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All Johor checkpoint counters to open from May 8 for polls

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JOHOR BARU Malaysia's Immigration Department will open all its counters at the Woodlands and the Tuas checkpoints for three days from May 8 to facilitate traffic flow, with the aim of making it smoother for Malaysians to go home to vote and then return to Singapore.

The general election is to be held on May 9, a Wednesday.

The department will be mobilising 350 officers to work during the general election, Malaysian media quoted Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed as saying on Sunday.

"We do expect congestion as it is something that we are still working on, especially during special occasions and festivities, as traffic volumes might increase during this period," Bernama quoted the minister as saying .

"I must stress here that the traffic congestion at both CIQs (Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complexes) are not due to our immigration workforce not carrying out their duty, but due to the fact that vehicle volume entering Johor is extremely high," he added.

Voting centres in Malaysia will be open from 8am to 5pm on polling day.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Road Transport Department has dismissed as untrue a viral social media message that claimed Singapore vehicles not registered under Malaysia's vehicle entry permit (VEP) system will be denied entry from May 1.

There are more than 400,000 Malaysians working in Singapore, and thousands of them are expected to drive Singapore-registered cars into Malaysia to vote.

Malaysia announced in October last year that all foreign-registered vehicles entering the country will require a RM25 (S$8.50) VEP tag, on top of existing road charges.

The department said on Sunday that there is no such compulsory registration being conducted as the VEP system is still undergoing tests.

"The system's stability and completeness need to be verified before full implementation," said a statement.

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