MustShareMail: Why Should We Put Up With JB Customs’ Shocking Inefficiency?

I stood waiting for 4 hours at the JB checkpoint. So did the 78-year-old Ahma beside me.

On Friday (2 June), a public holiday, I decided to cross the Causeway to Johor Bahru (JB) for a quick getaway.

Knowing that it’s the world’s busiest land-crossing and how incredibly crazy it gets during holidays, I expected crowds to peak on Thursday evening, the eve of a public holiday.

So I waited till late Friday morning to make my way to Woodlands Checkpoint. Buses were crowded, and I did queue for a good 30 minutes to board the bus to JB CIQ Complex. But crowds were moving considerably. And it took barely two minutes to exit through the e-gate at Woodlands.

When I reached the JB Checkpoint, however, I found myself walking to the end of a very long and packed swarm of people. Hundreds were stuck even before going up to the immigration hall.

Massive Crowds At Johor Checkpoints Over Vesak Day Weekend, Travellers Queue Up To 7 Hours

I later understood that it was because the hall was packed and crowds were not being cleared fast enough, causing the hold-up. The escalator up the hall was also malfunctioning, slowing things down even more.

20 minutes later, we climbed up to customs. It was a massive hall with lots of space, but it was water-tight full. There must’ve been thousands crammed in front of what I remember to be 18 counters. There was no line.

30 minutes into the queue, I realised what was wrong – we were barely moving. We would stand at the exact spot looking at the same cracked tile on the floor for half an hour....