Talks in place to ease border curbs with Malaysia

Singapore and Malaysia are in talks to ease travel restrictions, with the necessary protocols and measures in place, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong.

He said, "For Malaysia, it's also more than just about business travel by air; there's also the issue of workers moving up and down through our land crossing."

Mr. Wong noted that while Malaysia still has its movement control order and Singapore has the circuit breaker in place, eventually both countries will have to see how best to accommodate workers who want to travel between both sides in a safe manner.

He said, "We'll look at putting in place the necessary protocols, whether it's testing of workers, or for that matter, having them subject to some quarantine arrangements when they come in and out. The bottom line is that there will need to be new safeguards and precautions."

Mr. Wong noted that even after travel restrictions between Malaysia and Singapore are eased, the situation will not return to how it was before when large volumes of people moved through the land crossings.

"I don't think either side would want to see that happen without any safeguards or precautions, if we will have all that in place, we should be prepared that the volume of people sort of commuting daily will likely come down," he said.