S'porean woman at M’sia checkpoint allegedly asked for RM200 over torn passport pages she never noticed before

A 72-year-old Singaporean woman and her friends arrived at a checkpoint in Johor Bahru (JB) on a chartered vehicle on Feb. 23, and they handed their passports to the Malaysian immigration officer.

However, after stamping several passports, the officer allegedly asked the woman, surnamed Li (transliteration from Chinese), to pay RM200 (S$60.47) because of "torn pages in her passport", reported Shin Min Daily News.

When Li asked whether she could pay RM50 (S$15.12) instead, as that was all the cash she had at the time, the officer apparently told her driver that Li would need to pay "at least RM100" (S$30.23).

Li said she was able to resume her trip in JB after paying the sum to the officer.

No similar request on trip back to Singapore

Speaking to Shin Min, Li said she was travelling to JB for a Chinese New Year gathering with eight other friends on Feb. 23.

Upon arriving at the checkpoint at around 11am, the group handed their passports to the immigration officer without alighting from their vehicle.

After Li acceded to the officer's alleged request for RM100, she became worried that she might encounter a similar request on her journey back to Singapore.

In response, the officer apparently said that the issue with her passport "would not affect her return trip", recounted Li.

Li made it back to Singapore without incident in the evening on the same day, and applied for a new passport the next day.

Puzzled by torn pages in recently-renewed passport

Li said she was puzzled by her encounter at the JB checkpoint, as she would always check her passport before going overseas, reported Shin Min.

According to her, she just renewed her passport two years ago, and it would only have expired in 2033.

A photo provided by Li showed that two pages in her passport had their lower left corners torn off.

Shin Min reached out to the Malaysian authorities for comments but did not receive a reply as of Mar. 3 afternoon.

Top images via Shin Min Daily News & Google Maps