Travellers thinking twice about Johor trips

Travellers thinking twice about Johor trips

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.

~News courtesy of Channel Newsasia~