JOHOR BAHRU: Under a pilot initiative launching in June, Malaysians travelling to Singapore on factory buses will be able to clear immigration through QR codes at both of Johor’s land checkpoints.
The scheme, spearheaded by Malaysia’s Ministry of Home Affairs, follows the successful response to the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA)’s move to roll out a QR code initiative on Mar 19 for those travelling by car on its side of the land border.
Singapore’s rollout has garnered positive feedback from commuters and this has led to increased calls from Johorean travellers and businesses for the Malaysia government to launch a similar initiative.
When contacted on Tuesday night (Apr 23), Johor’s Works, Transportation and Infrastructure committee chairman Mohamad Fazli Mohamad Salleh told CNA that the pilot will apply to Malaysian citizens who travel to Singapore onboard “bas kilangs” or factory buses. He stressed that travellers with Singapore passports are not yet included in this pilot initiative.
Mr Fazli said these travellers will be able to use QR code clearance at both Bangunan Sultan Iskandar and Kompleks Sultan Abu Bakar, the immigration complexes linked to the Johor-Singapore Causeway and Tuas Second Link respectively.
“The pilot test initiative involves only Malaysians who pass through on board bas kilangs,” said Mr Fazli.
“These travellers are still required to bring their passports because at this point the QR code systems for both Malaysia and Singapore function differently and are not yet integrated,” he added.
