GE14: Additional 300 immigration personnel at Johor entry points

JOHOR BARU: There will be an additional 300 immigration officers and personnel tasked with managing both entry points in Johor to facilitate the movement of Malaysians returning to cast their votes in the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9.
State immigration director Datuk Seri Rohaizi Bahari said the deployment of the additional staff would take effect from May 8 to 10, aimed at assisting the existing on-duty personnel to carry out their tasks at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) and the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB).
The tasks include controlling the traffic situation and as replacement officers, he told reporters here today.
"Currently, we have 250 personnel stationed at the BSI and another 100 at the KSAB. Hence, we will add another 100 people per shift in both places, as we have three shifts daily.
"In addition, leave for all officers and personnel stationed at both entry points have also been frozen," said Rohaizi.
Rohaizi said the department has instructed its information technology officers to be on standby to prevent the occurrence of incidents such as system failure, among others.
At the same time, all counters will be open to reduce congestion.
"For the period of January to March this year, we have seen an increase of 120,000 people who passed through the two entry points as compared to about 100,000 daily last year.
"Therefore, if many Malaysians decide to travel to and fro on the polling day or a day earlier, we expect there will be congestion," he said, adding that it was estimated about 400,000 Malaysians currently worked in Singapore.
The Election Commission has set May 5 for early voting and May 9 as polling day. — Bernama