A brush with a red postbox again

My travelling companion and I whizzed by an old colonial building in Alor Star last week. Impressive two-storey structure that used to house the town's original general post office. Reputedly the oldest post office building in Kedah.

Automatically, I looked out for any sign of a letter box outside the building - this has become rather habitual - and was rather disappointed to notice only a rather modern rectangular postbox that was now commonly used throughout the country.

Soon later, we whizzed along the Stadium Road in the town. As we passed by a garrishly light pink building that now houses the town's General Post Office, I was startled to see a familiar upright red object in the compound.

"Hey, turn back, please, I asked my driving companion, "I need to go to the post office." So he turned the car around and stopped by the roadside while I walked into the premises and snapped this picture. Could this be the last remaining heritage cylindrical postbox in Alor Star from the old British colonial days?

Of course, I do not have an answer and I doubt that anyone I know in Kedah can provide me with one.

Anyhow, I noticed that the postbox was made by the Carron Company in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Their mark could still be seen clearly at the base of the postbox's carcass.

But same as the ones positioned outside the post office in Ayer Itam, Penang and the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur, this postbox is bereft of any royal cypher on the door. Whether or not it had been filed off in the past to remove all traces of the old colonial influences in Malaya is anybody's guess.

One thing is for sure, though, the postbox still stands proud outside a post office building.