"KL International Airport (KLIA) recently joined the worldwide ‘silent airport’ movement. Now the number of public announcements at both terminals are reduced significantly," remarks Eddie Yong as he shows me his vintage Malayan Airways Limited (MAL) collection when we meet at the Thailand 2018 World Stamp Exhibition in Bangkok.
"Instead of waiting for disruptive announcements, modern-day air travellers only need to download the MYairports mobile application. It’s a handy tool that provides real-time flight status and boarding gate information. At the same time, travellers can also refer to the Information Display Screens (FIDS) located within the terminals," adds Yong.
After a while, our conversation turns to Yong's historical keepsakes related to the MAL as well as its subsequent successors when the company underwent a series of restructuring due to changes that happened in the 1960s and 1970s.
FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT
Despite its worldwide fame, Yong explains that MAL wasn’t the first local company to provide commercial air services in Malaya. That distinction goes to the short-lived Wearnes Air Service (WAS) which was started by two Australian brothers, Theodore and Charles Wearne on Dec 18, 1936.
The inaugural WAS flight, using an eight-seater de Havilland Dragon Rapide aircraft named Governor Raffles, left Singapore's newly opened Kallang Airport for Kuala Lumpur and Penang on June 28, 1937. That marked the beginning of a thrice weekly shuttle between the three largest cities in Malaya.
As the flights became popular, the service was extended to Alor Star, Taiping, Ipoh and Kota Baru. At that time, the planes not only ferried passengers but also transported copies of the local newspaper, the Singapore Free Press, as well as bulk mail.
Just before the fall of Singapore in the hands of the Japanese Imperial Forces in February 1942, WAS came to a premature end.
Theodore and Charles fled Singapore for Freemantle, Western Australia while most of the company's senior employees were left behind and interned in Malayan prisons.
The success of WAS in the 1930's didn’t go unnoticed. The British Imperial Airways (later British Overseas Airways Corporation or BOAC), Straits Steamship Company and Ocean Steamship Company of Liverpool joined forces to form MAL on Oct 12, 1937.
MAL, however, remained dormant as its executives knew that their fledgling company couldn’t complete with WAS's dominant position.
Furthermore, Europe was on the verge of conflict and it would only be a matter of time before war broke out and spread to Malaya. As such, a decision was made to conserve resources and wait for a more opportune time to enter the market.
BIRTH OF MALAYAN AIRWAYS
After the Second World War, MAL seized the opportunity and quickly moved in to fill in the void left by WAS.
Restructured to include just the partnership of the two steamship companies, MAL threw open its doors to the first paying passengers on April 2, 1947.
That inaugural flight, using an Airspeed Consul twin-engine aircraft christened the Raja Udang, departed Singapore's Kallang Airport for Kuala Lumpur's Sungai Besi Airport with only five passengers.
Weekly scheduled flights quickly followed from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh and Penang just a month later.
In April 1948, the airline started servicing direct international routes from Singapore to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam, Batavia (now Jakarta), Medan and Palembang in Indonesia. Both Bangkok in Thailand and Medan routes were flown via Penang.
Strengthened by technical assistance from British Commonwealth airlines, such as BOAC and Qantas Empire Airways (QEA), MAL continued expanding its routes and fleet size for the rest of the 1940s and 1950s. Growth was spurred further when MAL became a member of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), a trade association of the world’s airlines.
With its enlarged fleet, which included a large number of Douglas DC-3s, Douglas DC-4 Skymaster, Vickers Viscount, Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation, Bristol Britannia, de Havilland Comet 4 and Fokker F27, MAL went public in 1957.
Its listing on the Stock Exchange received overwhelming response as investors were buoyed by the rising post-war demand for air travel. Flying was no longer a reserved privilege for the very rich.
NEW ROUTES
On April 12, 1960, new routes from Singapore to Hong Kong and from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok via Penang were added. Flights were also introduced from Singapore to cities in the Borneo Territories including Brunei, Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu), Kuching, Sandakan and Sibu.
MAL changed its name to Malaysian Airways Limited following the formation of the new federation on Sept 16, 1963. This new name allowed the retention of the already world famous MAL acronym. Two years later, Borneo Airways became part of the Malaysian Airways Limited.
Going into Yong's fifth clear folder, which covers the transitional period after Singapore's exit from Malaysia on Aug 9, 1965, it becomes obvious that the items related to Malaysian Airways Limited are not easy to come by.
"The company only existed for less than three years. Very few stationery, advertisements and other memorabilia were produced," explains Yong before adding that the airline was renamed the Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) in May 1966.
"The Singapore and Malaysia governments injected fresh capital into the carrier, giving them an equal shareholding of 42.79 per cent each. Among the minority shareholders were the Brunei government, BOAC, QEA and the original two steamship companies."
MSA's business model of purchasing newer and more powerful Boeing 707 and 737 jets to capture market share in a number of far-flung Asian destinations ensured the company's continued success.
Soon, however, differences started appearing among the MSA’s board of directors in terms of the airline's strategic direction.
MAS AND SIA
In January 1971, the Malaysian and Singapore governments announced that MSA would be restructured into two separate national carriers.
Both new carriers aspired to retain the well regarded MSA acronym for better branding recognition. Acronyms for airline names were fashionable until the 1990s after which carriers began moving on to their descriptive names.
Malaysia kept the initials of its new airline relatively close, choosing to transpose the last two letters to form Malaysia Airline System (MAS). Singapore's move to choose Mercury Singapore Airlines to retain the MSA acronym in its entirety irked its neighbour.
Malaysia threatened legal action to bar the use of the coveted acronym unless Singapore was willing to pay S$72.7 million in compensation. Singapore caved and chose Singapore Airlines (SIA) instead. Mercury was the name of Stamford Raffles' ship that sailed to Singapore during its voyage of discovery in 1819.
The airline’s assets were divided, with MAS receiving the Friendship Fleet, Britten-Norman aircraft, equipment in Malaysia and all domestic routes.
SIA took over all the Boeing aircraft, the airline headquarters building in Orchard Road, aircraft hangars and maintenance facilities at Paya Lebar Airport, computer reservation system and most of the overseas offices.
SIA also took over MSA’s international route network encompassing 22 cities in 18 countries.
The airline began operations with three simultaneous flights — one bound for London, the other for Sydney and a third on its way back to Singapore — on Oct 1, 1972.
The last three folders feature quite a lot of Yong's self-addressed SIA postcards from the late 1990s onwards. When quizzed, Yong explains that the proliferation coincided with the time he began forming the collection.
"My interest was sparked after visiting the SIA 50th anniversary exhibition (1947 - 1997) in Changi. The colourful history coupled with the many interesting memorabilia on display nudged me down the path to start my own collection," quips the Singaporean.
At that time, Yong was working as a project manager in Pandan Crescent. Coincidentally, his American employer favoured using SIA for all work-elated travels and Yong took the opportunity to write work reports on the back of the postcards which were given complimentary to all passengers.
"All I needed to do then was to pass the cards to the flight attendant and the airline would do the rest including paying for postage," says Yong with a grin. He also did the same when he took MAS domestic flights when inspecting his company's projects in Bintulu, Sarawak.
As his collection grew, Yong felt there was a need to add variety. He began scouring flea markets in Singapore for more items and also went on the Internet to buy from e-commerce websites like eBay. Eventually, runners got to know about his passion and began supplying him with rare airline-related items.
When asked to name the most valuable item in his collection, Yong reaches for his files and begins to flip through them.
After a few minutes, he looks up triumphantly and hands over a post card featuring Nancy Liew Malayan Airways stewardess who won the Miss Singapore beauty pageant in 1962. The item was Yong's for US$300 after a spate of furious bidding on eBay several years ago. To date, there are more than 500 different airline-related post cards in his collection.
KEBAYA COLLECTION
Apart from philatelic aspects of his collection, Yong also has a special place in his heart for the iconic air stewardess sarong kebaya.
Created by French designer Pierre Balmain back in 1968, the early designs of this uniform are now becoming popular among collectors.
"There are four kebaya colours that represent ranking in SIA: blue (Flight Stewardess), green (Leading Stewardess), red (Chief Stewardess) and burgundy (In-Flight Supervisor). I have all of them except the last one. There are not many of the highest ranking stewardess and that makes their uniform rare," explains Yong before revealing that most of his uniforms are procured from used clothing shops and flea markets for as little as RM10 for a complete set.
Despite having quite a substantial collection, Yong endeavours to continue expanding on his collection. He claims that there are still many things out there that he doesn’t own given the airline's long history.
"My Housing Development Board flat in Toa Payoh is packed with SIA memorabilia. I have book cases cramped with pocket albums filled with phone cards, stickers, newspaper cuttings and matchboxes given to passengers in the days when smoking was allowed on flights. The only thing I need desperately is space," he adds with a laugh.
It’s clear that Yong is no ordinary collector. He’s an aviation history preserver who aims to tell the story of our airline industry, including SIA and MAS, all the way from their humble beginnings to the famous brands they are today.
Before parting ways, Yong mentions that SIA will be celebrating its 75th anniversary in four years' time and expresses hope that a coffee table book containing all the important historical items related to the local aviation industry can be produced to celebrate the momentous milestone.
"That would serve as a good reference source for our future generation," he concludes with finality.