Bali airport customs allegedly cut up S'porean woman's passport, demanded payment

What can you do as a traveller if it ever happened to you too?

Belmont Lay| October 12, 12:36 PM

A Singaporean man has posted on Facebook alleging that the Bali airport customs had cut up his mother's Singapore passport before summoning her into a room.

She was let go after paying them S$50:

singapore-woman-passport-bali-customs-facebook-post

Warning:'>
Bali airport custom officer asked for money after ripping my mums passport. They cut this narrow piece of...

Posted by Raymond Seow on Sunday, October 11, 2015

 

According to the Singapore Statutes, damaging the Singapore passport constitutes as destroying the property of the Singapore Government:

Singapore passports, etc., are property of Government

57.—(1) Every Singapore passport and every Singapore travel document, whether issued before, on or after 1st December 2007, shall be the property of the Government.

(2) The right in a Singapore passport or a Singapore travel document conferred on the Government by subsection (1) shall not be defeated or affected by any sale of, or any security, pledge, deposit or encumbrance given, made or accepted in respect of the Singapore passport or Singapore travel document, by the holder thereof or by any other person.

(3) No person shall give, make or accept as a security, pledge, deposit or encumbrance, a Singapore passport or a Singapore travel document, and any term of an agreement which would otherwise have that effect shall be void.

 

What can you do as a Singapore traveller in this situation?

Unfortunately, not much you can do on the spot besides contemplating whether to kick up a fuss and threatening to report the situation, which might escalate things.

However, after the fact:

You can and should report your incident to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). For example, you can report to either the Singapore Embassy located in Jakarta or the two consulate offices located in Batam and Medan.

Or seek advice from MFA back in Singapore.

But do note that at the end of the day, you will still be directed to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).

Reporting to the authorities the circumstances resulting in the damage of your passport should help you waive the fee for passport replacement.

 

 

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.