SINGAPORE, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Nicholas Lee, a vocational educator, is among many Malaysians who gave up their jobs in Singapore for fear of being fired or separated from their families living in neighboring Malaysia under tough COVID-19 lockdown measures.
As the cross-border restrictions have now been removed, Lee is able to resume his work in Singapore again.
"Fully reopening of Singapore-Malaysia land border is really great news for me as I can travel between these two countries more conveniently without quarantine requirement," said 40-year-old Lee.
A large number of Lee-like Malaysian workers and commuters who lived a "two-city" life are expected to flow back to the workplaces in Singapore, giving relief to the labor tension here.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob made a joint statement on March 24 that the two neighboring countries had decided to completely open their land borders to fully-vaccinated visitors from both sides starting from April 1 and no COVID-19 test or quarantine is required.
As one of the busiest land borders in the world, the land border between Singapore and Malaysia saw a daily flow of more than 400,000 travelers on average before the pandemic took place.
The new border measures have triggered people's sentiment in heading home with about 33,700 travelers cleared the land checkpoints in the first 17 hours of the implementation of the new measures, most of whom went to the Malaysian side, local newspaper the Straits Times reported.
Singapore has been suffering from a labor shortage since the COVID-19 outbreak. The number of job vacancies in Singapore reached a record high of 114,000 in December 2021, more than double the 53,000 a year earlier as local economic recovery demands more labor forces, according to the Ministry of Manpower data released on April 1.
Singaporean manpower minister Tan See Leng pointed out recently that the labor shortage should ease in the coming months as borders are opened up and more foreign workers are able to enter the country.
Walter Theseira, associate professor from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that the most important outcome of the border reopening is the relieving of manpower constraints, the Straits Times reported on April 1.
With the opening of the border for daily travel, it's likely that many Malaysian workers will resume daily commuting, and it will be easier for Singapore employers to hire Malaysians, he said, adding that it will be quite significant for the service sector in Singapore which relies heavily on Malaysians.
While applauding for the reopening, however, some people are taking relatively cautious attitude as they worry the epidemic situation may get worsened again.
Lim Wen Xin, a 32-year-old manager in a Singapore-based logistics company, told Xinhua that she had not been back to Malaysia for two years. Although she has an optimistic view about the reopening, she will take a wait-and-see attitude. "I am planning to go back home to see my parents or bring them here in Singapore once the epidemic situation is normalized, "she said.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said in a speech on March 24 that the country would continue to maintain a measured approach toward the COVID-19 epidemic and people should be psychologically prepared for more twists and turns ahead.
He warned that if any new aggressive and dangerous mutants turn up, Singapore may have to backtrack and tighten up the restrictions again. ■
