SINGAPORE, March 18 — At about 1.30am today, Mr Wee Han Chng, 53, heaved a sigh of relief when he finally entered Singapore via the Woodlands checkpoint.
The Malaysian managed to beat the clock and was among the last few to cross the Causeway before his country imposed a lockdown at midnight, which would last till the end of the month.
“(The customs officers) told me to ‘faster, please cross, it is going to close, you only have one minute,’” said Wee, who works as a bus driver in Singapore with Tower Transit.
“I feel very lucky, all of my hard work (queuing and waiting) was not in vain,” added Wee, whose company has provided him with temporary accomodation for the next two weeks.
For the past four years, Wee had been making the daily trip across the Causeway every morning to Singapore before returning to Johor Baru in the evening.
But on Tuesday night, he was among the droves of Malaysians — many with luggages and the elderly and children in tow — enduring the long queues and traffic jams trying to make their way to Singapore before the lockdown took effect.
Wee, whose shift starts at 5am, ended work at 3pm yesterday. He then made his way home to Malaysia to pack his bags for the next two weeks.
He reached Johor Baru Customs at around 9.30pm yesterday and got his passport stamped by Malaysia immigration officers at 11.58pm, beating the clock by two minutes. He then took about half an hour to walk across the 1km Causeway, before waiting for about an hour to clear the Singapore Customs.
Chicken rice hawker Alex Lau, 55, was also among the last few to cross the Causeway.
He told TODAY he was on leave and had been spending time with his family in Pahang, when it was cut short by the sudden announcement of the lockdown.
He had packed his belongings and left his home at 4pm on Tuesday, embarking on a long bus ride to Johor Baru. He arrived at the customs at about 11pm, in the knowledge that he would have to make the six-hour bus journey back to Pahang if he missed the cut-off at 11.59pm.
Thankfully, he made it. “If I don’t come back (to Singapore), I won’t have any money to send back to my wife,” said Lau, who works at a coffee shop in Jurong West.
On Monday evening, Malaysian Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19. This would be invoked via a “restriction of movement order” under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Police Act 1967.
The lockdown would see all business premises being shut down, except for outlets such as supermarkets and grocery stores selling daily essentials.
Malaysians would be banned from travelling abroad, while tourists or foreigners would be prohibited from entering the country. As of yesterday, Malaysia has reported 673 cases of Covid-19 infection and two deaths.
When TODAY arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint at about 8pm yesterday, there was already a large crowd at the pickup point, scrambling for taxis and private-hire cars.
The crowd gradually swelled and by 10pm, people were filling up the sidewalk and spilling onto the road. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers and police officers were seen helping with crowd control.
In response to TODAY’s queries, ICA said that following Malaysia’s announcement on Monday, it has deployed more manpower at Singapore’s land checkpoints to facilitate the movement of travellers across the Causeway and the Second Link at Tuas.
It added: “The traffic situation at the land checkpoints is dynamic. ICA adopts a multi-pronged approach in traffic management, which includes the flexible use of lanes for clearance of different types of vehicles.”
Throughout yesterday, there was heavy traffic on the Causeway, especially in the direction towards Singapore. Many Malaysians were also rushing home from Singapore to pack their clothes and other belongings, before coming back to stay in the Republic for the next two weeks.
As of Tuesday evening, about 10,000 Malaysian workers who have chosen to stay in Singapore have been matched to temporary accommodations here, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
It is estimated that more than 450,000 people enter and exit Singapore from Johor via both the Causeway and Tuas Second Link on a daily basis.
Mother-of-two Shannon Wong, 39, was also among the thousands of Malaysians who rushed to avoid the lockdown, so that she could continue working in Singapore for the next two weeks.
She was with her husband and two sons, who are in primary school and are having their school holidays, in Cameron Highlands when they heard the news.
Wong, who works in a shipping company in Singapore, and her family managed to reach Singapore at about 11pm yesterday.
“If we didn’t cross (the Causeway) by midnight, we cannot come over (to Singapore)… I wouldn’t have work for 14 days, and my kids won’t be able to go to school,” she added. “I am very grateful that we made it.” — TODAY
