Influx of voters not expected at Johor entry points on Nov 19

JOHOR BAHRU: The Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) is not expecting a significant increase in the number of travellers entering the country's at Johor's two entry points on Nov 19, the day of voting for the 15th General Election (GE15).

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said, however, his side had made preparations and improvements to manage the influx (if any) on voting day.

"This is my view. We are not expecting an influx like what we saw during the Deepavali celebration recently because it also involved foreigners and Singaporeans who took the opportunity to come into the country and celebrate the festival.

"For polling, it will only involve Malaysians who are working in Singapore and involve mostly about 200,000 who travel on a daily basis through the Custom, Immigration and Quarantine Complex at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) and about 100,000 who use the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex entry point," he said at the BSI here today.

Also present was Johor Immigration Department director Baharuddin Tahir.

Khairul Dzaimee added that among the improvements made at the country's entry point in Johor was the replacement of 20 autogates that were over 10 years old, for the use of Malaysian passport holders at CIQ BSI, which is expected to be fully completed by Nov 15.

"The upgrade work of 11 car entrance counters has also been completed and is fully operational, another eight counters are in the process of being upgraded and another 19 counters will be completed in the next phase and are expected to be fully completed in February 2023.

"Discussions of this phased upgrade work had started since 2021 in the Master Committee to deal with congestion on the Johor causeway through CIQ BSI and KSAB," he said.

In addition, a total of 45 automatic Malaysia Biometric Identification of Motorbikers (MBike) and five manual motorcycle counters at BSI and 24 MBike counters at KSAB are operating well.

Khairul Dzaimee also encouraged Malaysians who are returning home to vote, to use the JB Sentral train service, as immigration checks are completed in Woodland, Singapore and passengers can disembark at the JB Sentral without having to go through immigration again.

-- BERNAMA