Over 15,000 Malaysians lost jobs in Singapore due to Covid-19

KUALA LUMPUR – According to the official data, over 15,000 Malaysian have lost their job between January until July 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic hitting the labour market especially the service sector.

According to Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan, the statistics were provided by the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore and that the service sector were worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic with recorded 11,123 Malaysians being affected.

The manufacturing sector came in at second with 3,604 workers and the construction sector with 939 workers.

The minister was in the recent parliamentary hearing responding to Senator Liew Chin Tong’s inquiry on how many Malaysians in Singapore currently lost their job following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Saravanan said that the figure provided by the Malaysian High Commission did not included worker who have yet to return to Singapore since the government imposed the Movement Control Order (MCO) last March 18.

Last March, Malaysia closed its borders after recording a spike in the Covid-19 cases, while its neighbor Singapore ordered a partial lockdown on April 7, forcing Malaysians to head back home.

Both government agreed to reopen the borders on August under the Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) and the Reciprocal Green Lane (RCL) schemes after both countries managed to contain the virus.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba reported that there are currently more than 3,000 people entered the country from Singapore since PCA and RCL were implemented.

The PCA would allow residents of both countries who hold long term immigration passes for business and work to allow to enter the country for work.

The RGA, on the other hand, would allow residents to do short term travel for up to 14 days strictly for essential business and official purposes. The plan to reopen came in after the pressure from the public who were affected by the closure.