JOHOR BARU: A special team has been formed involving three Johor executive council members to clean up the city here of vagrants and drug addicts.
They also want to prevent Johor Baru from becoming a “homeless transit city”.
The exco members involved are state health and environment committee chairman Ling Tian Soon, Johor women, family and community development committee chairman Khairin Nisa Ismail and state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor.
Ling said efforts must be made to clean the streets of such menace, especially in the city centre, to improve its image ahead of the Visit Johor Year in 2026.
“If you take a walk in the Johor Baru city centre, you can easily find 20 to 30 homeless people in areas such as Jalan Wong Ah Fook and along Sungai Segget,” he said when interviewed.
Ling said he recently participated in a raid by authorities at the city centre with Khairin Nisa and Mohd Jafni. Accompanying them were agencies under their respective portfolios.
“I received public complaints about the number of homeless people, who were allegedly drug users, lying around in the city centre.
“However, after going to the ground and subjecting them to urine tests, most of them tested negative.
“These homeless individuals have been utilising public facilities like parks for their recreational activities.
“Unfortunately, they also vandalise and urinate in those areas,” he said, adding that checks found that some of them were also under the influence of alcohol.
Ling said because of Johor Baru’s geographical location close to Singapore, some of the individuals chose to be homeless in order to save money.
“These people usually work in Singapore by day, and when they return to Johor Baru, it is already late at night. So they will just spend a few hours sleeping on the streets before doing it all over again the following day.
“From what they told me, since they were only spending a few hours in Johor Baru, they did not see the need to rent a place to stay. That way, they can save money on accommodation.
“However, this creates an image problem for Johor Baru. I will continue discussions with Khairin Nisa and Mohd Jafni to address this issue,” Ling said.
The relevant agencies had also recorded personal information of the homeless people for appropriate actions to be taken, such as sending them to the Anjung Singgah transit shelter, he added.
Ling also said that Johor Baru City Council has been asked to step up their enforcement efforts to improve the cleanliness and security in the city.
He added that continuous efforts would be made to clean the streets of homeless people, which was in line with Mentri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s vision for a clean state and greater Johor Baru.
Meanwhile, Ling said the Johor National Anti-Drugs Agency (Nada) had picked up a total of 377 suspected drug users as of March 6 this year, bringing the daily average to about 5.7 people.
“Raids have been conducted at drug hotspots such as riverside and oil palm estates, as well as door-to-door based on reports.
“After detaining them, they will undergo a urine test and if found positive, the individuals will be remanded by the police and charged in court,” he added.
Ling urged those with information related to drug activities to contact Nada’s hotline at 1-800-22-2235 or 019-626 2233.
