Singaporean Woman Told To Pay $50 To ‘Settle’ Passport Stamp Issue
Going to JB can be a troublesome & lengthy process, no thanks to notorious Causeway traffic jams.
You need to keep your valuables in check for the trip, but there’s one more important thing you should never forget — checking your passport stamp upon arrival.
For two women – one Malaysian, one Singaporean – travelling together from Tuas, their failure to do so caused them a whole lot of grief.
On Wednesday (26 Jun), the Malaysian woman took to Facebook & shared her unfortunate experience at Johor Bahru CIQ (Customs, Immigrations & Quarantine Complex).
For this momentary oversight, she claimed that a JB immigration officer solicited a bribe of RM150 (around $50) to ‘settle’ the matter.
The post has since been shared over 1,000 times at the time of writing. We summarise her post – in English – below.
Forgot to check for passport stamp after arriving
Since she’s a Malaysian, the OP noted that she didn’t need a stamp when returning to her home country.
But for her Singaporean friend, the stamp was absolutely necessary.
As they were driving into JB, the Malaysian woman said she didn’t think of checking their passports once they passed immigration.
For illustration purposes only
Stopped for not having passport stamp when returning to Singapore
Unfortunately, an immigration officer at JB stopped them when he realised the Singaporean woman’s passport had no arrival stamp.
According to the Malaysian woman’s post, the below sequence of events took place:
- Officer spoke calmly and asked why there was no passport stamp
- Malaysian woman asked officer to check her passport’s scan history to find the officer responsible for not stamping her friend’s passport
- Officer said there was no need for it & he believed her
- Malaysian woman wondered why
Asked to pay $50 to make the problem ‘go away’
The Malaysian woman was baffled that the immigration officer didn’t want to find out the truth.
She wrote in Chinese,
Why don’t you want to know which officer of yours was negligent in their duties?
She then claimed that the officer gave them 2 choices:
- Pay RM2 ($0.65) to lodge a police report — a time-consuming process
- Settle the issue with money
The woman later noted that the report fee of RM2 was then changed to RM100 ($32.80).
For the 2nd option, the officer allegedly asked her for RM150 (around $50) in a casual manner.
Apologised to her Singaporean friend for the incident
While she didn’t mention filing a police report, the Malaysian woman revealed in her comments that she didn’t pay the officer any money.
Shocked, she expressed disappointment in the Malaysian system.
As a Malaysian staring into the face of corruption — uniformed officers taking advantage of taxpayers — I’m so embarassed by this. I apologised to my Singaporean friend.
As a frequent traveller across the Causeway, she said she’ll be sure to double-check for passport stamps when travelling in and out of the country from now on.
Be mindful & always check for passport stamps
No matter which country you’re travelling to, it’s always wise to check that immigration officers stamp your passports accurately. Be sure to check the dates too.
It’s also wise not to travel alone, or you could jeopardise your safety. We hope all your travels to Johor and back, are safe and free of troubles.
Featured image from Instagram and Facebook.
