Digital Progress or Digital Fatigue? Why Malaysia Needs Payment Reform

In our drive to digitise the nation’s economy, let us be cautious not to become an over-digitised economy.

Take the LDP toll plaza at Sri Damansara as an example: I have always wondered whose decision it is to put eight Touch ‘n Go lanes, three SmartTAG lanes, but only one RFID lane. It makes me, why until today, the concessionaire appears to be resistant to the suggestion to install a few more RFID lanes.

The result?

RFID users face unnecessary inconvenience, often forced to weave across lanes just to get through. We pay RM35 for a RFID tag that I was once told by a friend who used to sell such stickers when it was first introduced. Each sticker only less than RM5 each. This friend of mine has since passed on.

What was meant to ease traffic has instead become a source of irritation. After I first highlighted it in Malaysiakini, I am still waiting for the Minister of Works and the Director-General of the Malaysian Highway Authority to act decisively and expand RFID lanes to reduce the need for Touch N Go cards since the RFID is linked to the e-wallet. 

Litrak should emulate some other concessionaires and be more people friendly by installing both the RFID and TNG card systems if they still prefer to use the cards. 

A Bigger Issue

The same problem extends to public transport. My son, after riding the free MBPJ bus, observed how foreign passengers struggled with the CEPAT app. Why can't the buses use other payment channels? 

Unaware of the requirement, they had to disembark, download the app, and learn to use it—hardly the welcome we want to give tourists during Visit Malaysia Year.

And then there’s the fragmented ticketing system. MRT and LRT share RapidKL’s platform, but KTM Komuter runs its own. Just a few years ago, I had to buy a KTM Komuter card just to travel from Seremban to Kuala Lumpur because physical tickets were no longer sold and the ticketing vending machine was down. That card was used only once and after a few years, the credit balance went down to zero!

Malaysians have long been burdened with multiple cards—Touch ‘n Go alone has senior citizen cards, older cards which can only be reloaded at special kiosks, enhanced e-wallet-linked cards, and a mobile app. 

Each card costs RM10–RM25, and each requires us to preload RM50 or RM100. Service operators profit handsomely from this duplication, while consumers are left juggling systems. I have in my possession at least four to five cards and at least three payment applications on my mobile, but increasingly, I am moving to making payment using the bank app.

Even parking is fractured. Selangor has its own Parking App, but in Penang I had to download another. After spending just a couple of ringgit, I ended up transferring the balance to a friend.

This patchwork of systems is not digital progress—it is digital fatigue. True digitisation should simplify lives, not multiply burdens.

Many shopping centres are also introducing their own preferred parking cards. I remember the owner of a major shopping centre in Petaling Jaya telling us the reason why he introduced the parking card. For him, it is additional cash that a businessman like him can roll. 

Time for Regulations

It is time for Bank Negara to step in and regulate digital payment systems. Without proper oversight, consumers will remain at their wit’s end, struggling to keep up with the ever-growing maze of payment channels.

Much of the frustration stems from weak regulatory control. Take Selangor’s parking system as an example: new payment apps were being introduced over the past 20 years, while old ticket machines are left to rot. Some of these machines even occupy valuable parking bays in already congested commercial centres, yet nothing is done to remove them.

This is not innovation—it is fragmentation. Instead of making life easier, the proliferation of apps and cards has created confusion, inefficiency, and unnecessary costs for the public. After the parking payment system changed, I still had a few leftover parking coupons from different local councils, which had to be discarded. 

I urge the Madani government to act swiftly. Centralising digital payments under a single, regulated system—managed by Bank Negara in collaboration with banks—would restore order, protect consumers, and ensure that digitisation truly serves the people.