THE governments of Malaysia and Singapore should hasten the process of restoring travel across the land links between them as this is crucial to business mobility, said Malaysia-Singapore Business Council (MSBC).
The council also commended both governments to take heed of the industry’s call to reinstate cross-border travel between Malaysia and Singapore with the launch of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from Nov 29, 2021.
Under the VTL, fully vaccinated business travellers will be able to travel between Malaysia and Singapore based on their fully vaccinated status and subjected to COVID-19 tests in lieu of serving quarantine or home stay order.
Permitting about 300,000 individuals who used to commute daily from Johor to Singapore to resume their work in Singapore is crucial not just for their own benefits but would also be a welcome boost to economic growth in both Johor and Singapore, which has suffered while international borders were closed.
Meanwhile, MSBC also suggested that there could be consideration to allow Singaporeans to enter Malaysia – or vice versa – for limited periods to ease mobility of people and revive the travel sector as part of efforts to speed up the economic recovery between both countries.
“Malaysia-Singapore business ties are significant for the region and resuming people-to-people connectivity between the two countries is an important step as we move towards an endemic future,” said MSBC Malaysia co-chair Datuk Seri Dr Nik Norzrul Thani.
Meanwhile, MSBC Singapore co-chair Dr Robert Yap pointed out Malaysia and Singapore enjoy close bilateral relations.
“The reopening of border would help in speeding up the economic recovery between the two countries following the impact brought by COVID-19,” he added. – Nov 10, 2021
