Causeway jam that could have been avoided
New Straits Times
Wed, Jun 08, 2011
IT took five-and-a-half hours for me to drive through a 5km stretch before reaching the Malaysian Immigration checkpoint at the Sultan Abu Bakar building in Tanjung Kupang, near Gelang Patah.
Such was the traffic jam that was experienced by my bureau chief Shahrum Sayuthi and I last Saturday afternoon.
We were making our way back from an assignment in Singapore, and neither of us could recall experiencing a worse traffic snarl on leaving the island republic by road in the past.
It was just not enough to say that we were moving at a snail's pace when describing our frustration and that of hundreds of other motorists and passengers.
"I could have probably reached Kuantan by now," said Shahrum after we finally reached the counter, which was manned by a female Immigration Department staff.
She looked busy, handling the travel forms of a Singaporean driver who was ahead of me. The man had parked his vehicle at a lay-by at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.
A notice on the counter's glass window directed foreign drivers and passengers to get down and proceed to another counter to have their fingerprints taken.
This move, which began on June 1, is being implemented at 96 entry points nationwide as part of a new biometric identification system for foreigners. It was put in place to curb trans-boundary crime such as drug and human trafficking, money laundering and terrorism.
Previously, foreigners needed only to have their passports stamped to enter Malaysia.
The new system was put in place smack in the middle of the Malaysian school holidays. That Saturday was also the start of Singapore's school holidays, so the weekend crowd entering Johor that day had probably doubled.
Tempers flared among drivers and passengers as they had to wait between 90 minutes and five hours for Immigration clearance.
This forced them to change, or scrap their holiday plans.
It was worse at the Second Link, which is the more under-utilised facility compared with the Causeway.
Things did not improve on Sunday either, as there was congestion on the Malaysia-bound lane at the Causeway.
The glaring problem here was the absence of a back-up plan to cope with the new procedure.
I am sure the Immigration Department could have anticipated the large number of travellers during the school holidays and the snags that usually come with the introduction of a new system.
We are not only talking about drivers like myself. Ninety per cent of the vehicles at the Second Link that Saturday were Singaporean-registered and they were mostly families with children in tow.
Many got out of their vehicles to pour water into their radiators as the engines heated up, or to get a smoke. Many also walked the few kilometres to the CIQ complex in Tanjung Kupang either for a toilet break or a cool respite from the afternoon sun. Some began blaring their car horns out of frustration after waiting so long.
In response, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein described the glitches that happened at the Johor entry points as something temporary.
He had said the system had only been in place for a few days, and steps were being taken to rectify the problem.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad had said that the long waiting period was because the system was moving towards stabilisation.
Let's hope immediate steps would be taken by the government and the Immigration Department to ensure that the problem is addressed quickly.
In this case, the saying holds true: failure to plan is planning to fail.
New Straits Times
Wed, Jun 08, 2011
IT took five-and-a-half hours for me to drive through a 5km stretch before reaching the Malaysian Immigration checkpoint at the Sultan Abu Bakar building in Tanjung Kupang, near Gelang Patah.
Such was the traffic jam that was experienced by my bureau chief Shahrum Sayuthi and I last Saturday afternoon.
We were making our way back from an assignment in Singapore, and neither of us could recall experiencing a worse traffic snarl on leaving the island republic by road in the past.
It was just not enough to say that we were moving at a snail's pace when describing our frustration and that of hundreds of other motorists and passengers.
"I could have probably reached Kuantan by now," said Shahrum after we finally reached the counter, which was manned by a female Immigration Department staff.
She looked busy, handling the travel forms of a Singaporean driver who was ahead of me. The man had parked his vehicle at a lay-by at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex.
A notice on the counter's glass window directed foreign drivers and passengers to get down and proceed to another counter to have their fingerprints taken.
This move, which began on June 1, is being implemented at 96 entry points nationwide as part of a new biometric identification system for foreigners. It was put in place to curb trans-boundary crime such as drug and human trafficking, money laundering and terrorism.
Previously, foreigners needed only to have their passports stamped to enter Malaysia.
The new system was put in place smack in the middle of the Malaysian school holidays. That Saturday was also the start of Singapore's school holidays, so the weekend crowd entering Johor that day had probably doubled.
Tempers flared among drivers and passengers as they had to wait between 90 minutes and five hours for Immigration clearance.
This forced them to change, or scrap their holiday plans.
It was worse at the Second Link, which is the more under-utilised facility compared with the Causeway.
Things did not improve on Sunday either, as there was congestion on the Malaysia-bound lane at the Causeway.
The glaring problem here was the absence of a back-up plan to cope with the new procedure.
I am sure the Immigration Department could have anticipated the large number of travellers during the school holidays and the snags that usually come with the introduction of a new system.
We are not only talking about drivers like myself. Ninety per cent of the vehicles at the Second Link that Saturday were Singaporean-registered and they were mostly families with children in tow.
Many got out of their vehicles to pour water into their radiators as the engines heated up, or to get a smoke. Many also walked the few kilometres to the CIQ complex in Tanjung Kupang either for a toilet break or a cool respite from the afternoon sun. Some began blaring their car horns out of frustration after waiting so long.
In response, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein described the glitches that happened at the Johor entry points as something temporary.
He had said the system had only been in place for a few days, and steps were being taken to rectify the problem.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad had said that the long waiting period was because the system was moving towards stabilisation.
Let's hope immediate steps would be taken by the government and the Immigration Department to ensure that the problem is addressed quickly.
In this case, the saying holds true: failure to plan is planning to fail.
