When Mediacorp actress Juin Teh posted an Instagram video of herself moving out of her apartment in Singapore and bidding goodbye to living in the Republic in early April, many netizens wondered if she was leaving the broadcaster for good.
But the 34-year-old Malaysian star is still very much a full-time Mediacorp artiste, with the bulk of her work based in Singapore. She is merely moving back home to Johor Baru to spend more time with her family and to save on rising rental costs here, as she explained in a follow-up video on April 7.
Teh can be seen playing a servant in the popular series Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story. She recently told Chinese news outlet Lianhe Zaobao she has been commuting to Singapore for work from her Johor Baru home.
She moved back on April 1 after the rental lease on her apartment in Singapore expired.
“Rent went up, so I thought it might be good to move back home to Johor Baru. My mother’s getting older too, so I want to spend more time with her,” she said in an article published on April 25.
Moving back home saves her about S$1,000 a month, although she spends more time commuting. It now takes her two hours to get from her home in Johor Baru to Mediacorp. The trip can take up to three hours on weekends.
She said: “When a job ends late but I have other work to attend to early the next morning, I’ll stay over with a friend or a relative here.”
She travels across the Causeway using public transport. As a permanent resident, Teh is not permitted to drive a Malaysia-registered car in Singapore, and buying a car in Singapore is too expensive, she said.
“Sometimes, I do get recognised. People will yell ‘Juin!’, and some netizens leave comments on social media saying they hope to bump into me at Customs,” she added.
But all the trouble is worth it, she said, when she sees her mother’s home-cooked dinner on the table.
The actress got her start as one of the finalists of Mediacorp’s talent competition Star Search 2019. She shared a tour of the Johor Baru home – where she lives with her parents – during an episode of the Mediacorp online variety programme #JustSwipeLah in October 2024.
Teh, also a host of #JustSwipeLah, told fellow host Seow Sin Nee how she spent 10 months renovating the home to make it user-friendly for her elderly parents. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
