Until this last weekend, I hadn’t driven into Malaysia since the pandemic. You might wonder… what was required to enter? Well, it wasn’t vaccine certificates or any contact tracing app. And it also wasn’t the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) which was rumored to be required since 2019 but never really got off the ground.
What was required (and I’m sure a lot of people do not have it) is a Touch’N’Go card with Ringgit loaded. If you had an old card (like us) the card is probably invalid… this happens after just 12 months of non-use! Can it be reactivated? No, you can only request a refund for the unused balance, which is obviously a real pain. They also charge RM5 every 6 months of dormancy, so even though the card is made invalid and can’t be used or reactivated, they still charge the fee. How great is that?
Now, you would think that since so many people would be in this situation after the pandemic, they would have some alternative… but no — you must pay RM20 with a TnG card, or you are out of luck! This card cannot be bought or loaded in Singapore, so what are people supposed to do? No cash accepted, and no alternatives. This is just plain dumb. Fortunately I had RM20 in cash and we found someone willing to let us borrow their TnG card. Next stop was the toll booth that charged a little under RM4 and was supposed to sell the TnG card. They had no stock of the card… probably because they never thought about the surge in demand when borders reopened. Ugh, it’s just utterly and completely pathetic, no matter which way you look at it.
And of course, nobody knows when the Malaysia VEP will start getting enforced, but they haven’t gotten their stuff together and probably won’t anytime soon. But it’s always nice to have that uncertainty hanging over your head. Even third world countries can do a better job than this. It’s just outright shameful.
