However, during a visit to Brunei a few weeks back, I was astonished, and at times left fuming, that most places still view the Singapore dollar as 'foreign'. Most shops promptly refused Singapore notes that had a small tear, which I believe is common in our paper notes.

This frustrated European tourists I met who had visited Singapore days earlier and were in Brunei with only Singapore notes.

Even if shops do accept them, they look carefully for small tears in the notes. Due to this, many of us had to rush to the nearest bank to exchange our Singapore dollars for Brunei currency.

I believe more can be done between the two countries, to ensure either notes are readily accepted and this form of rejection does not occur again.

This will prevent confusion and frustration among the many visitors who travel between the two countries.

Redzwan Hafidz Abdul Razak