EVERYONE has seen it before. The coppers who light up right under the huge ‘no smoking’ sign at the local balai (slang for police station).
Hence, the shock of one digital creator Effi Nazrel Saharudin that his visit to a Singapore police station did not stink of stale tobacco.
Having lost his passport, the influencer was pleasantly surprised to be attended to within 30 minutes even though it was already 11pm.
Commending the personnel for the professionalism, the poster went on to exclaim on X that the Singapore “balai smells like Changi Airport instead of rokok (cigarette) jamming studio”.
The most not useless is Singapore polis. Lost passport. Got attended to in 30 mins at 11 pm because so malam already. Officer even give me number for consulate to call to ease problem. Really pro. Balai smells like Changi Airport instead of rokok jamming studio. https://t.co/FGDa3rUeYn
— Effi The Source Saharudin (@1Obefiend) September 28, 2025
The content head of www.AMANZ.My and www.BLOGSERIUS.com was responding to a post by เบว (@jenbiverse) who detailed an opposite experience at an Indonesian police station.
The latter claimed to have been at the police station for an hour yet no officer had attended to him as they only seemed interested in watching a movie!
The post has generated 347.7K views at time of writing with commenters keen to share their two sen’s on dealing with coppers – both at home and abroad.
A few commenters concurred with Effi that police stations in Malaysia tend to have the unmistakable whiff of nicotine.
One commenter recounted a scene seemingly out of the movies whereby the first question posed to her sibling who was summoned by the JSJ (Criminal Investigation Department) to assist in a case was “do you smoke”?
“My brother said yes, then the officer proceeded to light the cigarettes and have smoking session with my bro for three hours while getting all the info. LOL,” she revealed.
A few commenters also agreed with the poster regarding the professionalism of cops across the Causeway.
One traveller praised the professionalism of Hong Kong and Singaporean cops as “top notch” while observing that a somehow ‘tidak apa’ (slang for ‘cannot be bothered’) attitude existed, too, in many Western countries.
However, one commenter sought to nullify the latter’s claim or at least with regard to coppers in Georgia. Recounting losing his passport at the Tbilisi Airport, he vouched that the police were extremely accommodating in helping him search for his missing document.
“We searched till 4.30am then he started to get me to fill out temporary passport request paperwork,” shared he commenter.
“Then the cleaning lady came and said she just sent my passport to lost and found 🤣. My wife wasn’t impressed.”
While Malaysians marvel at the efficiency and courteousness of police forces overseas, perhaps we can improve things by demanding a higher standard from our boys in blue.
For starters, perhaps we can insist that the ciggie ban inside police stations be rigidly adhered to for health reason in the interest of the cops themselves and the public who have to solicit their service. Or would that be wishful thinking? – Oct 2, 2025
