JOHOR, MALAYSIA— Johor Chief Minister Onn Hafiz Ghazi made another surprise visit to the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex, Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) to monitor the traffic problem.
While netizens praised him for assessing the real situation on the ground, they also pointed out that operations at the complex would quickly return to their usual state when he was not present.
Onn Hafiz had previously visited the CIQ BSI on 19 April before Hari Raya and expressed dissatisfaction with the queue there.
However, as many commuters continued to tag him on social media complaining about the unsolved traffic problem, he went down to the CIQ BSI again on Tuesday (2 May) morning.
In a video uploaded to TikTok by a netizen, Onn Hafiz can be seen questioning an officer about why motorcyclists were honking while waiting to cross the lane.
“Two days ago, I came here, they are not angry like this, ” he told the officers.
The clip also showed that many motorcyclists were waiting in a long queue, and the end of the line was not visible.
“This is the first time I saw bottleneck like this, something is happening here, ” he went to investigate the jam and found out that there was only one lane for commuters to pass.
He also discovered that another lane was blocked by a sky lift for no reason and immediately demanded that the officer clear the lane to ease congestion.
After the blockage was cleared, the traffic flow improved significantly.
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15 measures announced to ease traffic congestion issues at the Johor Causeway
In a Facebook post, Onn Hafiz confirmed that several matters have been discussed and agreed upon between the Johor State Government and the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs to further reduce traffic congestion issues that occur at the Johor Causeway.
He announced total of 15 measures to be implemented, including installation of CCTV monitoring at all Immigration counters and vehicle lanes in BSI.
To improve the security and air circulation at the MBike lanes, the existing e-gates will be upgraded by adding automatic land barriers, and the roof will be extended.
Automatic barriers are a security measure that enable vehicles to enter a facility in an orderly manner.
In addition, to address human resource issues at BSI and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) at the second link, he promised to review shift exchange time during peak hours, address the issue of a shortage of immigration staff, and improving the staff’s welfare.
Johor MB allegedly disguised as ordinary person to conduct spot check at CIQ complex, claims netizen
While commending the Johor MB for his continuous efforts in assessing the traffic problem at the Causeway, some netizens have observed that the officers on the ground seem more motivated to work when the MB is present to monitor them.
“They only want to do work when the minister comes down… ermmm… Great job, Johor MB… continue to do this… monitor the lower-level staff.”
There are also suggestions from netizens that the Johor MB should conduct incognito spot checks, such as disguising himself as a motorcyclist during peak hours to assess counter operations.
Another netizen, claiming to work at the CIQ, stated that Onn Hafiz had actually done this before. He went to the CIQ alone without a bodyguard and disguised himself as an ordinary person.
“I have worked at CIQ many times when he was in disguise. After that, he would come down and hold a meeting and spot check all the immigration counters.”
One netizen suggested that the MB could have requested personal status updates from the immigration chief every hour, which would have been a simple solution:
Background of Onn Hafiz
As the Johor’s 19th chief minister, Onn Hafiz sworn in in March 2022 last year. The 43-year-old is the great-grandson of Mr Onn Jaafar, the founding father of UMNO, and the grandson of Malaysia’s third prime minister Hussein Onn.
He was first fielded as an UMNO candidate in the 2018 general election, and also currently deputy chief of UMNO’s Simpang Renggam division in Johor.
Prior to his appointment as MB, he also served as the state’s tourism, youth and sports committee chairman between February 2020 and January 2022.
