KUALA LUMPUR, May 22 — Malaysians abroad who are planning to return home will no longer need to travel to Malaysian embassies in the country they are at and instead fill up forms online provided by the Foreign Ministry.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said after many Malaysians abroad had complained that it was too far for them to travel to embassies in their respective countries, the government is introducing an alternative to ensure applications can be done online. 

"They can fill in forms online to apply to return home. They can also fill in the ‘akujanji’ to agree to pay the hotel fees for the 14-day quarantine. So they don’t have to worry about traveling to the embassies themselves,” he said, during his daily press conference today.

On Wednesday, it was announced that beginning June 1, Malaysians returning home from overseas will have to bear 50 per cent cost of hotel accommodation during their mandatory Covid-19 quarantine.

However, Ismail said the government is not encouraging students abroad who have yet to complete their studies to return.

"Continue to stay there if there is no emergency and everything is safe. Stay put in that country because you will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine if you return home anyway,” he said.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri said that 913 more Malaysians returned home yesterday and are now undergoing quarantine, bringing the total to 17,174.

A total of 39,481 Malaysians have returned home since April 3 and 30,976 have completed their mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Yesterday, another 894 students living in local universities were also sent home via two flights from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching and two flights from Kuching to Kota Kinabalu.

Another 1,722 students are scheduled to be sent home to Kota Kinabalu on May 28.