Trengganu

Regional Definitives

Prior to Federation, the Malay states issued their own stamps. After Federation, each state continued to issue their low value definitives following a shared design but bearing the image of its coat of arms and ruler. The stamp shown here belongs to the 1979 issue of Flower Definitives with the portrait of Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin Shah who ruled from 1949 until 1981.

When Sultan Mahmud ascended the throne, commemorative stamps were issued, but the portrait on the definitive stamps was not changed until 1986 when the Agro-products definitives were issued.

The sender of the cover Schlumberger Overseas was one of the contractors for ExxonMobil who operated the Tapis oilfield offshore Trengganu in partnership with Petronas, the state oil company. Trengganu is the only oil producing state in West Malaysia. The Tapis field was discovered in 1969 came on stream in 1978 and contributed to oil becoming Malaysia's major export product in the 1980s. With the field nearing the end of its life, Exxon divested its stake last year and exploration is now entirely in the hands of Petronas.