Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Travel ban imposed by Malaysia

Malaysia decided to impose a ban on travel into and out of the country for a period of 14 days starting from 18 March. The reason for the travel ban is to stop the spread of the corona virus.

This affects 300,000 Malaysian workers that work in Singapore. After the decision was announced, some people wondered if exemptions would be given to these workers.

Surely, it would be proper for the Singapore and Malaysian governments to talk to each other and address this issue? There are valid grounds for the exemptions to be given. It will not create any health issue or cause any loophole.

Apparently, there was no such conversation. The travel ban went ahead, causing a lot of unnecessary disruption to the workers and the flow of food supplies from Malaysia.

With the recent change in leadership in Malaysia, and the close personal ties between the two prime ministers, the lack of a telephone call to discuss this issue was clearly disappointing.

What happened?



No comments:

Blog Archive