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PETALING JAYA: Stakeholders in Johor say the government should seek new ways to safely release border travel with Singapore as current regulations are detrimental to the state’s economy.
While Singapore and Malaysia have established reciprocal green lane (RGL) and daily commute agreements (PCA), they say that these two travel measures are limited in scope, which has stifled vital cross-border movement for Johor businesses.
Soh Thian Lai, president of the Federation of Manufacturers of Malaysia (FMM), told FMT that the two countries must facilitate the 250,000 commuters who used to commute from Johor to Singapore on a daily basis, which is not covered by current travel arrangements.
He said many were caught off guard by the prolonged closures, leading some to be stranded in Singapore and others to lose their jobs after failing to report for work in the republic.
“Singapore needs the Malaysian workforce, and Malaysian workers need jobs and income to support their families and meet financial commitments,” he said.
Given that both parties have handled the pandemic quite well in recent weeks, Soh said, FMM would support any proposal to allow for a “targeted travel bubble” with strict SOPs specifically for Johoreans commuting to Singapore for work.
These arrangements have been implemented overseas, with the recently established “Trans-Tasman bubble” allowing New Zealanders to travel to New South Wales and the Northern Territory in Australia without quarantine.
Jimmy Leong, president of the Johor Tour Guides Association, agreed that such a move should be considered to preserve the state’s tourism sector, but noted that both governments should be careful about the consequences of mass movements at the border.
“Authorities will have to seriously consider their ability to cope with the large number of people crossing the border,” he said.
He said that many tourism players were struggling to cope with the border closure. “We can see the closure of many retailers and outlets that were once held in Johor Bahru, due to the absence of hikers (from Singapore).”
However, from a medical perspective, Azrul Mohd Khalid, executive director of the Galen Center for Health and Social Policy, said such an arrangement would be logistically difficult.
“Travel bubbles run the risk of being fragile and temporary,” he said, adding that a localized bubble would be impossible “unless Johor is sealed from the rest of (Malaysia).”
For anyone crossing the border to waive quarantine, Azrul said, Malaysia and Singapore “must rely on mutual understanding and response to their respective epidemics.”
“They need to work in partnership and agree on robust test and trace procedures if they want to eliminate the two-week quarantines. It must be credible and transparent, based on mutually accepted standard protocols, ”he said.
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