entering malaysia without paying the toll charges



the other day i visited my ex-colleague seow teow seng and was reminded of an incident that happened nearly ten years ago. we had invited his family to join us on a driving trip to malacca. there were three cars; two had passengers who were regular visitors to malaysia. for seow, it was his first time driving into malaysia. in his car were his wife and his two daughters.

we had met at woodlands macdonalds before proceeding to the causeway. my friend soon was driving ahead, seow's car was in the middle and i took up the rear. there was a slight jam at the causeway but we cleared customs without any incident.

when we made a rest stop at pagoh, i asked seow why the lady at the causeway had come out of her cubicle to wave to him. it was then that we came to know that he had not stopped to pay the rm$1.20 charge. he was blissfully unaware of such a payment.

my honest-to-goodness friend, a church elder, told us that he would pay them on his way back from malacca. and he did. he stopped his car by the side and went to explain to an officer why he had driven through without paying.