Monday Blues: Pasar Malam in Taman Abad

DRIVING on the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri was a breeze. It reminded me of the Lunar New Year when most of the shops were closed and people returned to their hometowns to celebrate with their family members.

It is the same with the Hari Raya celebrations, and I think it made the occasion even more meaningful after the aviation tragedy that struck the country in March and July.
The tragedies have nudged us to cherish every moment with the people in our lives, as we will never know what tomorrow brings.

Anyway, I was happily driving around the city, enjoying the light traffic when I ended up in Century Garden where the KSL City Mall and KSL Hotel and Resort is located.

I seldom drive to this area, so I was shocked when confronted with the "noise pollution" here.

The horns were blaring, and there was a traffic congestion on the roads around the KSL building. The car park of the shopping mall was also jam-packed.

The security guards, many of them foreigners, seemed to be at a loss as to what to do.
Welcome to the city, I thought. The situation was really chaotic.

It was a harrowing experience going up the steep and narrow multi-storey car park of the shopping mall, not knowing whether to turn right or left as motorists were all over the place without any security personnel to direct the traffic.

After I managed to find a parking space, I went to talk to some residents to see if this traffic jam was because it was a public holiday, being the first day of Hari Raya, or was it a regular occurrence?

A resident, living in Jalan Seladang, told me that she could only reach home before 5pm or after 10.30pm or 11pm on Mondays because of the night market right outside her house.

 "I can't bring my car into the house on Mondays now. I'm used to it and can't do much about it as the traders are also trying to make a living.

"If you don't allow people to make a living, then there will only be more snatch thefts and petty crimes, so my main complaint is not them (the traders) blocking the entrance to my house," she said.

However, the resident told me that she was irked that some traders are selling raw chicken and fish.

"The stench from the blood of the fresh meat is overpowering the next morning. I have no complaints against traders who sell clothes or pots and pans but raw poultry and fish is a strict no-no," she continued.

Besides this complaint, I heard another one about the road congestion and attitude of some road users.

This one is from a frequent shopper who applauded the shopping mall for bringing in Singaporeans by free shuttle bus to the mall.

When the shopping mall began operations, the tenants complained of slow business due to lack of promotion.

However, since the shuttle bus service was introduced, the place is now filled with shoppers from across the causeway.

However, this has aggravated the jam, not to mention the presence of the pasar malam traders hogging the road.

She was also upset that there were people who would flag the taxis down in the middle of the road and instead of just getting into the cab, they would either be bargaining or discussing the routes with the cabbie, and that, too, was another contributor to the road congestion.

All Seems To Be Rosy in Johor

"My bet is that there are many more Singaporean registered cars plying the Causeway than those of Malaysia.

I believe it will still be so even if the costs of driving across the Causeway increase by 10 times.

In short, if there is going to be a tit-for-tat over the cost of traveling across the Causeway, the Singaporeans are the ones who are going to be worse off.

I believe the Malaysian government had taken this into account before deciding on imposing the VEP and additional toll charges at the Causeway."

Why not just go and read what Annie has to say. Please go to

http://lifeofaannie.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-fight-singapore-cannot-win.html

The roads surrounding KSL City Mall and KSL Hotel and Resort in Taman Century, Johot Bahru was jam-packed with vehicles on the first day of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri. 

In chaos. There was traffic congestion and noise pollution as motorists were blaring their horns.

Anyway, a taxi driver I spoke to yesterday supported Annie's sentiment on the recent announcement concerning the recently revised toll and levy charges that those using the Causeway will feel, come Aug 1.

The taxi driver is a Malay man who had worked in Singapore from the 1980s to 2010. He now drives a taxi for a living. He said he was all stressed up when he was working in Singapore.

Although he was making SGD3,000 a month, he decide to quit when the Singapore firm stated taking in inexperienced degree holders to fill the positions.

"When the inexperienced employees make mistakes, the seniors were blamed for their mistakes.

"It also became harder to work there when the company started employing foreign workers from China and India. These Chinese and Indian nationals don't get along with one another, and when they quarrel, we have to be thei mediators."

He says the Causeway is also heavily congested because there are more Singaporeans staying in Johor Bahru now.  The families stay in JB while the breadwinner travels to Singapore or stay there, and returns home only during weekends to be with the family.

The taxi driver says he has lots of Singaporean passengers taking his cab and they'd say something like when they step into JB, all their stress evaporates. When they see the Customs Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) Complex at JB Sentral, their headache will come back.

Yes the Singaporeans will continue to come to JB no matter what.

My opinion

1. JB can relieve stress

2. Singaporeans can shop and eat to their hearts' content before going back to the grind.

3. JB is a shopping haven across the Causeway as more branded outlets open in the City Square, Komtar JBCC Mall and Plaza Galleria@Kotaraya.

4. Singaporeans can live in landed properties with their pets. If you're not a pet lover, you will never understand this.

5. Those who don't like pets and too much housework can always opt for a posh condo, which is sprouting everywhere in JB.

I wonder what's the new game plan for Malaysians working in Singapore? Will more be switching to motorcycles or are they going to take the bus to work? Will they give up the "high" pay and look for a job in Johor? Will they move to Singapore and continue to work in the republic?

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. What will this new challenge and change bring?

As for Singapore-Johor ties, all is well and good. See this http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-ministers/1286078.html

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

The Ketupat is a symbol of Hari Raya like the Kolam  and the Kumquat are associated with Deepavali and the Lunar New Year respectively.

This is the burasak, a favourite among the Bugis community.

July 28 marks the first day of the month of Syawal 1435H (Hari Raya) or Eid al-Fitr also known as Feast of Breaking the Fast. 

Feast, Celebrate and Rejoice.

The Dog Pound

Does anyone know I'm in a dog pound? Does anyone know where to look for me? 

When a pet ends up in a dog pound, its fate is almost always certainly death.

I've been told the dog catcher gets paid RM50 for each dog, and an additional RM15 to kill the dog if no one comes to claim it after 2 weeks.

For the owner to secure the release of his pet, he has to pay a fine of RM500 for failing to get a dog licence.

And at the pound, the fiercer dogs will not allow the smaller or weaker ones to have their share of the meal, which sometimes lead to death by starvation. It's pretty much a "dog eat dog world" at the dog pound.

After the two-week grace period, the dogs will be killed by lethal injection supposedly by someone with medical knowledge on the dosage. But I've been told the dogs are allegedly fed chicken neck bones laced with rat poison.  The dog will have to endure internal bleeding for a day or two before succumbing to the poison.

In the remaining days of their lives, can't these dogs be treated with more compassion and kindness?

On an unrelated incident, I heard that someone recently climbed over the fence to get into a neighbour's compound.  This man is a Muslim.  No, he didn't climb over his neighbour's fence to create mischief. He did it to feed his neighbour's dog which had been left unfed for days while its owner is away, probably on a holiday.

There are numerous and various forms of cruelty.

Cruelty rears its ugly head in dog pounds; in badly run shelters, in pet shops --- when the dog is not sold and kept in the same cage it was put in when it was months younger and in homes with clueless, careless owners.

Choose not to be cruel.  Choose kindness and humanity.

New Toll Fee System at CIQ

sourced from iskandardevelopment.wordpress.com

Johor new CIQ toll fee charge

Posted on July 26, 2014 by alvinma08

Johor Bahru: Johor state government engineering department announced that effective 1 August 2014, it will adjust the vehicle entry fee using Johor new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine CIQ from one way charge to two ways charges.

Current one way charge is RM2.90 from Singapore entry to Johor. With the new charges, car from Singapore entry to Johor Bahru will raised to RM9.70, and charge RM6.80 from Johor to Singapore.

Statement from the Johor state engineering department, car, lorry, taxi and bus will be affected by the new toll fee system, however motorcycle are excluded.

Based on the statement, new toll fee system only affects the drivers who are drive thru Johor new Customs, Immigration and Quarantine CIQ, which is Sultan Iskandar Building BSI. The new toll fee station will be setup inside the new CIQ, while drivers who are using Eastern Dispersal Link EDL to and from Johor Bahru, North South Expressway, Permas Jaya and Pasir Gudang will not be affected.

The statement also revealed that the new toll fee station will only accept electronic charge, which mean drivers need to buy the electronic cash card “Touch’ N Go”.

The new toll fee system with effective 1 August 2014 in the new CIQ is actually the charges from EDL Expressway Company Malaysian Resources Corp Berhad MRCB. EDL is 8.1km highway linking from Pandan to Customs, Immigration and Quarantine CIQ at the Causeway. The EDL charge has been a hot topic when EDL open to public on 2012.

The EDL new toll charges will become a heavy burden for Malaysian who travel daily in and out to Singapore to work. It is especially Singapore new vehicle entry permit charges which rose from S$20 to S$35 with effective 1 August, 2014.

With Singapore new vehicle entry permit charge, Malaysia government is in the process of review to impose vehicle entry permit VEP towards Singapore registered car. It is still unknown about the charges and implementation time, however it is expected the VEP to be imposed very soon and expected to be capped at RM50 (S$19.50).

VEP Come 1st Of August

Updated. 

This is not the VEP but are new toll charges for all vehicles using the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) via the Customs Immigration & Quarantine Complex (Bangunan Sultan Iskandar) which will be implemented Aug 1.

The new ruling will make it more costly to use the Causeway compared to the Second Link Expressway.

Apologies for the confusion. Another blur moment .....

Original post

While I was feeling warm and fuzzy unwrapping this lovely gift from a friend just now, another friend who works in a property development company in Johor Bahru was getting worried.

She said Singaporeans or those with Permanent Resident status staying  in Johor who work in Singapore will need to pay around RM100 come Aug 1 when Malaysia implements the Vehicle Entry Permit fee on Singapore-registered cars entering Johor.

Singapore Vehicle Entry Permit. S$35 (RM91)

Singapore Toll $1.20  (RM3.12) 

based on SGD1 = RM2.60

Inbound and outbound total RM16.50 

Total RM110.62

The above is for those who drive a car. Buses, taxis and 6-wheelers will have different rates.

Some, like my friend who is in the property development sector, are worried about the VEP while others, like the tourism industry, for instance, doesn't share this sentiment. Some traders along Jalan Segget in Johor Bahru that I recently talked to also gave polarizing views on the VEP and how it will affect their business.