HOURS-LONG TAILBACK FROM MALAYSIA
In its statement on Friday, ICA noted that during the most recent long weekend from Aug 31 to Sep 4, there was “severe traffic tailback” stretching from both of Malaysia’s land checkpoints to Singapore’s.
This was when Singapore went to the polls to elect its next President. The week-long September school holidays also began on Sep 2.
A record number of more than 1.7 million travellers passed through Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints during that long weekend, with more than 237,000 and 227,000 travellers departing on Aug 31 and Sep 1 respectively.
At the Causeway on Sep 1, which was Polling Day, the tailback of cars from Malaysia began at 9am and only subsided at 11.30pm, said ICA.
Tailback refers to a long queue of stationary or slow-moving traffic extending back from a busy junction or road obstruction.
At Tuas Second Link, traffic tailback began at 1pm and subsided at 7pm.
ICA said that cars could not clear Malaysia’s checkpoints fast enough, which prevented cars that had already cleared Singapore’s checkpoints from moving on towards Malaysia. This affected the waiting time and clearance on the Singapore side.
This also happened during other long weekends and holiday periods, the agency added.
ICA further pointed out that congestion is heavier on Singapore’s side on some days, with travellers commenting on social media about faster clearance times on Malaysia’s side.
“(They) observed that this is due to the different levels of checks at the respective checkpoints, as the Malaysian authorities conduct fewer checks than ICA,” it added.
“ICA needs to strike a balance between keeping our border secure on the one hand, and facilitating traveller and cargo movements on the other. Border security is important for Singapore, in particular, preventing the entry of smuggled, illegal, or undesirable persons and goods.”