Travellers thinking twice about Johor trips
SINGAPORE: The traffic snarl plaguing the Causeway
and the Second Link on weekends is causing some frequent travellers
to hold back on trips up north.
Motorists have been locked in jams the last two
weekends, with some reportedly taking up to seven hours to clear
immigration.
This comes after Malaysia rolled out its biometric
fingerprint system at the start of the month, which requires
travellers to scan both index fingers in addition to getting their
passports stamped.
46-year-old engineer, Rene Gorada, organises bi-monthly golf
tournaments for people living in Singapore.
The group, which typically consists of 50 to 70 golfers, would
travel to neighbouring countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and
Thailand for their Sunday tournaments.
Mr Gorada said half their games are held in Johor Bahru.
He said: "You need to get to the golf course on time. Some of them
are suggesting going somewhere else, maybe Batam. But (there are)
some other concerns.....going to Batam, it's a whole-day affair
because you have to take a ferry. So most of the golfers still
prefer Malaysia, because it's nearer. The only thing is that you
really have to plan and beat the traffic jam."
Mr Gorada said the group has to leave at 6am to make the 8am
tee-off. This is an hour earlier than previously.
Another golfer living in Singapore, 51-year-old Ren Carino, said he
drives to Johor three times a month to play golf.
But with the current congestion, he may move his game to another
country. He said: "We would rather go to Batam now, or Bintan,
Indonesia. It's a lot better now in terms of traffic jams.. there
are no traffic jams (there)."
With Singaporeans avoiding the hassle of crossing the Causeway,
businesses in Johor Bahru are reporting a drop in sales.
P. Sivakumar, president of the Malaysian Indian Business
Association (MIBA), said the city heavily depends on business from
Singaporeans.
"Most of them (Singaporeans) patronise all the eateries that have
cropped up everywhere in Johor Bahru. And it's of great concern at
the moment, because what we're receiving is that initially the jam
was 7 hours, now it's around 5 hours, and it's not good for
business," he said.
Mr Sivakumar said no formal survey has been conducted yet on how
badly business has been affected, and his assessment is based on
feedback received from merchants.
Malaysia's Home Ministry secretary-general Mahmood Adam has said
it's "unfair to blame the biometric system for causing the
congestion".
He said the congestion only happened at the Causeway and the Second
Link, but not at any of the other 67 checkpoints across
Malaysia.
He pinned the blame on the high volume of human traffic and daily
movement between Johor Bahru and Singapore.
But MIBA's Mr Sivakumar disagrees.
He said there has always been high traffic flow at the Causeway,
and the jams only started after the biometric system was
implemented.
Mr Sivakumar said he plans to make another appeal to the Malaysian
government to remove the system and revert back to just stamping of
passports.
- CNA/ir
