Arrival of posted Mel Rakyat

The Mel Rakyat (roughly translated as Citizen’s Mail), a domestic aerogramme, I posted on 02 January 2020 before 04:00 pm arrived today, 03 January 2020. That was really fast! It took less than a day.

Here it is:

Apparently there is no additional postal marking on the posted version. I suppose the others I have posted out should arrive by today (Kuala Lumpur) or sometime next week for those outside of Kuala Lumpur. Here are my postings to the lucky readers yesterday:

Please message me if you have any postmarking on your envelope. Thus far only Ipoh has a machine cancellation, i.e. passed through the Ipoh Mail Centre.

Meanwhile, the design theme from World Post Day 2018 is quite interesting in that it has been used for a number of issues. The artist of the cartoons was none other than Datuk Dr Mohd Noor Awang (or NON). The designer was from World Communications Network Resources.

The theme was used for:

1. World Post Day 2018 issue
2. Special MCMC World Post Day 2018 postcards
3. Cinderella Souvenir Sheet
4. Setenant Sheet

Meanwhile, 2 independent readers have confirmed that the Mel Rakyat was available in the post offices sometime last week. One of the collectors who last checked on 31 December 2019, found that the Mel Rakyat could not be sold as there was no product code in the computer system. Apparently the codes were available on 02 January 2020. However, Pos Malaysia has yet to release any announcement. An interesting factoid: This new design was first hinted back in 26 November 2018 in the Pos Malaysia ePhilately Forum. It makes sense as the Mel Rakyat design was from 2018. I suppose there was a delay until it is available for sale in 2020.

Anyone else with information on:

1. Any postmarking / cancellation / chop on your posted Mel Rakyat?
2. Any information on the earliest known date of sale?
3. Any background of this Mel Rakyat issue?

I would like to document it.

sky52200