Spark returns to southern state

Double duty: Johor voters had to go to the polls twice this year – for the state election on March 12 and for GE15 on Nov 19.

IT WAS an eventful beginning to 2022 in Johor when its state legislative assembly was dissolved on Jan 22, paving the way for the state election which took place on March 12 to elect 56 assemblymen.

The state election was the first to feature Undi 18 voters, after the voting age was lowered to 18 years, as well as automatic voter registration.

The snap election was called after the government led by then mentri besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad was left with 28 seats, one more than the Opposition’s 27 seats.

One seat fell vacant following the death of Kempas assemblyman and former mentri besar Datuk Osman Sapian on Dec 21, 2021.

Barisan Nasional won a decisive victory, taking 40 seats, Pakatan Harapan won 12, Perikatan Nasional emerged victorious in three and Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) won one seat in its election debut.

Hasni, who was the mentri besar from February 2020 to March 2022 and retained his Benut seat, was believed to have been the frontrunner to be appointed mentri besar again following Barisan’s success.However, Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi, the Machap assemblyman, received the nod from the Johor Palace and was appointed Mentri Besar.

Barisan was again hoping to win big in the 15th General Election on Nov 19, after their stellar performance in the state polls.

But it was not to be as Pakatan made a strong comeback, winning 15 out of the 26 parliamentary seats statewide.

Pakatan’s PKR won seven seats, DAP (five) and Amanah (two) while Muda had its maiden victory in a parliamentary constituency.

Barisan’s Umno bagged seven seats and MCA two while Perikatan’s Bersatu was triumphant in two constituencies.

Recovery modeAfter life as we knew it came to a standstill following the Covid-19 pandemic and imposition of the movement control order, there was finally some light at the end of the tunnel this year.

April 1 saw the border between Johor and Singapore reopened after two years.

No one welcomed it more than the thousands of Malaysian workers who were stranded in Singapore when the borders closed on March 18, 2020.

Prior to the pandemic, some 300,000 Malaysians were believed to commute daily from Johor and another 400,000 were said to live and work in the island republic.

Beginning April 1, travellers from both countries who had been fully vaccinated were allowed to cross the land border without having to undergo quarantine or perform pre-departure and on-arrival Covid-19 tests.

Cross-border public transportation between Malaysia and Singapore also resumed, including bus and taxi services.

Business, especially in the Johor Baru city centre, picked up as many Singaporeans took advantage to travel but it has also sparked inflation fears.

Safer city

Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) announced in July that it would be installing 1,000 closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras throughout Johor Baru in an effort to make it a safe city.

The CCTV system would also help to realise the plan for a smart city using IT for data and information collection.

In October, Pasir Gudang City Council (MBPG) was in the news for issuing notices to residents to demolish covered parking on “no man’s land” in front of their houses.

The city’s mayor said the notices were to remind homeowners to register the structures they had built.

The plight of three siblings who were orphaned received a lot of attention after it was highlighted by the media.

Yap Jia Hao, the eldest of the three, said that since the article came out on Oct 1 in StarMetro, he had seen a lot of new faces at his wantan mee stall in Jalan Beringin, Taman Melodies.

Jia Hao, his sister Zi Yu, 17, and their brother Jia Cheng, nine, had suffered one heartbreak after another.

First, they lost their father to Covid-19 in September 2021 and their mother succumbed to heart complications in May this year.

This forced Jia Hao and Zi Yu to start selling noodles at their family stall with the skills they had picked up from helping their late parents.

The siblings have since received several offers of help, including from overseas, and they have asked well-wishers to continue patronising their stall to support them.

Floods have been recurring in the Johor Baru city centre since early this year due to heavy rainfall and development projects.

On Aug 2, flash floods occurred at Hospital Sultanah Aminah, Kampung Mohd Amin, Jalan Sungai Chat, Persiaran Abu Bakar, Jalan Kolam Ayer, Jalan Ayer Molek, Jalan Stulang Darat, Jalan Tun Abdul Razak and Jalan Tebrau.

In September, the Johor government said it had identified more than 100 flood hotspots in all 16 local councils throughout the state with many of them under MBJB’s jurisdiction.

In October, MBJB announced that it had allocated RM5mil for its flood mitigation project.

The project, which kicked off that month involved areas along the Sungai Chat basin, starting from Larkin Indah to Kampung Mohd Amin.

Six water pumps would be installed along a stretch of the river and nine weirs built with the project expected to be completed in six months.

Sporting success

It was a stellar year for the state when Johor was crowned overall champion of the 2022 Malaysia Games (Sukma) in September, winning 77 gold, 52 silver and 43 bronze medals.

Prior to the event, the state government had set a target of 55 gold but the athletes surpassed that by a large margin.

The contingent made history as it was the first time Johor emerged overall champions since Sukma started in 1986.

The multi-sport Games was held in Kuala Lumpur between Sept 16 and 22.

It was originally scheduled to be held in Johor in July 2020.

However, it was postponed until 2022, due to the pandemic with the National Sports Council replacing Johor as host.

Johor Darul Ta’zim’s (JDT) 2-1 win in the Malaysia Cup final over Selangor on Nov 26, saw it becoming the first clubside to achieve the quadruple in Malaysian football.

The Southern Tigers had won the Charity Shield, the FA Cup and Super League titles earlier.

An estimated 80,000 fans attended the Malaysia Cup final at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil although the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was ongoing.

Nov 27 was declared a public holiday in Johor to celebrate JDT entering the final, the fourth time this year an extra day was declared.

The first was on Sept 11 after JDT won the Malaysia FA Cup, and again on Oct 16 after the Southern Tigers clinched their ninth straight Malaysian Super League title.

Nov 20 was also given as a replacement holiday by the state in conjunction with GE15.

Top in investments

Johor continued to attract strong interest from domestic and foreign investors and was the top investment destination in Malaysia.

Statistics by the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) showed Johor accounted for RM63.9bil or 33% of approved investments totalling RM193.7bil for the first nine months of the year.

This was revealed by International Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz in December.

Later in the month, the state assembly sitting was told that the lion’s share came from the service sector which recorded RM55.06bil in investments while manufacturing contributed RM8.84bil.

The investments were expected to create 11,968 new jobs.

Kuala Lumpur was in second spot in Mida’s list with RM26bil, Selangor with RM25.7bil while Sarawak and Kedah achieved RM17.6bil and RM12.1bil respectively.

Among the high-technology companies which had invested in the state was an insulin producer from the United States, big data centres from China and a printer circuit board maker from Taiwan.