SINGAPORE – More than 250 appeal cases of Singaporeans and permanent residents who wanted to enter Malaysia, including on compassionate grounds, succeeded with help from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) since March last year.

Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday (Feb 2) his ministry has also helped more than 350 Singaporeans stranded in Malaysia to be repatriated, and these were usually the elderly, the very young, or people with mobility issues.

He was responding in Parliament to a question by Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC), who asked whether the Government was working with the Malaysian authorities to facilitate Singaporeans entering Malaysia for essential personal matters such as family bereavements.

The minister said in the past year, the “enforced separation by the border closures have had a profound emotional impact on many families in Singapore, especially when confronted by family bereavement”.

He added: “I’ve lost count of the number of e-mails I’ve received from people who were deprived of the opportunity to be with a family member at the end of life.

“So we particularly sympathise and understand the feelings of Singaporeans and indeed Malaysians who are caught in such circumstances.”

However, there was also a need for public health precautions, he said, which include border closures.

Singapore has been in close contact with the Malaysian authorities to facilitate travel for Singaporeans with essential or compassionate reasons, he said.

Dr Balakrishnan added that they have reached an “in-principle agreement” with the Malaysian authorities to have protocols for travel in such circumstances, although exact details are still being worked out.

In a follow-up question, Ms Lim asked if there could be greater objectivity in the process, as some residents were unsuccessful in their appeals.

In response, Dr Balakrishnan said the majority of cases that were submitted for consideration were not successful, but added that the final decision was in the hands of Malaysia’s director-general of immigration.

For each case that MFA is aware of, it would first inform the Singaporeans or PRs concerned that they need to get specific approval from the Director-General of Immigration of Malaysia.

MFA would also contact the Malaysia High Commission to persuade the other side, he said.

“But the legal and diplomatic position is that the ultimate discretion and the final decision rests with the Director-General of Immigration of Malaysia. So I’m not in a position to say on what basis he agreed to some of our requests and disagreed with many of the other requests.”

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Ms Lim also asked about the state of diplomatic channels to resolve bilateral issues, given the “dynamic political situation in Malaysia and also the state of emergency currently”.

Dr Balakrishnan replied that throughout the Covid-19 crisis, “good, functional communications and relations” between the prime ministers, ministers and the countries’ civil service have been maintained, even through a change of government in Malaysia.

“So all those ties, those communications, both formal and informal, including WhatsApp, are flowing.”

He added that both countries have to deal with a very difficult situation, and his objective was to keep relations open and communications honest and helpful, as well as not to put undue pressure that would cause damage to the long-term challenges of both sides.

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