All international checkpoints to be open as M'sia moves towards border reopening, says Nancy Shukri

JOHOR BARU: All of the country’s international checkpoints will be open as Malaysia is moving towards reopening its borders, says Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

She said that this would include Malaysia's land border with Singapore and added that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob would be making the official announcement on the border reopening soon.

“The Tourism and Culture Ministry is well prepared and always ready to welcome back foreign tourists into Malaysia," said Nancy.

“All of the country’s borders will be open, including the land borders such as the Causeway,” she said when met after meeting with tourism industry players at a hotel here on Monday (March 7).

On Saturday (March 5), Ismail Sabri confirmed that the country's borders will be reopened soon.

He said this would enable people who have not met each other for some time to be together during Hari Raya Aidilfitri in May.

Ismail Sabri added to enable travel to and from Malaysia with Brunei and Thailand, the government was in the process of implementing the land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) with these two countries.

He said this would add to the existing VTL facility with Singapore and the one still under planning with Indonesia.

"To rejuvenate economic activities and tourism, especially in Johor, the federal government implemented the air and land VTL with Singapore on Jan 21 this year to facilitate the reunion of families separated by the Covid-19 pandemic," said Ismail Sabri.

"I was told that 200,000 Malaysians commute between Singapore and Johor. They no longer have to undergo compulsory quarantine at home after taking two health screening tests, once when leaving Singapore and again on arrival in Malaysia,” he added.

Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was reported saying the Prime Minister was expected to announce the date for reopening the country's borders soon.

He said the Cabinet reached an agreement on the reopening of borders at its meeting on Friday (March 4).