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Tears welled up when a father was reunited with his six-month-old baby in Johor Baru after leaving him just days after his birth.
Eddy Lim, 38, who works in Singapore, said it had been painful for him to be separated from his wife and firstborn for the past six months as he was unable to return to Malaysia due to the Covid-19 travel ban.
He said his wife gave birth to their son, whom they named Yu Chen, on March 5 and that he left the country three days later to work in Singapore.
“Shortly after that, Malaysia implemented the motion control order and I was unable to go home to be with my family.
“I could only watch my son grow day by day through daily video calls, and I was worried that he would not know who I was because we had no physical interaction,” he told StarMetro.
He said that after completing her maternity leave, his 33-year-old wife Ng See Yunn left their baby in the care of her sister-in-law here and joined him in Singapore to resume her work as a dental nurse.
He saw a glimmer of hope after reading recent news reports about families reuniting with their children with the help of the Department of Immigration and the Singapore Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA).
Lim contacted Johor Jaya Assemblyman Liow Cai Tung for help last month to allow them to bring their baby to Singapore.
He said his application was approved by both authorities within 10 days and that the baby was taken to Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Service (CIQ) here for Lim’s pick up.
Yu Chen was one of eight children Liow helped reunite with their families at the CIQ complex.
Liow said she was happy to be able to help families reunite, especially in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which was a celebration of togetherness and reunion.
Meanwhile, Stulang Assemblyman Andrew Chen Kah Eng also helped four girls and a boy reunite with their families after spending about six months apart from each other.
The babies, aged between five and 12 months, were collected by their parents, who worked in Singapore, at the CIQ complex.
“The babies were brought here by their caregivers from Klang, Kuala Lumpur, Muar, Batu Pahat and Johor Baru,” said Chen, whose team took about a week to help the parents with their requests.
“This is a special arrangement made possible by our Immigration Department and ICA, so parents who wish to reunite with their children in this way can write to the authorities,” he said.
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