Malaysia

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi of Malaysia became the 30th world leader to honor my request. He was kind to add his "best wishes for your signed-photo collection project."

The letter and envelope both bear a return address in the city of Putrajaya. I was under the impression that Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia and my letter addressed to the Prime Minister was addressed to him there. As it turns out Putrajaya is actually a brand new city created in the past year from the ground up to serve as the new administrative capital and fortunately my letter was forwarded there.

This was also the first response to be sent via UPS. The letter was addressed to my post office box but somehow someway UPS figured out a street address for me. I appreciate their due diligence but I didn't expect them to have access to post office box rental records. (The letter was actually delivered to a relative last week and only forwarded to me today).

One advantage to the letter being sent via UPS was that I was able to track the package as it made it's way from Malaysia to New York. Doing so reveals that although the return address shows the city of Putrajaya the letter was actually sent from Kuala Lumpur. It also made stops in the Phillipines, Japan, Alaska, and Kentucky before it made it's way to Brooklyn.

Unfortunately the letter, envelope, and picture all arrived ripped. It seems as if the envelope was opened for inspection and the inspector was a bit careless. I wonder if this has anything to do with it.