Few counters opened at Tuas causes congestion

Berita Harian

21 Jun 2008

As mentioned by Mr Jasni, he and his family had arrived at the Tuas Checkpoint on 17 May 2008 at about 5 am. This coincided with the start of the Vesak Day long weekend when there were generally more commuters at the Checkpoints and heavy traffic was to be expected. ICA had thus deployed additional resources to operate as many immigration and fingerprint verification counters as we possibly could to facilitate the larger traffic volume. Mr Jasni asked why was there only one operational counter open. Based on our records, there were in fact ten counters opened for immigration clearance and four counters for fingerprint verification checks at the time when Mr Jasni and his family were travelling through the Tuas Checkpoint.


Few counters opened at Tuas causes congestion

Berita Harian

24 May 2008

I would like to share my experience at Tuas checkpoint on 17 May 2008.

Prior to that, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had reminded travellers that traffic at both the land checkpoints at Woodlands and Tuas is expected to be heavy due the public holiday on 19 May 2008. Travellers were advised to car-pool or make use of public transport to enter Malaysia in order to avoid the congestion.

My family and I followed the advice and when we arrived at Tuas Checkpoint at about 5am, we discovered that the checkpoint was very crowded. We observed that most of the immigration counters were closed except for one counter which was opened for checking of thumbprints. While we understand that the checking of thumbprints is important due to the escape of Mas Selamat, we would like to know why there is only one operational counter? What about senior citizens who have difficulties coming out of the vehicle? Are they also required to alight for the fingerprint verification?

The advice that was given by the authority to make use of public transport or car-pool should be lauded but at same time ICA should be prepared to open more counters to ease the congestion at the checkpoints.

Over at the Malaysia checkpoint, we can observe that the traffic flow is smooth as most of the counters are open and they are well- prepared.

-- Jasni Jamil