Pos Malaysia Berhad (Pos Malaysia) issued the first stamp series of 2018 themed "Animals with Various Special Roles - Working Dogs."

Pos Malaysia Stamp and Philately Unit commercial postal and courier head, Diyana Lean Abdullah, said the stamp series would be available from Thursday, Jan 18, featuring three types of well-known working dogs, namely detector dogs, protection dogs and guide dogs.

"This collection highlights the importance of working dogs trained to perform specific tasks to assist humans, for example in crime prevention, detection of concealed substances or objects and to assist visually impaired individuals,” she said at a press conference introducing the stamp series, in Kuala Lumpur today.

Diyana said the stamp collection displays a sketch of a firefighter and a Border Collie, a policeman and a Belgian Shepherd and a blind man with a Golden Retriever, while the miniature sheet features an illustration of a policeman with a German Shepherd and Labrador.

Production of the stamp series is limited to 200,000 pieces for each design, 30,000 pieces of First Day Covers, 25,000 Miniature Sheet Stamps and 1,800 folders.

The price of each stamp is 60 sen, mini sheets are sold at RM5.30, first day covers at 55 sen per piece and folders at RM6.35 each while the complete set of the series can be purchased at RM58.10.

In the meantime, Diyana said Pos Malaysia is also issuing "Setem Ku Ucapan" (Stamps are my greetings) to replace greeting cards in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration.

"Setem Ku Ucapan," which allows people to write a greeting and place their photos on it, will be on sale from today until Feb 16, at a price of RM21.20.

- Bernama