Johor voters not likely to get special VTL

ISKANDAR PUTERI: The government has no issues allowing Malaysians to return to vote in the Johor election, but those living in Singapore will have to adhere to the island republic’s Covid-19 rules, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The Prime Minister said that Malaysia would want its citizens to come back to vote as it is their right.

“But the borders are closed due to the pandemic and those coming back will need to comply with Singapore’s regulations,” he said when asked if the government would open a special lane for Malaysians wanting to return to vote in the state election on March 12.

Asked if there were any discussions on increasing the current Vaccinated Travel Lane quota for land, Ismail Sabri said that would involve Malaysia’s Health Minister and his Singapore counterpart.

“They (Singapore) are also concerned about the high number of cases in their country.

“We cannot be abrupt or rush into this,” he said, adding that many countries remained cautious of the pandemic.

Ismail Sabri said during his recent visit to Brunei, the standard operating procedure was extremely tight, with a midnight-to-morning curfew in place.

He was speaking to reporters after launching an event on entrepreneurs and cooperatives here yesterday.

The deadline for Johoreans living overseas to register as postal voters was yesterday.

On the reopening of borders based on National Recovery Council (NRC) recommendations, Ismail Sabri said there were differing views between those asking for them to be fully opened like in some countries such as the United Kingdom, and others saying that the government should intervene and be cautious about the move because of the rising number of Covid-19 infections.

“We need to balance things and as such, have asked the Health Ministry to brief the Cabinet and give its recommendations on the matter soon,” he said.

He added that it could either be reopening fully or with restrictions to certain countries.

Ismail Sabri also said he understood the NRC’s point in asking for the borders to be reopened based on the wish to revive the economy, especially when the worst-hit sector was the tourism and hotel industry.