LETTER | Over the past decades, I often came across large crowds and long queues at government agencies until the powers-that-be resolved to put a stop to them.

A good example was long queues at the immigration counters greeting arriving passengers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

Although designed with many counters, a long queue would result when only a few counters are opened. The usual excuse was the unexpected convergence of many arriving flights.

Surely the long queues were recorded by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and more manpower should have been immediately deployed to open additional counters? Or were the authorities indifferent to anxious passengers waiting to clear immigration?

Johor Works, Infrastructure and Transport Committee chairperson Mazlan Bujang has received feedback that some officers often turned up late for work at the Immigration and Quarantine Complex (CIQ) in Johor Baru.

As a result, some counters at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar CIQ did not open on time and there were also complaints that some officers were surfing the Web on their handphones during working hours.

To counter this, they are plans to install CCTV cameras at all immigration booths at the CIQ. Surely this should have been done from the beginning.

The Customs Department is also facing problems as it does not have adequate scanning machines, which often break down, exasperating the bottleneck situation even further.

Although RM90mil had been set aside for the CIQ’s maintenance, more manpower, gantries, speed breakers and CCTVs are needed, this also for the CIQ at the Second Link.

But nothing much will change as long as poor work culture remains, including sabotage to create chaos which provides an opportunity for exploitation.
Nothing short of political will is needed for a complete overhaul of the entire processes and procedures at both CIQs coupled with a mindset change.
The successful outcome should see at least a 10 percent rise in foreign tourists from Singapore, an increase in productivity for affected parties and a priceless boost to the quality of life for millions of people passing through CIQs annually.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.