Tuesday, 16 December 2008

JB CIQ...JB CIQ...MINUS THE JAM PLEASE!


Johore Bahru Customs, Immigration and quarantine checkpoint launched (Starpix).

Wednesday December 17, 2008
Crawl at CIQ complex checkpoint on first day


JOHOR BARU: The first day of operations at the new Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex was marred by massive traffic congestion.

The two-hour-long crawl saw traffic into Johor snaking all the way to Woodlands in Singapore during peak hours due to motorists being caught off guard by the cashless toll collection system at the complex.

Many motorists, especially Singaporeans, did not know that they were required to use Touch ’n Go cards at the new complex in Bukit Cagar.


First day blues: THE new Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex in Johor Baru opened to motorists at 12.01am Tuesday. There was congestion shortly after the opening (main picture) as well as during peak hours, as seen in the picture taken at 1.30pm (inset). Most of the congestion was caused by traffic from Singapore entering Malaysia. See Page 6. — KENNETH WONG / The Star

The congestion did not let up even when Plus officials were stationed at the complex entrance to sell RM20 cards on the spot to motorists.

Counters were also set up at the old checkpoint.

Notices were also placed at Woodlands informing motorist about the traffic congestion at the entrance into Malaysia.

Singaporean businessman John Tan, 45, said he only found out about the cards when he entered Johor via the new complex.


Long wait: The first batch of road users using the new Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex after its opening at midnight Tuesday.

“I was excited to use the new complex and expected it to be more efficient than the old Causeway checkpoint,” he said adding he was surprised when he was told he had to use the card for toll payment.

However, Tan said he was impressed with the design of the new complex.

Fellow Singaporean Tommy Ong, 40, said the authorities should have made the public more aware that Touch ‘n Go cards had to be used.

Malaysian chef Chan Pon Soh, 30 said it was “historic” to be among the first batch of road users using the new complex despite technical difficulties.

“Luckily for me, I already have a Touch ‘n Go card which I use on the North-South Expressway,” he said.


At the Causeway, workers are diverting traffic to the new complex.

Malaysian K. Selvaraju, 41, said he was disappointed with the congestion. “I was hoping for a smoother ride but it was not the case.’’

Johor Immigration director Mohd Nasri Ishak said the congestion was due to motorists not having Touch ‘n Go cards and not used to the new road system.

“The jams were mainly during peak hours in the morning and even when people returned from work,” he said.

He said that adequate notices had been put up informing the public about the cashless toll system adding that all 200 counters for in-bound and out-bound were operational on the first day.(The Star, 17 December 2008)

Comments:
A dawn of a new era at the CIQ checkpoint, Johor Bahru. Next request: A bridge please to replace the aged-old causeway. Singapre should heve been more considerate for the sake of the people on both sides of the Selat Tebrau.
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"A.F.Yassin dalam cerpenya "Dendam" berjaya menghidupkan ceritanya dalam bahasa yang berjiwa; sesuai dengan pertentangan-pertentangan yang dialami oleh Salim atau oleh Yanti sendiri. "Plotnya bersifat sorot pergi sebagai satu gaya untuk mengembangkan kisah pada satu detik tetapi menghimbau kisah itu kepada kisah lampau dan juga kisah akan datang. Latarnya di Indonesia. Cerpen ini hidup kerana tidak dibiar berkisar di luar persoalan. Olahan cerpen bepusar keseluruhannya pada watak Yanti..." (Dato' Shahnon Ahmad, Mingguan Malaysia, 14 November 1976.)



" The former editor of a publishing house, A.F.Yassin, recently put out Sembang Sastera: Bersama Orang Persuratan (Fajar Bakti, 1998,310 pages), in which he talks to 64 Malay writers and literary activists of varying stature, who muse on their lives and what they have been up to. Chatty. Frank, nostalgic, irreverent, these conversations are light, in response to A.F.Yassin’s equally casual probing. His target is largely a small and shrinking group of people aged around 60 and above, loyal supporters of the Jawi-scripted Utusan Zaman, in which most of these Sembang-Sembang first appeared.



"Now that these Sembang-Sembang have been romanised, and packed in a handsome hardcover book, more readers , especially literary researchers, local and foreign, can be expected to benefit from them. Of course, the information ranges from the revealing to the trivial, but the book is pertinent as it provides insight on what went on in the world of Malay letters.



"…Sembang Satera is invaluable, especially to students of contemporary Malay literature, because it provides a cauldron of tidbits, with which to spice up the perennially long-overdue assignment.” - (Zakaria Ali, "Notes on Local Literature, fortnightly with Zakaria Ali, New Straits Times, 27 January, 1999."



"Yassin merupakan penulis yang berilmu dalam dua bidang dan seterusnya melibatkan diri dalam tiga dimensi. Bidang-bidang keilmuan dan keahliannya ialah komunikasi dan sastera, sementara kegiatannya dalam bidang penulisan kreatif dan deskriptif dan serentak dengan itu, turut kreatif dalam penghasilan dan penerbitan buku sesuai dengan profesion terkininya." (Asri Affandi, Mingguan Malaysia, 27 Disember 1987.)



"A.F.Yassin dalam bukunya Etika dan Wartawan berpendapat, pemberitaan akhbar di negara ini boleh dikatakan hanya berpandu kepada etika sejagat dan norma serta kebiasaan hidup masyarakat majmuk. Ketiadaan kod etika kewartawanan juga seperti yang ditekan oleh A. Samad Said telah menjadikan akhbar mengamalkan dasar swaying with the wind, bukan merupakan agent of change, serta cenderung menyuarakan dasar dan strategi pihak penerbit suratkabar itu sendiri." (Harakah, 31 Mei 1993.)

Tidak tahu kenapa dia meninggalkan lapangan guru dalam tahun 1962 kemudian sanggup pula menjadi seorang Juruteknik di sebuah kilang tekstil di Johor Bahru. Apakah dia memikirkan kurangnya anak Bumiputra berminat dalam lapangan teknikal atau kerana mula nampak bintangnya lebih mengerdip jika dia meninggalkan lapangan guru?

Yang ternyata sewaktu berada di Textile Corporation of Malaya Berhad Johor Bahru, dia telah dapat mengikuti latihan teknikal di Nagoya, Jepun selama enam bulan dalam tahun 1969. Di Jepun dia baru dapat melihat perbezaan zikap dan tingkah laku manusia pekerja Jepun dengan bangsanya sendiri. Setelah menimba pengalaman di Jepun, tercetus pula keinginannya untuk menulis rencana bersirinya di Utusan Malaysia, Utusan Zaman dan Mingguan Malaysia. Semuanya menceritakan pengalamannya di Jepun.

Kemampuan menulis telah meransangnya menapak ke bidang kerja yang lain. Dia menjadi Penyunting Berita Harian dalam tahun 1971. Semasa di New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd., dia banyak pula menghasilkan cerpen. Dia terus melanjutkan penulisan fiksyen apabila dilantik menjadi Penolong Editor dan kemudiannya meningkat sebagai Editor majalah Dewan Masyarakat.

Melihat kemampuannya menulis artikel dan cerpen di tengah-tengah kesibukannya sebagi seorang Editor, jelaslah kepada kita bahawa seorang editor yang sibuk tidak semestinya tidak boleh menulis. Pokoknya dia tidak mengenal erti kelelahan dan kesibukan bila dia diransang untuk menulis. ("Karyawan Bulan Ini", Dewan Sastera, Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, Kuala Lumpur, Mac 1983).