As all of us poor Singaporeans should know, Johor Bahru is one of our favourite places to go for a short getaway.
Why?
It’s cheap, it’s near, it has good food. It’s basically a better version of Singapore.
Also, it can fool ourselves into thinking that we’re going overseas when we just sort of went over a bridge.
However, a huge problem with going to JB though is the infamous queue at the customs.
Try going in at peak timings (like Friday evening or Saturday morning), and you can easily queue up to 2-3 hours, and that’s not counting the traffic jam if you’re going by car.
So you might think: “To really avoid the crowd… arbo I go in on a weekday. Like this Wednesday. But not enough. I go in like somewhere around 10pm to 12am. Confirm nobody. Muahaha I’m so smart.”
And then you stroll into the Woodlands Checkpoint so proudly tomorrow, cross the bridge… to find yourself facing a closed-off immigration building.
And then you’re stuck in a 2-hour jam yet again.
And then you wish you had the Goody Feed app to read up and warn yourself beforehand.
Johor Immigration Closed For Emergency Drill
The Bangunan Sultan Iskandar (BSI) Customs Immigration and Quarantine Complex and JB Sentral Bus Terminal (Singaporean Translation: customs) will be closed off tomorrow (18 December).
Latihan Pengungsian Bangunan Sultan Iskandar & JB Sentral Johor Bahru pada hari Rabu 18 Disember 2019 diantara jam 10.00 malam sehingga 12.00 tengah malam. Harap maklum.
Posted by Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia Negeri Johor on Sunday, 15 December 2019
They’ll be conducting a 2-hour emergency exercise to better train the authorities to handle annoying Singaporeans security threats such as terrorist and biochemical attacks.
So if you’re serious about entering JB at that hour, you should think about going through the Tuas Checkpoint instead. It’ll still be faster despite it being located outside of modern civilisation.
Otherwise, you’d end up with another serious jam despite going in at the off-est peak you could ever off.
