An article in Bebas News recently caught my eye. It told the story of a young woman who had to visit three separate police stations just to file a single accident report. What struck me wasn’t the incident itself—it was how familiar it felt. I’ve been there.
Let’s start with her experience.
Her car, parked near the LRT Alam Sutera station in Puchong, was struck by another vehicle. The driver of the other car reportedly suffered a heart attack and was rushed to the hospital. While the accident itself was stressful enough, the real frustration came afterward.
The incident occurred on the boundary between two police jurisdictions: IPD Serdang and Balai Polis Sri Petaling. She first went to IPD Serdang, only to be told she needed to file her report at Sri Petaling, about eight kilometres away.
Upon arrival, she was informed that the case did not fall under their jurisdiction either. Officers tried to assist, contacting IPD Serdang for confirmation and starting initial documentation, including photographing her car. After nearly an hour, she was redirected yet again—to the Ibu Pejabat Polis Trafik Jalan Tun H.S. Lee, 12 kilometres away, because filing the report outside the “correct” jurisdiction could allegedly affect her insurance claim.
Her journey into Kuala Lumpur was complicated by heavy traffic and the challenge of finding parking. Only with the help of an inspector was she finally able to lodge her report—a process that took another 40 minutes, including retaking photographs of her vehicle.
In total, several hours of her night were consumed just to file a report for an insurance claim estimated at RM1,500—a not insignificant sum in today’s economy.
This story highlights a troubling disconnect between official policy and practical reality. Polis Diraja Malaysia maintains that, thanks to the integrated Police Reporting System (PRS), citizens can file reports at any station regardless of where an incident occurs. Yet the lived experience of this young woman shows that inefficiency and confusion remain rampant—particularly near administrative boundaries.
It’s worth noting that this is not just a hypothetical inconvenience. Imagine if her car had been immobile, requiring towing from station to station. The costs and lost time could easily surpass the insurance claim itself.
This story made an impression on me because I personally had the same experience as this young woman a few years ago, that made me wonder as to whether the entire process was necessarily at all.
A few years ago, I had a minor accident in Kuala Lumpur, though I lived in Puchong. I first filed a report at the nearest station to my home, only to be told to go to a larger station in Puchong. From there, I was redirected again to another officer at a different station in Kuala Lumpur.
In total, I had to visit multiple police stations just to have a short interview and receive a simple report. This required me to allocate hours over different days. Meanwhile, my vehicle remained unrepaired. I didn’t intend to claim insurance—I just wanted proper documentation for the incident—but I didn’t fix my car, unsure if doing so would interfere with the investigation.
In the end, all that was required of me is that I answered a few question by the investigation officer, a fine paid and before a police report was issued I still don’t understand why one must go through so many stations if that was all that was required.
Technology and integrated systems like PRS were designed to simplify citizens’ lives, not burden them.
No one likes going through an accident—the incident itself is stressful, and arranging transportation while dealing with repairs adds another layer of difficulty. Why, then, must the system compound the problem, forcing us to visit multiple police stations just to receive a basic report that could have easily been issued at the first station we visited?
When Malaysians are forced to drive from one station to another for something as routine as an accident report, it raises a larger question: is our bureaucracy serving the people, or is it still serving itself?
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