Buns or bribes? Man left bewildered after JB immigration officer asked him to give 'something'

Driving through the Johor Bahru checkpoint, this man thought he was being "tested" after a Malaysian immigration officer allegedly asked for "something".

Taking to TikTok on Wednesday (May 17), user Hafidubaksin shared his reaction after his bizarre encounter at the Causeway.

"Alamak! I got the shock of my life when the officer asked me for something," What is it?" he teased in the caption.

In the two-minute video, Hafidubaksin said that he was travelling back to Singapore with some buns that he had bought in Johor Bahru.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@hafidubaksin/video/7234012592052784402?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7171986325686912514[/embed]

Upon handing his passport to the Customs officer, the man said that the latter made an observation about the food on his passenger seat.

"He said to me in Malay, 'you bought so many buns?'" Hafidubaksin recalled. "He then gave me the surprise of my life when he asked for one."

While the request might seem innocuous, the Singaporean admitted that he felt suspicious about the officer's motives at that time.

"Was he testing me on whether I want to give him a bribe?" Hafidubaksin said, adding that he "played along" and "tested waters" by agreeing to give a bun.

After passing the food over through the car window, the man said the officer told him that he was hungry, and just wanted to fill his stomach.

Even when he was driving off, the TikTok user said that the officer asked him if it was okay that he gave his bun to him. 

"First time that this happened [to me]," Hafidubaksin said.

"So, a Customs officer can ask something from you, you can give him something. Of course it must be something not in the form of [bribes]."

He added that in this case, he gifted him the bun out of empathy. 

AsiaOne has contacted Hafidubaksin for more information.

Past incidents of Malaysian officers asking for bribes

While this social media user had a light-hearted experience at the JB Customs, there were instances of Malaysian officers there asking for more than just buns.

Last May, a Singaporean family was told to pay "coffee money" after a Customs officer allegedly informed them that they had "committed a serious offence".

Describing their ordeal to Shin Min Daily News, a woman, who only wanted to be named as Song, said that her husband paid the RM200 (S$59) bribe out of fear of being locked up in a foreign country.

"At that time, I was too scared to know what to do. The children were very anxious and asked my husband and I what was happening," she said.

And in Sept 2022, one Singaporean couple met a rather bold Malaysian traffic police officer who allegedly helped himself to some cash from their wallet.

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News then, 39-year-old Cao said that the cop near the Johor Checkpoint had slapped them with a RM500 (S$153) 'fine' after accusing them of breaking traffic rules.

"At that time, my husband only had about RM200 in his wallet. After handing the money over to the police, they snatched his wallet and fished out two $50 notes. They put the cash in their record book and left," the woman said.

chingshijie@asiaone.com