A group of Singaporeans were stuck in traffic for more than 4 hours on the Second Link whilst en route to Malaysia on 18 June, and this is despite them leaving Singapore at about 7.30am.
They had left Singapore for Melaka that day and waited for more than 4 hours for immigration clearance at the Malaysia checkpoint, according to The Star.
Told to give way to public & factory buses
The group’s tour guide, Henry Gomez, said that he had about 11 tourists from Singapore with him at the time, and they were frustrated because they saw public and factory buses being given priority at the immigration clearance, while tour buses were told to give way.
He described it as being extremely unfair and that the authorities should not allow this to continue.
Only one of the two lanes for buses was opened, which caused traffic to come to a crawl; Gomez then added that the authorities should’ve opened up all counters in both lanes to ease up the traffic.
Jam will affect tourism
One of the Singaporeans, Ms Teo, said that she had to cancel some of her plans due to the slow traffic and added that it was her first time having such a terrible experience.
Jimmy Leong Wie Kong, the chairman of the Johor Tourist Guides Association, said that the problems with the jams will cause an impact on Malaysia’s tourism sector.
He said that the authorities should find better ways to clear the tour buses that are carrying tourists to spend money in Malaysia.
He further added that the first impression at the entry point has killed the millions of ringgit we have spent on promoting and marketing the state and the country.