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A Singaporean woman driving to Kuala Lumpur said she felt pressured into paying what she thought was “kopi money” (bribes) to authorities after being pulled over along an expressway near Malacca on Friday (May 15) morning.<\/p>\n
The woman, who identified herself only as Min, told AsiaOne on May 26 that she and her partner were stopped by the Malaysian traffic police for allegedly speeding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was her first time driving to the capital.<\/p>\n
According to the 26-year-old small business owner, they were “filtered off the road” as traffic police had partially blocked the expressway, and were directing vehicles in and out.<\/p>\n
“We thought it was some random checking and most of the cars that were stopped had their [car] boot opened,” Min recalled, who also shared about her experience on TikTok.<\/p>\n
The traffic police, she said, informed the pair that they had been speeding and showed them a screenshot of their car plate number.<\/p>\n
While Min was looking for their identification documents, she claimed the officer told them to head to the back of the car and that only one person was allowed there.<\/p>\n
As there was no form of identification needed, Min claimed that she was worried, but somewhat reassured as “there was a huge operation going on”, with “more than 10 police officers” and many Singapore-registered cars around as well.<\/p>\n
Initially, her partner was allegedly informed that they had been issued three speeding tickets, with each carrying a RM300 (S$97) fine.<\/p>\n
When Min intervened and asked if they could pay the fine online, she claimed another traffic police officer came forward and told them they had nine speeding tickets instead, bringing the total penalty to RM2,000.<\/p>\n
After much discussion, the couple were allegedly given two options in the end \u2014 to “settle now” with RM1,000 or go to court and pay a RM2,000 fine.<\/p>\n
Min said she eventually negotiated the amount down to RM150, as RM1,000 was “a huge sum”.<\/p>\n
She explained that they chose to comply because “after all it’s not our country [and] we don’t know their laws and rules”.<\/p>\n
She also added that they were unaware they could request an official fine ticket instead.<\/p>\n
“I think protecting ourselves and getting out of the situation soonest should be the priority regardless,” Min recounted to AsiaOne, adding that she did not report the matter to the Malaysian police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n@minxchen_<\/a> <\/p>\n First time driving to KL – Call me naive but I didn\u2019t know coffee money is still a thing in Malaysia \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\udd2b Hope to raise awareness ESPECIALLY FIRST TIMERS like myself please don\u2019t fall into this trap. They will intimidate you and exaggerate your \u2018offence\u2019 to make you pay \u2018coffee money\u2019 OR ELSE. We were threatened to \u2018settle now\u2019 or go to court and being in a foreign country, we just oblige to the authority. I\u2019ve learnt we can insist for a ticket and pay the fines in the orderly manner. TAKE CARE YALL \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\udffb<\/p>\n
\u266c original sound – Min – Min<\/a> <\/section>\n<\/blockquote>\n