Member of Parliament for Hougang, Png Eng Huat, shared about the dismay his residents and him felt when the Customs and Immigrations Checkpoint at Tuas opened a special lane during an extremely busy period, just for Minister for Family and Social Development Tan Chuan-Jin and his entourage of grassroots leaders.
As it turns out, Mr Tan was in Johor Bahru (JB), Malaysia, yesterday (17 Jul), as a guest of Malaysia’s Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Tan Sri Mohamed. Datuk Nur Jazlan hosted an open house on July 17 at Kompleks Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat in JB from noon until 5pm, and Mr Tan attended this event.
Datuk @NurJazlan with Minister @chuanjin1 of Singapore at the MoHA/Pulai MP's Hari Raya Open House 2016 pic.twitter.com/G4su9t6vFF
— Zulkifly Malek (@zulmalek) July 17, 2016
It is unclear at what time Mr Png and his residents were trying to cross the checkpoint when a special lane was allegedly opened for Mr Tan. Some netizens however have claimed that the immigration officers decided to do so because Mr Tan went in his official capacity, and so was accompanied by security officers.
The special lane was opened to facilitate the clearance of firearms the Minister’s security officers were carrying, these netizens have suggested.
Mr Png said in his post that most people in the queue probably did not mind that as a Minister Mr Tan had certain privileges which others did not, but felt that it was unfair that besides the Minister an “entourage of grassroots leaders and members with shopping bags in tow also enjoyed the privilege of fast clearance at the custom without needing to join the crowd.”