Malaysian workers in Singapore: Many fear losing their jobs if they come home for visits

JOHOR BAHRU (Nov 17): A lot of Malaysians working in Singapore are reconciled to the fact they will not be able to return home until the Covid-19 pandemic is over.

This is because many claim that their employers do not allow them to take long holidays while others are afraid they will lose their jobs once they return to Malaysia.

“There were also instances where some workers were hesitant to come back as they were worried about losing their jobs after returning to Malaysia,” Johor works, transportation and infrastructure committee chairman Mohd Solihan Badri told The Star.

Malaysian-Singapore Workers task force president Dayalan Sreebalan told the daily that he heard about some companies in Singapore not allowing their Malaysian workers to go back “for a long stretch”.

Dayalan also said there were cases where Malaysians who returned under Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) but were unable to continue on from Johor Bahru to their home states owing to the current conditional movement control enforcement.

“As such, they are stuck in Johor Bahru,” he said. The police should be flexible about the situation, Dayalan added.

“We have implemented PCA and Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) since August and it is timely that we start opening up to daily commuters.

“As long as there is adequate Covid-19 testing on both sides of the border and also good compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP), I do not see a problem in the border being reopened to workers to commute regularly,” Mohd Solihan said.

For Malaysian workers wanting more details about coming home for visits, go to the Immigration Department’s website here

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