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SINGAPORE: Some Malaysians returning home under the Periodic Relocation Agreement (PCA) are affected by the latest announcement by the Singapore government to revert to the 14-day stay-at-home notice (SHN) instead of the current seven days .
Some also had to cancel their plans to return to their families even after obtaining permission under the scheme to realize that the cost of SHN would definitely increase.
They used social media platforms to express their feelings, including on the Facebook page of the border crossings between Malaysia and Singapore, which now has nearly 73,000 members.
“My husband is one of those affected,” said Hazuraini Hussin, a cleaner at a condo in Bukit Timah when Bernama contacted her.
Hazuraini said her husband, Nazmin Ismail, took a seven-day leave to return to Johor on November 17 and had permission to re-enter the republic on November 24, a day after the new measures were implemented.
The couple, whose only child will celebrate his third birthday next month, was separated for the past eight months following strict border measures between the two countries to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.
“My husband is trying to appeal to the employer to make a salary deduction for the cost of SHN of around S $ 2,000 (RM6,095).
“He’s still waiting for an answer,” he said.
According to her, the employer had also asked the competent authority for her husband to return to Singapore one day before the new rules came into force, but the appeal was rejected.
Last month, Hazuraini was seen helping Nazmin, asking on the Malaysia-Singapore border crossings Facebook page for an affordable hotel for her husband to undergo the seven-day SHN.
“Previously, with the help of members of the Facebook page, we got a hotel that offered a price of S $ 400 for seven days.
“But now the cost has multiplied by five and is equal to two months of my husband’s salary,” she said.
“We just hope that the employer, if he cannot share the cost of SHN, will at least deduct it monthly from my husband’s salary,” said Hazuraini, who hails from Besut, Terengganu.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health announced on November 20 that it will tighten border measures from November 23 after a resurgence of cases in Malaysia.
The ministry said that all travelers entering Singapore “from November 22, 2020 at 2359 hours” who have a history of travel, including transit, in the last 14 days to Malaysia will be required to attend the 14-day SHN in dedicated facilities.
This measure will also apply to travelers entering Singapore to work under the PCA and returning Singapore-based travelers under the Singapore-Malaysia reciprocal Green Lane (RGL), it said.
Singapore had previously announced that travelers from Malaysia can serve a seven-day SHN at their place of residence starting on September 1, except from Sabah, which must attend a 14-day SHN at specialized facilities starting on October 15.
