WHAT was supposed to be a day trip from Singapore to Johor Bahru turned to a five-day stay after a Singaporean woman’s passport went missing.
@sabrinasimisai recounted her story in several parts on TikTok, explaining that she and four other friends decided to take a day trip to Johor Bahru only to find her and one of her friend’s passports missing after keeping them in a car, assuming it would be “safe”.
Fortunately, one of the two missing passports was recovered from the back of the car’s glove box but Sabrina’s passport was not found, even after a three-hour search from 5am until 8am.
Sabrina had no other option but to lodge a police report in Johor Bahru regarding her missing passport and was left stuck in Malaysia since the embassy was closed as it was Singapore’s National Day on Friday (Aug 9) and remained closed during the weekend since they were not typically open during those times.
Furthermore, Sabrina said she had to wait until Tuesday (Aug 13) to deal with the issue at the embassy since it was closed on Monday (Aug 12) as well due to Hari Hol Almarhum Sultan Iskandar on Sunday (Aug 11).
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To make matters worse, she did not pack much considering that she was in Johor Bahru for day trip only thus she will have to come up with ways to fend for herself while waiting for the embassy to open.
Fortunately, she managed to find a place to stay thanks to a friend of hers.
During those five days however, she had to pay a hefty S$120 (RM401) for a new passport after applying online to replace her lost one, according to another video update.
On the final day of her stay, Sabrina packed up and left her accommodation with her partner and headed to the Consulate General of Republic of Singapore to apply for a Document of Identification for a temporary travel pass to travel back to Singapore.
She said the process was smooth and efficient with no hitches but the real challenge was at her next stop which was the Setia Tropika Immigration Centre, as said in her last video update.
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Before heading there, she was advised to change her attire as shorts and sandals were not allowed in the premises so after a quick wardrobe change, she quickly headed to the location with her partner only to initially find that she could not go back to Singapore on the same day and that she will have to stay until November.
Understandably, Sabrina was quite upset to the point of having meltdown after hearing that information seeing as she could not afford to spend so much time in Malaysia.
Fortunately, her pleas did not fall on deaf ears and she was finally allowed to go back home to Singapore after she was handed a “special travel pass” to get through the immigration process.
