RANTAU PANJANG: Two best friends studying at a local secondary school, have been using an illegal jetty in Sungai Golok town for the past 10 years.
Amirah and Yusmiza (not their real names) claimed that the use of the jetty helps them save time, allowing them to reach the other jetty in less than 10 minutes.
"Both of our fathers have been married with women from Sungai Golok and Waeng sub-provinces.
"Earlier in their marriages, our parents stayed in Rantau Panjang and all my siblings were born here," said the 16-year-old Amirah.
"But since 2014, all of us have moved to Sungai Golok town, and my neighbour Yusmiza and her family have also followed in our footsteps," she added.
The third of five siblings said she prefers to use the illegal jetty to get to her school, which is located about 1 km from Rantau Panjang, as it saves her precious time.
Yusmiza, on the other hand, said using the checkpoint would take up a lot of their time.
"We have border passes, but we seldom use them because we have to spend a lot of time waiting in line at the immigration counters in both countries — here and in Sungai Golok," she said.
Both students said they only use the illegal jetty to commute to school.
Our parents and teachers told us yesterday about the decision to place us in the school's hostel.
"We are still considering it," said the two when met today.
Yesterday, state police chief, Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mamat said the 303 students who live in Thailand but cross Sungai Golok illegally into Kelantan daily to attend school are given four option before the crackdown on illicit crossings starts on Dec 1.
He said the first option was students would be offered places at their school hostel.
He said that if their school did not have a hostel, the second option would be to stay at the lodgings of another institution.
Yusoff said the third option was for students to rent a house near the school and the last option was to enter Kelantan via the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) Complex.