Ordeal crossing Causeway

Recently, my family and I drove to Singapore to attend a rela­tive’s renewal of marriage vows in Bedok, on the east of the island republic.

As traffic is usually unpredictable during the weekends, I began the journey at about 8.30am for the 1.30pm event.

There was a jam on the Johor Causeway and into Woodlands but I managed to clear both the checkpoints within 1.5 hours.

However, my nightmare started after I cleared immigration on the Singapore side when they directed me to the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) office.

Once there, I was informed that unlike before (the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020), all new VEP applications or renewals needed be submitted online.

I was also told that the application for VEP renewal needed to be done annually each time a dri­ver’s Malaysian road tax and insurance was renewed.

To my horror, online submissions of the VEP renewal application which was approved for free, would take at least three working days.

Prior to the pandemic era, it was approved on the spot.

I have been working in Johor more than 15 years.

Whenever my car insurance and road tax was renewed, I would just drive to the VEP office at the checkpoint, show my car details and insurance to an officer, who would then inspect the vehicle before giving the necessary approvals for me to proceed into Singapore.

This time, I expected to do the same since I had a valid VEP card, although my road tax and insurance had recently been renewed.

However, six of us, including three children, were denied entry into Singapore, despite my coming prepared with my vehicle insurance documents, car title and digital road tax.

I was not even allowed to drop the others off.

The officer politely told me that we could return to Johor and make the trip back by bus or taxi.

I was not the only one who faced that issue as several motorcyclists were also turned back.

Two checkpoint officers on bicycles, one in the front and another in the back, used a short cut to stop all incoming traffic before leading us back to the route to Johor Baru.

They even put a beacon on my car as we were escorted back.

The officers, who were courteous, only returned our passports once they were sure we were heading back to Johor.

A motorist holding a Singapore Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) in front of a VEP-processing office in Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star

By then, the jam heading into Johor was building up and I had to endure another hour in my rush to the Larkin bus station to re-enter Singapore.

There, I managed to get two taxis and paid RM30 for each passenger to travel to the Ban San Street taxi stand in Singapore.

From there, we hired an e-hailing car and reached the event venue at about 2pm.

After the event, we took a taxi back to Ban San Street and forked out S$60 (RM198) to book a vehicle. We reached Larkin about 6.30pm.

All in all, we spent almost 10 hours travelling to and from Singapore.

Subsequent checks at the VEP office in Jalan Susur in Johor Baru showed that each new application for VEP cost S$52 (RM171.60), with the condition of compulsory online submission each year when the car road tax and insurance are renewed.

Each VEP card comes with a seven-year validity period and annual renewals are free.

This ordeal has reminded me that it is always important to be up to date on procedures whenever going out of the country, as the pandemic has changed the way governments around the world operate.

Lately, there have been grumbles about land transportation across the two land borders.

The tit-for-tat operations by both Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) and Malaysia’s Road Transport Department (JPJ) to stamp out the lucrative illegal ride-hailing services within the republic and across the border with Malaysia has sparked mixed reactions from certain quarters.

The Johor government is pushing for liberalisation of public transport, including having more drop-off points for Malaysian taxis in Singapore or allowing e-hailing between both countries.

However, for all this to succeed, it is paramount for officials from the transport ministries of both countries along with agencies such as Singapore’s LTA and Malaysia’s JPJ to come up with solutions to improve connectivity and reduce red tape.

If there can be instant approval of VEP renewals, I am sure there will be easier movement of goods and people between both countries.