Voicing concern for the thousands of Johoreans and Singaporeans stuck in traffic jams at Johor Causeway, the Sultan of Johor mulled if it should be replaced by a bridge.

Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar hoped Johoreans and Singaporeans could give their input on how to inprove the traffic flow.

“I feel sorry for the thousands of Malaysians and Singaporeans stuck in traffic jams at the Causeway daily due to the congestion. It is worse during holidays and festive seasons.

“Many people are walking to Singapore daily due to the bad traffic jams,” he said as quoted by The Star today.

The vocal ruler proposed a tunnel or a swing bridge to replace the Causeway. However he added it would be meaningless if jams still occured after the new connectivity was in place.

“The water at the Causeway has stagnated for so many years. Both countries should put aside their differences and come up with solutions to improve mobility,” he said.

The Sultan added this problem should have been addressed years ago.

Business groups in Malaysia had also called for the government to build a third link to Singapore.

It was reported in Dec 2015 that the traffic in Johor Baru had come to a standstill when 120,000 vehicles - triple the usual traffic - headed toward Singapore.

Meanwhile, the sultan also wanted an extension of the rapid transit system (RTS) from Singapore to Johor Baru to improve connectivity.

He told Malaysian immigration department to keep open all its booths as the people had complained some were closed during peak hours and holidays.

He also called for more international schools to be open in Johor so Malaysian students no longer needed to travel to Singapore for a better education.

“These days, a father speaks better English than his child. This is worrying and alarming,” he said, adding that it was the other way around in many developed countries.

Sultan Ibrahim has expressed concern about poor English proficiency in Malaysia and is an advocate for English to be made the second official state language.