JOHOR BAHRU – Mr Chan Wah Heng decided to step away from his usual spot at the cash register and could be heard calling out to potential patrons to stop for brunch at his bak kut teh and seafood joint on Oct 5. The owner of Wah Heng Bak Kut Teh, located next to the popular shopping mall KSL City in Johor Bahru, had felt something was amiss throughout the week as his restaurant was quieter, with fewer meals served. “It was really weird. The week was so quiet,” Mr Chan, 60, told The Straits Times. He has since realised that the slump in footfall was caused by fewer Singaporeans driving into JB after the new Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) rule kicked in on Oct 1. Many Singaporeans had avoided entering Malaysia via the two land crossings over the last few days, with 20 per cent fewer vehicles entering from Singapore on Oct 1, The Star newspaper quoted a Home Ministry official as saying. The good news is that Malaysia has delayed the strict implementation of the VEP regulation as the authorities rush to ensure that more owners of Singapore-registered vehicles get their permits, issuing errant drivers with only a written warning to do so. “The authorities already said that they won’t issue any fines, so more must be done to tell them (Singaporeans) to not worry too much,” Mr Chan said, adding that 70 per cent of his customers are Singaporean.   Mr Chan Wah Heng, owner of Wah Heng Bak Kut Teh, said there was a drop in footfall at his restaurant throughout the week. ST PHOTO: HARITH MUSTAFFA The VEP, which comes with a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, allows the Malaysian authorities to identify foreign-registered vehicles, enabling them to track traffic offences and outstanding summonses.     Some 20 shopkeepers and mall visitors in JB whom ST spoke to between Oct 3 and 5 said there had been a noticeable drop in footfall over the last few days. Ms Mei Wong, 30, a retail manager selling travel luggage in KSL City mall, said she was also feeling the pinch. She had sold only one set of wheeled suitcases by noon on Oct 5, compared with selling about 30 pieces of luggage daily in the previous week. “At this rate, it’s tough to reach break-even on the rent,” she said. Her company had rented a large space on the ground floor of the mall until November.   Quieter crowds at popular shopping district near KSL City Mall in downtown Johor Bahru. ST PHOTO: HARITH MUSTAFFA SSI Maju Express car wash worker Muhammad Rabin said he is worried that he may not get his usual daily wages at the end of Oct 5. His team of three men had managed to secure only one client in the lot behind KSL City, and the clock was quickly ticking towards noon. “We need to hit about 30 cars a day to get our salary plus commission of about RM60 (S$18.50),” said the 26-year-old. Interviews with business owners and visitors at several shopping districts popular with Singaporeans found that some of the crowd appeared to have returned, but shopkeepers say the vibe on Oct 4 was significantly quieter than in previous pre-weekend evenings. Car wash workers waiting for business amid quieter crowds near KSL City Mall in downtown Johor Bahru. ST PHOTO: HARITH MUSTAFFA Stall operators at Pasar Karat, a night flea market, said they have suffered a 30 to 40 per cent plunge in sales since Oct 1. When asked if he knew about the VEP rules, clothes seller Faizal Abdullah said: “Maybe that’s why it’s been weirdly quiet.” A waiter at Made on Monday, a late-night cafe some 5km from the city centre in Jalan Abdul Samad 1, said that the empty tables on Oct 4 evening was “extremely unusual”. Singaporeans, he said, tend to come in waves from 9pm, and they would queue to get a seat to enjoy coffee and Italian food, and to smoke shisha, flavoured tobacco smoked through a pipe. Stall operators at Pasar Karat, a night flea market, said they have suffered a 30 to 40 per cent plunge in sales since Oct 1. ST PHOTO: HARITH MUSTAFFA On Oct 5 evening, live camera feed of the Causeway and Second Link in Tuas from the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) One Motoring website showed a long line of vehicles queueing up to enter JB. But it still looked to be shorter than the snaking lines often seen on weekends. Checks using the Beat The Jam app showed the average waiting time at the Causeway was around 50 minutes throughout the morning from 7am. The average waiting time was still 50 minutes at around 6pm. Several Singapore shoppers told ST on Oct 5 said they felt that the visitors from the Republic were back in full force. At Jalan Dhoby, a street known for its traditional bakeries, long queues were seen at coffee shops and cafes at around 9am. A 23-year-old Singaporean aviation worker, who wanted to be known only as Ms Chua, said Jalan Dhoby was quite packed and it was hard to book a Grab ride out of the area. Asked about his view on whether the VEP would deter Singaporeans from entering JB, businessman Lee Wan Choy, 66, said: “Things will eventually square out to be the same as before. And this thing will stabilise sooner or later.” When the same question was posed to Mr Hazeem Esman, 27, a social development officer from Singapore, he said: “I think Singaporeans will still come to Johor with or without the VEP. Nothing replaces the many choices of things to do and buy here.” More On This Topic We drove into JB on the first day of Malaysia’s VEP roll-out. Here’s what we experienced S’porean drivers on VEP quest worried over lack of clarity on warning for entering JB without tags Meanwhile, queues at the TCsens VEP collection centre in Danga Bay showed no signs of easing when ST visited the area on Oct 4. Singaporean motorists were coming in with technical issues, including needing to replace their RFID tags and deregister an existing tag. Mr Saifuddin Zahir, an outdoor adventure consultant, said he queued from 9.30am to around 5.30pm to get his tag replaced. He said the tag which he received by post on the first week of September and fixed on the headlight himself could not be read at the immigration booth. “It’s quite disappointing for us because the application and registration process was fairly smooth, but at the last stage, when we finally receive the tag and installed it, the message displayed at the checkpoint counter said it can’t be read. Now, it’s almost back to square one because we need to deregister the current tag and get a new one again.”

Hong Sheng Restaurant, tze char stall in Toa Payoh, to close in Dec Hong Sheng Restaurant, a tze char stall in Toa Payoh, will close on 29 Dec after serving customers for 50 years. Source: Flo Yeow on Google Maps Open since 1968, the family-run eatery is best known for its prawn paste chicken and claypot fish. However, Mdm Lin (surname transliterated from Chinese) — the stall owner —  has decided to shutter the stall at the end of the year as she feels she’s no longer able to cope with the busy business.   Doesn’t want children to take over Speaking to 8world News, Mdm Lin says she doesn’t want her children to take over the business. She reportedly took over the eatery about 40 years ago from her brother-in-law. Because of that, she knows just how gruelling it is. “Running a stall requires long hours and the work is tiring,” she said. Her two children are now working professionals after graduating from university. Mdm Lin revealed that she intends on selling the business, but has yet to firm up the details.   Last month, Toa Payoh lost another mainstay when Giant supermarket closed its doors on 15 September. The market shuttered its doors due to strong competition from two FairPrice supermarkets, according to staff.

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Singaporean executed on 4 Oct convicted of possessing 26.5g of heroin for drug trafficking A 48-year-old Singaporean man has become the latest individual in Singapore to be executed for drug trafficking. In a press release on Friday (4 Oct), the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) said his capital sentence was carried out that same day. Source: Tamara Gore on Unsplash Singaporean found in possession of heroin for trafficking CNB said Mohammad Azwan bin Bohari was found to be in possession of three packets of drugs. Source: Transformative Justice Collective on Facebook The contents were analysed and found to contain at least 26.5g of diamorphine, otherwise known as pure heroin. The drug was intended for trafficking, CNB added, noting, 26.5g of diamorphine is enough to feed the addiction of about 320 abusers for one week.   He had appealed against conviction The Singaporean was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty on 11 Feb 2019, CNB said. He subsequently appealed against his conviction and sentence, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his case on 24 Oct 2019. He petitioned the President for clemency, but this was also unsuccessful. Throughout the proceedings, he was accorded full due process under the law, including being represented by legal counsel throughout, CNB added.   Executed Singaporean was arrested on 17 Oct 2015 & convicted of drug trafficking More information about Azwan’s case was provided by Factually, a Government website that debunks misinformation and disinformation. It said he was arrested on 17 Oct 2015 and underwent trial in the High Court, which convicted him of drug trafficking. After his appeal was dismissed, he was a joint applicant in three legal proceedings along with three other death-row inmates. All these proceedings were dismissed by the court as “they were found to be unmeritorious”. One of the applications was found to be “an abuse of the court process”. His applications to the President for clemency were denied on 23 March 2020 and on 15 June 2022.   He filed two applications to stay execution Azwan also filed two applications to stay his execution, according to Factually. On 12 April this year, he was informed that his execution was scheduled for 19 April. This was allowed by the court on the basis that he was involved in one pending court application, and his execution was stayed. The application was struck out by the High Court on 20 May, with its appeal dismissed on 9 Sept. On 19 Sept, Azwan and other inmates filed a fresh application, but it “had no bearing on Azwan’s conviction and sentence, and did not seek a stay of execution”. He was then informed on 30 Sept that his execution was scheduled for 4 Oct. Azwan filed another stay of execution on 1 Oct, but the court dismissed it on 3 Oct. His execution was duly carried out on 4 Oct. POFMA orders issued to TJC & activist Factually said executions “are only scheduled when a prisoner has exhausted all rights of appeal and the clemency process”. However, some inmates “have repeatedly filed last-minute applications to prevent the punishment from being carried out”, it added, noting:   They are not decided arbitrarily by the Government, Factually said, refuting social media allegations by the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) and activist Kokila Annamalai. The Minister for Home Affairs has thus instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue Correction Directions to TJC and Ms Kokila, requiring them to insert a notice against their original social media posts with a link to the Government’s clarification. A Targeted Correction Direction will also be issued to TikTok, requiring it to communicate a correction notice to all end-users in Singapore that had accessed TJC’s post.