• It is believed that this term originated from the Hokkien dialect term kopi-lui (literally, “coffee money”).
• In the 1950s and 1960s, corrupt practices were rife in Singapore. Many government and law enforcement officers used their authority to illegally demand bribes. For example, to obtain a taxi licence or hawker licence, one often had no choice but to slip the civil servant in charge a sum of money in private.
• Such bribes and the act of bribing someone were euphemistically referred to as “coffee money” and “paying coffee money” respectively, making it seem like an innocuous act of buying the officer a cup of coffee. Of course, the bribe was worth far more than a cup of coffee.
• After Singapore gained independence, the authorities took a zero-tolerance approach to such corrupt practices. In time, Singapore became one of the least corrupt nations in the world.

The experience of the early anti-corruption officials was that regardless of rank, civil servants from senior officials to menial workers had the bad practice of accepting “coffee money” or “red packets”. There were cases ranging from postmen and cleaners demanding red packets to ministers accepting huge bribes. (Lianhe Zaobao, 9/6/2017)