approached but he kept on talking on the telephone and while doing that he said something (in Thai again, most probably) to the person next to him, pointing to us, and the person told us to wait. What a gentleman (!) from Singapore Airlines, who did not even care to talk to us.

In a nutshell, I had to spend the night in the transit lounge in the Singapore airport. I got a boarding pass before entering the plane. We had to run to catch the flight, but Singapore Airlines could not manage the same for our luggage. At last I managed to catch the last flight that arrived late in Jakarta.

I have lived and traveled to many countries (including the U.S.) but I never encountered a situation like this.

MASUD FAZAL ELAHI
Jakarta

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