I refer to the letter VMY 2007: Immigration dept ruining it by RKG. I, too, went down to Singapore a week before the writer. But my experience was totally the opposite.

I had not visited Singapore with my family for more than 20 years. I drove down to Singapore through Woodlands. I needed a lot of help regarding their Autopass system and I was given the impression that Singapore immigration authorities would issue an Autopass card for my car on my arrival there.

But the Singapore immigration officers were not helpful at all. The officers were stern-looking, as if we were some unwanted guests. When I enquired about the Autopass, all they said was 'Just drive straight down'. I did that and ended up on a Singapore highway without an Autopass.

A call to their 'help line' was a disaster initially. The lady who answered our call immediately complained about how dumb Malaysians were and that they always seemed to have problems with the Autopass system. She could not even give me any direction on how to get our Autopass but only kept harping on 'the dumb Malaysians'.

Only after a gentleman took over the call were we able to get the help we wanted. That lady seemed to have a different understanding of the purpose of a 'help line". I thought it was to help out 'dumb' people like us and not a complaints forum for whatever grievances Singaporeans have against visiting Malaysians.

The opposite, however, applied to our Malaysian immigration officers. The lady and the gentleman I met were both pleasant and cheerful. However, I must protest about the condition of the Malaysian customs checkpoint at Woodlands. If only we can be just as clean as the Singaporean checkpoints across the Causeway.

Since RKG drove to Singapore using the Second Link instead of the Causeway, perhaps our immigration department should look at their personnel at the two locations again as each seems to give a very different impression of Malaysia.