JOHOR BARU: Footage of 17 immigration counters at the Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB), with green lights on, but lanes barricaded, have sparked outraged and prompted an internal investigation.
State Works, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Communication committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh conducted spot checks at the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex at KSAB on Friday (Oct 11).
Upon arrival, he found 17 of the immigration clearance counters with their lights on but unmanned, while the lanes were blocked with barriers.
Fazli said he had switched off the green lights to indicate the lanes were closed, to ensure that there was no confusion.
"The Johor state government has been working really hard to ensure smooth traffic at our land checkpoints, both BSI and the Tuas Second Link checkpoint in Gelang Patah.
"If there is no concrete reasons behind this, we could be led to believe it was a deliberate act of deception," he said, when contacted today (Oct 13).
The footage, widely circulated on social media, raised concerns on the inefficiency and neglect of duty by immigration officers.
Meanwhile, Johor Immigration director Datuk Mohd Rusdi Mohd Darus said internal investigations were launched to get to the bottom of the incident.
"An internal probe will establish if the immigration officers manning the counters neglected their duties or deliberately left the counter without permission.
"We do not condone this behaviour, and stern disciplinary actions will be taken against them ...if it is established, they had neglected their duties.
"It is unaccepted if they had left the counters unmanned without authorisation.
"It is a violation of responsibility, I take this issue seriously," he told the News Straits Times, when contacted today (Oct 13).
The clip showed the lanes blocked with portable road barriers while the green lights were on, prompting allegations it was done to deceive motorists.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi has made more than 300 surprise visits to CIQ BSI, which is one of the world's busiest land checkpoints.
He has said he is determined to solve the legacy congestion issue.
"I will be there as long as issues persist at the two CIQ complexes ... and continue to cause inconvenience to Johoreans and visitors," he said.