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Detours, high ticket prices, traffic fears: Malaysians going the extra mile to head home to vote

SINGAPORE — With bus tickets being snapped up fast and prices for plane tickets skyrocketing due to overwhelming demand, Malaysians based in Singapore are going the extra mile to be home in time to cast their votes in one of the country’s most hotly-contested elections.

With bus tickets being snapped up fast and prices for plane tickets skyrocketing due to overwhelming demand, Malaysians based in Singapore are going the extra mile to be home in time to cast their votes in one of the country’s most hotly-contested elections.

With bus tickets being snapped up fast and prices for plane tickets skyrocketing due to overwhelming demand, Malaysians based in Singapore are going the extra mile to be home in time to cast their votes in one of the country’s most hotly-contested elections.

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SINGAPORE — Right after a Bruno Mars concert on Monday (May 7), Ms Wendy Ng hopped on a late-night train from Woodlands to Johor Bahru.

There, the 32-year-old Penangite, who has worked in Singapore for more than two years, spent the night at a friend’s place, before taking a morning domestic flight to her hometown. She arrived just before 9.30am on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s General Elections.

The trip took more than a day for the pharmaceutical technician, when normally it takes just an hour’s flight. It also cost more, with her spending about S$270 for a round trip this time, as compared to less than S$200 normally.

With bus tickets being snapped up fast and prices for plane tickets skyrocketing due to overwhelming demand, Malaysians based in Singapore are going the extra mile to be home in time to cast their votes in one of the country’s most hotly-contested elections.

Malaysians will go to the polls on Wednesday — the first time since 1999 that elections are held on a weekday.

According to Malaysia’s Election Commission (EC), Malaysian voters staying in Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and Kalimantan in Indonesia are not eligible to vote by post and are required to return to the country on May 9 to cast their vote.

As early as mid-April, when the polling date was announced, many Singapore-based Malaysians scrambled to make alternative arrangements to their usual homebound plans.

A Malaysian researcher, who only gave his name as Mr Tan, said he was prepared to walk across the length of the Causeway should the outbound traffic into Malaysia be congested. He had intended to take a train back home in Johor Bahru, but tickets were sold out as early as three weeks ago.

Fortunately for the 28-year-old, who left Singapore on Tuesday afternoon, he did not have to make the 45-minute trek as the roads were generally clear. He took a bus across the Causeway.

For 39-year-old Lee Kok Jien, the high costs of flying into his hometown in Perak — it would cost nearly S$500 from Singapore — meant he had to fly into Penang, before making a 1.5-hour road trip back home.

Ms Sufina Aziz, 29, took Monday and Tuesday off, and boarded a coach back home to Selangor. The sales manager said she was “fortunate enough to have an employer who allowed me to take an extra few days off” to head home.

Mr Ng Boon Ming, 31, had to rush from his office in Tanjong Pagar after work to catch his 7.30pm flight back to his hometown in Kuala Lumpur.

His constituency in Ampang - a historical district in the capital - is seeing a four-cornered fight for the Parliamentary seat and a five-cornered fight in the state legislative assembly.

The market manager at an online travel company, who has been living in Singapore for more than a decade ever since he was an undergraduate at the Nanyang Technological University, said he wanted to exercise his voting rights and duty “to keep the political balance”.

He had bought his tickets from budget carrier Jetstar the moment the election date was announced “when the price was still affordable”.

“I literally saw the rate skyrocketed after I had booked (my tickets),” he said.

Mr Ng added that Wednesday’s election, which falls in the middle of the work week, had prevented him from volunteering as a polling agent.

“I had previously volunteered in the previous general election, so I am trained (to be a polling agent). But I’m still glad to be able to make it back home to vote,” he said.

Still, Mr Ng added that he has “got everything planned for the big day”.

“After casting my vote, I’ll be having lunch with my family before they send me off to the airport (to return to Singapore),” he said. 

Others, like Ms Chang Lin Pei, were not as fortunate. The logistics manager would be making a day trip to Penang to vote, as she was unable to take extra days of leave. For that, she shelled out more than S$500 for flight tickets, more than four times what she would normally pay.

A check on regional budget airline operator Air Asia — which flies about 10 times a day between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur — showed tickets for early morning flights to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to be priced more than S$200. In contrast, a similar flight a week later costs a mere S$36.

It is a similar case for Singapore’s airline Scoot, which has two flights to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. A 9.55am flight would cost nearly S$100, compared to S$39 a week later.

The Express and Excursion Bus Association (EEBA) in Singapore, whose 16-member long-distance coach companies ply routes across the Causeway, said it is adding between 60 and 80 trips to major Malaysian cities like Malacca, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian general elections.

EEBA treasurer Elson Yap told TODAY there was “high demand” for tickets during the polling day period (Tuesday night to Wednesday). Ticket prices are also costlier during this period — an increase of between S$5 and S10.

Separately, Global Holidays manager Nancy Lim said all 17 coach services to Malaysia for Tuesday are fully booked — even with an extra trip added to the schedule. Ms Lim previously told TODAY that the company would not be increasing prices for trips across the Causeway.

Still, despite the mid-week polling day, and the long and costly travel plans, Malaysians in Singapore TODAY spoke to were largely unfazed. Said Ms Ng: “It was challenging, definitely, but at least I made it home (in time to vote).”

Mr Lee concurred. “We can't lose any vote. No matter how tough it is, (we should) return home to vote,” he said.

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