SINGAPORE, Nov 10 — Singaporeans and Malaysians on both sides of the border, many of whom haven’t seen family members for almost two years, said they cannot wait to see their loved ones again, after a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) was announced on Monday, allowing air travel between the two countries.
For some, who have lost loved ones since the Malaysian-Singapore border was closed in March last year, the announcement did not come in time, while others have given birth to children who have yet to meet their grandparents.
However, some Malaysians who used to commute between Johor Baru and Singapore for work before the pandemic but who now live here, hope that the land border can also be progressively opened, as it would make it easier and less costly for them to see their families.
In a joint statement, Singapore and Malaysia on Monday said the two countries will launch a VTL between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from November 29.
This means that vaccinated travellers from each country travelling by air will be allowed to cross the border without the need for quarantine, but will be subject to Covid-19 tests.
Malaysians in Singapore bemoan costly VTL, hope for land border to reopen
Malaysians in Singapore who spoke to TODAY said that they hope that there will be a progressive reopening of the land border, so that they have a less costly alternative to see their loved ones.
For Malaysian Lim Kok Leong, the announcement of the VTL came too late, as he had already crossed to Johor Baru from Woodlands Checkpoint over the past weekend to finally see his wife and five-year-old daughter after more than 600 days in Singapore.
The 43-year-old biomedical engineer has to spend seven days in a quarantine facility there before he can see his family again.
Despite making his move only a matter of days before the VTL announcement, Lim said he would likely not have used the travel lane anyway.
He said that the VTL serves to help only “a minority” of people who can afford to take a VTL flight and pay for the cost of the Covid-19 tests.
While full details have yet to be provided, the total cost of testing during the VTL process could amount to hundreds of dollars. For instance, an on-arrival PCR test in Singapore is S$160 (RM492).
Lim added that the flights can ferry only several hundred people a day. In comparison, more than 415,000 people entered and exited Singapore from Johor via the Causeway and Tuas Second Link daily before the pandemic.
“If the VTL is to control the number of people entering by using flights, the same can be achieved by limiting the numbers crossing (the lander border),” he said.
He suggested a process where vaccinated people are allowed to cross the land border on an appointment basis, so as to avoid overcrowding.
As of Wednesday, Lim has already served four days of his quarantine and is three days away from seeing his family. However, he has yet to process his feelings.
“In the first year (of the pandemic), I missed them a lot, but now the pain is no longer there and I just feel numb,” he said.
Agreeing with Lim, Nafisah Alahu, a Malaysian still stuck in Singapore, said that she is not yet comfortable with the idea of spending several hundred dollars for the flight tickets and Covid-19 tests.
She said this despite missing her family in Malaysia, including her two children, aged five and eight, whom she has not seen since March last year. Her mother is taking care of them while she and her husband work in Singapore.
This is because the 30-year-old, who works in a hair salon here and earns about S$2,000 a month, still needs to send a portion of her income back to her family in Malaysia.
“(My family) encouraged me to come back, but when I saw our financial situation, I had to really think about it again,” she said.
She added that it does not make sense to travel to Kuala Lumpur just to take a bus down to Johor, when the state can be seen from across the Strait of Johor.
“It’s a bit troublesome, it’s like U-turn back,” she said.
On top of that, she had lost hope over the past year that the border would reopen soon, and so had used most of her leave days. She has only four leave days remaining this year, which she said is not enough for a meaningful visit.
Like Lim, she too hopes that the land border will progressively reopen, so she can significantly cut the costs of visiting her family. She said unless it happens soon, she will wait until next year’s Hari Raya Puasa in May to visit her family.
“If by then, the land border doesn’t open, then I will take the flight,” she said.
Singaporeans in Malaysia making plans to reunite with family members
For business owner Rizal Mohamad, who has been living in Malaysia since 2014, the news of the VTL was met with excitement from his family on both sides of the border.
Though the 38-year-old Singaporean lives in Kuala Lumpur with his wife, he has not seen his parents, grandfather and siblings for almost two years.
When his family in Singapore first heard the news, they decided they would make the trip to Malaysia as they felt “cooped up” in Singapore and could treat the occasion as a holiday as well.
His parents have already started making plans and looked at flights, while his siblings are still planning when to take their leave.
“When they come down to Malaysia, I will bring them around good local spots to eat and spend time together catching up,” he said.
Rizal added that he has an eight-month-old nephew whom he has not seen in the flesh due to the pandemic.
“It’s almost two years since I met them physically, to talk, to bond… It’s more about that than anything else,” he said.
For Nurul Atiqah Md Suhaimi, the news of the VTL was met with excitement from her family, as her parents in Singapore can finally travel to Malaysia to see her one-year-old son, who was born last October amid the pandemic.
“They immediately started discussing when they should start coming here, where they want to stay, and for how long,” said the 33-year-old Singaporean, who runs a construction company in Malaysia with her husband and lives in Kajang, Selangor, a 20-to-30-minute drive from Kuala Lumpur.
While her family is making plans to fly over, she is also thinking of where to take them — among the places she has shortlisted are the beach at Sepang, Malacca and Penang.
“My dad already listed out the places he usually goes to when he’s here,” said Atiqah. “But we have not seen each other for two years, and he just wants to spend time with the grandson he’s never met.” — TODAY
