Singapore ― A member of the public took to social media to question why Malaysians would bash Singaporeans on the government’s Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme decision where Malaysia was not included.
Beginning Oct 19, eight more countries will be included in the VTL scheme, namely, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Denmark.
Applications for Vaccinated Travel Passes began on Oct 12, and visitors can enter the listed countries with no restrictions on the purpose of travel under the VTL arrangement.
They also won’t be required to have a controlled itinerary or sponsor.
VTL travellers must be fully vaccinated, and present their vaccination certificates issued in any VTL country or Singapore.
At the same time, VTL travellers from VTL countries can enter Singapore without having to quarantine, given they take two Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
In response to the announcement, netizens expressed disappointment that Malaysia was not included in the extension of quarantine-free travel.
Singaporean Facebook user Nadya Salyriana posted Oct 10 screenshots of the angry comments, wondering why it was directed at Singaporeans.
“The comments…I don’t quite understand what Singaporeans actually do to Malaysians to get and deserve such comments. Maybe they are angry with our government,” said the concerned individual.
She was reminded of a particular incident while they were vacationing in Langkawi.
“There were two other Malay Malaysian families. Their children and ours were all conversing in English.”
They were eventually asked where they were from. When they shared they came from Singapore, “automatic mode, almost immediately they stop all conversation, and both families stopped talking to us.”
“I never understood…why the sudden change,” said Ms Nadya, who also included a Malay translation of her post.
“This is one of the reasons why I will never say I am from Singapore when I am in Malaysia. I will just say I am from Johor Bahru, and I work in Singapore.”
“But I never understood why the Melayu ‘tak suka’ Malays from Singapore happens. Whatever it is. We never wish for anything bad for our Malay Muslims everywhere they are in the world,” she added.
Ms Nadya attached screenshots of comments on an article posted by Malaysian news site Astro Awani on the topic.
“Malaysia’s government keep on insisting on reconnecting back with Singapore. But Singapore thinks highly of itself, while at the same time is dependent on Malaysia. Too bad that Malaysia’s government is weak,” read a comment.
Another suggested stopping lorries from delivering groceries and cutting off the water supply. “See whether Singapore can thrive without Malaysia.”
Meanwhile, Facebook user Widia Juma’at highlighted that the comments were improper. “They are so backdated. And they wanna prevent Singaporeans from entering but isn’t it a two-way thing,” said the netizens.
“So can the Singapore government send back all those Malaysian who is working in Singapore? And just look at Johor Bahru without a single Singaporean coming in the business tremendously down.”
“I am quite disappointed that netizens here are negative towards Singapore. Some are even racists. I hope that they are the minority and are not representative of Malaysians who are generally kind and polite,” said another netizen.
On Oct 9, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that Singapore and Malaysia share a common desire to re-establish connections, with discussions to reopening borders currently ongoing.
Singapore is continuously updating its border measures, and both countries are in the middle of discussions, added Finance Minister Lawrence Wong and Transport Minister S. Iswaran. /TISG
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