Just wanted to clear up a few things about what Irene shared on Facebook yesterday. We’re actually the other car caught up in the same situation with that JB policeman who tried to extort money. Luckily we have the footage.
Purposely lead cam car to wrong way to isolate and “fine” them
1. We were queuing in the correct lane, just waiting our turn, when we noticed some policemen messing around with the barrier. Then, one of them starts shining his torch at us, signaling for us to head into the lorry lane. At first, we hesitated, but after he insisted with his hand gestures, we went for it. A couple of cars behind us did the same. Looks like only Irene’s car ended up following us through the whole ‘trap’, while the others might’ve merged back with the rest of the traffic. Bad luck hit us hard.
Malaysian also kena
Being a Malaysian, I grew up hearing all these stories about ‘kopi lui’, and this time, I finally experienced it firsthand. I should have seen it coming and prevented my boyfriend from driving into that lane. But in the end, all I can say is that we were just unlucky. Because I believe, they won’t target Malaysia car-plate car.
2. To everyone saying “just don’t pay”When they target you, they’ll just play games and hang on to your documents. If you’ve got time and guts, sure, ask them to write up the saman. If you’re actually at fault, paying a fine is no issue, official fine won’t be that much. And you can simply pay Malaysia saman online. (Just ask your Malaysian friend)
But, I was in the car with my boyfriend’s mom and him, first-timers driving to JB in a Singapore car. They were totally shocked and confused. My bf mum was worried. As a Malaysian, I know how these officers operate and what they want, so I ended up arguing with one in Bahasa, back and forth.
After a long argument, I managed to pay RM100 only to get back my bf license. If not he’s gonna continue holding on to our license and repeat the same thing “behind got a lot of cars I have no choice to give you a ticket, you wanna pay ‘there’? He’s just talking nonsense, nothing makes sense.
What we learned:
• If they target you, act clueless.
• Pretend you’re broke, can’t speak English or Malay, and just waste their time. If they see it’s not worth it, they might just let you go.
• And, if they try to move you to a new lane, just stay, unless you really know what you’re doing.
Apparently, we were too naive and didn’t see it coming. Especially since Raya is coming soon, to them, a Singaporean car means jackpot. I’ve decided not to let them drive a SG car to JB anymore.
I’ll drive them in jb car next time.
Absolutely, it’s frustrating how they target Singaporeans, always “kopi lui”, nak minum kopi.
It’s so sad to see this culture of corruption and they will never learn. And it’s not just Singaporean cars; they’ll come up with all sorts of random reasons to ask for ‘kopi lui’ from Malaysian drivers too. It’s a sad reality that many of us have had to face firsthand.
That’s about it. Wanted to set the record straight and share a bit of advice from our side of the mess. Hopefully, it helps someone else avoid the same headache.
*the footage has no sound so please bear with it.