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May 24, 2010
Unpleasant experience at checkpoint
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ON MAY 16, my friends and I were driving back to Singapore after a short trip to Kuala Lumpur.
Upon reaching the Tuas Checkpoint at close to midnight, our group of four went through the mandatory checking of luggage for contraband. One of us had forgotten to dispose of a packet of Malaysia-bought cigarettes and was thus made to pay the fine and taxes.
Our initial reaction was to ask the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer what the fine was and how long it would take to make the payment. We had a shock when the staff sergeant raised his voice at us and said he did not know.
We had a near three-hour wait and the duty personnel did not seem to be trying to hasten things up. Each time we asked the officers about the long wait, we were subjected to some unpleasant or rude response.
But at 2.45am, my friend was called to see the officer-in-charge, who apologised for the long wait, explaining that it was due to a system error and manpower shortage. But he said nothing to explain the other officers' hostile attitude.
We finally left at almost 3am. We do understand that it was an offence to bring in contraband items and we accepted that a fine had to be paid. However, it did not warrant the unprofessional attitude nor the three-hour wait.
I hope the level of service can be improved.
Lim Boon Kian
Unpleasant experience at checkpoint
<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
ON MAY 16, my friends and I were driving back to Singapore after a short trip to Kuala Lumpur.
Upon reaching the Tuas Checkpoint at close to midnight, our group of four went through the mandatory checking of luggage for contraband. One of us had forgotten to dispose of a packet of Malaysia-bought cigarettes and was thus made to pay the fine and taxes.
Our initial reaction was to ask the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer what the fine was and how long it would take to make the payment. We had a shock when the staff sergeant raised his voice at us and said he did not know.
We had a near three-hour wait and the duty personnel did not seem to be trying to hasten things up. Each time we asked the officers about the long wait, we were subjected to some unpleasant or rude response.
But at 2.45am, my friend was called to see the officer-in-charge, who apologised for the long wait, explaining that it was due to a system error and manpower shortage. But he said nothing to explain the other officers' hostile attitude.
We finally left at almost 3am. We do understand that it was an offence to bring in contraband items and we accepted that a fine had to be paid. However, it did not warrant the unprofessional attitude nor the three-hour wait.
I hope the level of service can be improved.
Lim Boon Kian
