Stamp Week themed ‘Children’s Hobbies’

FUN HOBBY: Yasmin showing Pos Malaysia’s previous stamp issues — Picture by ARIF KARTONO

STARTING a stamp collection can be a lot of fun and beginning Nov 19, Pos Malaysia Berhad will be hosting their annual Stamp Week at AEON AU2 Shopping Centre in Jalan Taman Setiawangsa, Taman Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, to encourage this hobby.

The week-long fair, which runs until Nov 25 in conjunction with the school holidays, is themed Children’s Hobbies, and is organised in collaboration with the popular children’s TV animated series BoBoiBoy.

On Nov 19 too, Pos Malaysia will be issuing six different Children Hobbies stamps along with a miniature sheet featuring the loveable superpowered characters — BoBoiBoy, Gopal, Yaya and Ying — from the series, which are printed using a special technique from Amsterdam, Netherlands.

“This is the first time Pos Malaysia has printed stamps using this technique which uses a special foil that gives a different effect on the stamps. This will be very special and exciting for collectors,” said Yasmin Ramli, head of stamps and philately unit at Pos Malaysia.

“We had previously featured Upin & Ipin on our stamps which were an instant hit as children love something connected to their trends. BoBoiBoy is currently the most-watched TV show today among young children.”

During Stamp Week, there will be many activities for children such as a colouring competition and face-painting sessions while characters from BoBoiBoy will also make a special appearance.

“We have also made a special cancellation chop for each of the seven days for this year’s event. Children will be provided with a Philately Passport which you can get after a certain amount of purchase. With the passport, children can paste stamps for daily collection and collect the daily cancellation chops with different dates. If you complete the entire seven days, you may just win a prize,” said Yasmin, in an interview with The Malay Mail Lifestyle.

Stamp Week will be especially exciting for Pos Malaysia’s 9,000 active Standing Order Deposit Account (Soda) members. Soda provides convenience for philatelists to purchase the first day stamp issuance and philatelic products without queuing at post offices on the issue day.

“Based on the profiles of our Soda members, collecting stamps is a favourite hobby for every age group, from young children to adults and even pensioners,” said Yasmin, adding that stamp collecting has always been an enjoyable, safe and fun hobby.

“Parents should encourage their children to get involved in this hobby. From collecting stamps they can also move on to having pen pals with other collectors through whom they can also get stamps from other countries. This helps improve their general knowledge on other cultures and at the same time improve on their writing skills.”

When asked if she’s a stamp collector herself, Yasmin said she does not want her interest to conflict with her profession.

“I’m not so much a stamp collector myself though I encourage my children to collect stamps. As a stamp producer, we must know what collectors want, their interests and what is trending. Stamp collecting is a good hobby and the value of the stamps increases over time,” she said.

What ‘BoBoiBoy’ is about

LOCALLY-produced animated TV series BoBoiBoy is currently screened on TV3 on Sundays at 7pm (with repeats on Tuesdays at 9.30pm) and also on Astro’s Disney channel 615 on Saturdays and Sundays at 9am.

The half-hour series, produced by Cyberjaya-based Animonsta Studios Sdn Bhd, centres around a little superhero named BoBoiBoy who has the power to control three elements, namely, earth, wind and lighting. With his sidekicks Ying, Yaya and Gopal, they fight to protect the world from aliens bent on conquering Earth and hunting down cocoa beans!

BoBoiBoy began its run on March 13, 2011 and is now into its second season, and is available in two languages, Bahasa Malaysia and English. Season two will conclude its run on Nov 18.

Both versions utilises the same voice actors, chiefly Nur Fathiah Diaz as the voice of main character BoBoiBoy. Nur Fathiah was the original voice for another popular local animated series, Upin & Ipin.

The other voice talents are Yap Ee Jean, Sarah Alisya Zainal Rashid, Dzubir Mohamed Zakaria, Muhammad Anas Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Fathi Diaz, Nizam Razak and Yvonne Chong Shin Vun.

Nizam Razak and Muhammad Anas Abdul Aziz are the scriptwriters for the series, with the first season directed by Nizam Razak, and the second season by Yap Ee Jean and Dzubir Mohamed Zakaria.

BoBoiBoy is the first production by Animonsta Studios which was established by Nizam Razak and his partners Mohd Safwan Ab Karim, Muhammad Anas Abdul Aziz and Kee Yong Pin.