‘Balik KL’ Traffic Causes Concern Online
Traffic on the E8 began increasing on Saturday.
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Malaysians are expressing concern over viral images showing mass amounts of traffic heading into the Klang Valley following the Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
CCTV images allegedly taken near the Gombak toll plaza on the Kuala Lumpur–Karak Expressway (E8) captured a trail of vehicles caught in a traffic jam heading into the city on Sunday (16 May) evening till past midnight.
Aku kepilkan sekali gambar ni.
— Roro ® (@SyahirNaser) May 16, 2021
Sumber : Facebook pic.twitter.com/LAZ9R8eUEt
Menghala ke KL.. balik dari mana tuuu?
— SHAHKLANG | 🇲🇾🇵🇸 (@theShahklang) May 16, 2021
seronok ke beraya kt kampung?
besok kerja ke??
korang boleh tengok sendiri entah dari mana manusia2 ni. https://t.co/UnwZpLcP0R pic.twitter.com/tgFXLaoT61
The Malaysian Highway Authority’s (LLM) live traffic reports showed slow and subsequent heavy traffic picking up on the E8 on Saturday and Sunday – near Genting Sempah and the Gombak toll heading towards KL.
Footage from live traffic cameras taken on Monday morning also shows some traffic build-up near the Gombak toll.
Prior to the Hari Raya holidays, LLM reported heavy traffic heading out of Klang Valley towards the east coast of the peninsula.
1.35pm KLK@E8 : Trafik masih sesak 500m sebelum keluar Plaza Tol Bentong arah ke Kuantan/Timur. pic.twitter.com/l7XEAnQxCf
— LLM Trafik 🇲🇾 (@LLMinfotrafik) May 8, 2021
Traffic in KL also reportedly dropped by as much as 50% during the holidays.
Read More: Massive Traffic Jams Reported Across The Country As Malaysia Endures MCO 3.0
Discussions on social media reveal that the public is generally angry, scared and disappointed over the number of vehicles seen entering KL despite the enforcement of the nationwide MCO and a strict ‘no balik kampung’ rule made by the government.
Some concluded that the heavy traffic was caused by the ‘balik KL’ crowd who are returning to the city after Hari Raya – allegedly breaking state and district travel restrictions in the process.
Malaysia is honestly one big ironic joke. keep barking “kerajaan gagal” here and there but not playing their part at literally just staying the fuck home. instead of having teamwork from both government and people, you’re just expecting the government to do everything.
— */ (@lstzs) May 16, 2021
If you’re one of the many going back to KL/Selangor after celebrating eid in other states, you don’t have the right to complain about lockdown, online classes and PKP restriction.
— (•_•) (@alynadila) May 16, 2021
Assholes
Authorities, however, established that many of the travellers caught during the weekend traffic had official travel permits.
Overall, only 22 compounds valued at RM5,000 each were issued to travellers entering KL without paperwork during roadblocks set up at the Gombak toll.
Gombak Police Chief Arifai Tarawe explained that the viral traffic jam was only 3km long and wasn’t as bad compared to normal festive season traffic there – that would stretch up to 30km even without roadblocks.
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