JOHOR BARU: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob made a surprise visit to the Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex here to check on the condition of one of the busiest checkpoints in the country.
He spent about 15 minutes at the CIQ with Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi and State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Dr Azmi Rohani yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said operations at the CIQ had returned to normal after the full reopening of the border.
“I was able to enjoy the facilities at the CIQ, including its public transport, which is in good condition.
“However, there are some faulty escalators and autogates. These issues should be resolved as soon as possible for the benefit of Keluarga Malaysia and travellers,” he said on his Facebook page after the visit yesterday.
He also shared a one-minute video clip of his visit.
Onn Hafiz thanked the Prime Minister for personally coming here to check on the facilities at the CIQ.
“May your visit help to bring about more benefit to users here,” he said through a Facebook post.
Onn Hafiz had earlier visited the venue, saying that he had heard about public complaints on the CIQ and promised to resolve the problems there.
Last month, The Star had reported about the people’s concerns of the need to upgrade the facilities at the CIQ as they said the facilities were old and required urgent upgrading.
Separately, Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar granted an audience to the Prime Minister during a courtesy call to the Ruler at Istana Bukit Serene.
According to a post on the Sultan’s official Facebook page, also present during the Prime Minister’s courtesy call were Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim and Raja Muda Johor Tunku Iskandar Abdul Jalil Abu Bakar Ibrahim Ibni Tunku Ismail.
On another matter, Ismail Sabri said Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had agreed to step up their bilateral cooperation by setting up the Saudi-Malaysian Coordinating Council (SMCC).
He said on Facebook that this was among the issues discussed with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan when the latter paid a courtesy call at Perdana Putra in Putrajaya on Wednesday.
He added that efforts to reactivate the initiative to set up the Saudi-Malaysian Business Council soon, the haj quota, education and tourism were among other issues discussed at the meeting, reported Bernama.
Prince Faisal, who was on a two-day official visit to Malaysia beginning June 7, also had an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Istana Negara.
