Split from family, Singaporean dad pleads for leeway

Singaporean engineer Ahmad Abdillah Haron and his sons Aidan Ahza Ar Danish and Adam Mukhriz Al Khair, at an outing in November. Malaysia’s movement control order restrictions have left him separated from his family since March. (All photos courtesy of Ahmad Abdillah Haron )

PETALING JAYA: Singaporean engineer Ahmad Abdillah Haron had every expectation of being by his Malaysian wife’s side when she was to give birth to their third child.

But the big day came and went without Ahmad’s presence. The Covid-19 pandemic and Malaysia’s closure of its borders had left the family separated on either side of the Causeway since March 18 and he could not be present to welcome his daughter when his wife gave birth on Monday.

Ahmad, 34, would usually commute to work in Singapore from their home in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.

When Malaysia announced a national stay-at-home order and closure of its borders, Ahmad rushed back early on March 17, intending to take his family to stay at his parent’s home in Singapore.

Ahmad Abdillah Haron’s daughter, Aisyah Soffya Az Zahra, who was born in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, on Monday.

A long queue at the border forced them to turn around. Ahmad spent the night at home and went back to work in Singapore the next day, thinking he would wait out the two-week movement control order. But the MCO has now been extended until May 12, a total of 8 weeks.

“I would have stayed behind (in Johor) if I had known the MCO would be extended for so long,” Ahmad told FMT.

“I am especially sad I was unable to recite the azan to my daughter when she was born,” he said, describing the ritual that is somewhat akin to a baptism among Christians. “The first sentences that newborns should hear are the sound of the azan and shahada so they are aware of Islam, and it is best if it came from their father,” he said.

The couple also have two boys, aged 10, and one year.

His wife’s pregnancy has been his biggest concern for months, and she is still weak after giving birth, he said. In addition his new-born daughter developed a high fever and was kept in hospital for three days.

Adam Mukhriz Al Khair and Aidan Ahza Ar Danish at home on March 18, when Malaysia’s MCO restrictions were enforced. They have been without their father since then.

Ahmad has made appeals about his plight to Singapore’s foreign ministry, the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore, the Malayian Immigration Department and the National Security Council.

He even wrote a message to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on his Facebook page.

All his efforts reached a dead end.

Malaysian immigration officials said that as a Singapore citizen, he can only enter Malaysia on a long-term social pass, which would take from six months to a year for approval. He had previously been using 30-day social visit passes to be with his family.

“My wife is strong but I know she wishes I was there. I know she has been sad and worried,” he said. She told him that their year-old son rushes to the door at the sound of a motorcycle, only to be disappointed that it is not him.

“There are many other Singaporeans like me who have been separated from their families during the MCO, and I hope the Malaysian government can give us some leeway,” he said. - FMT