Foreign spouses and children now allowed to enter Malaysia - minister

Foreigners who are married to Malaysians are now allowed to enter the country under the recovery movement control order (MCO), said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Their children who have yet to register as Malaysians are also allowed to return.

However, Ismail advised these couples to apply for permission from the Immigration Department before booking a flight.

"We agreed to allow our citizens who are married to foreigners and their children who were born abroad but have yet to become Malaysian citizens to return to the country.

"To avoid any issue such as being disallowed to leave or stranded at the airport, I hope they apply beforehand with the Immigration Department.

"Once they obtain permission, they can buy the flight tickets," Ismail said in a media conference in Putrajaya today.

On wedding receptions, Ismail said the National Security Council will discuss it in detail on June 23.

"We will discuss in terms of the number of guests allowed and the standard operating procedure.

"I will make an announcement on Wednesday," he said.

This came a day after Ismail announced that wedding ceremonies for all faiths can be held, with the attendance of less than 20 people, including the marriage registrar.

Separately, when asked whether Malaysia would follow Singapore in allowing congregational Friday prayers to be conducted in two half-hour prayer sessions, Ismail said the Islamic Affairs Minister Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri will look into it.

For now, he said, Putrajaya allowed mosques to take in only a fraction of the maximum congregant capacity.

"One third is actually quite big. The National Mosque, for instance, could be filled with up to 15,000 congregants (in maximum capacity).

"So that is equivalent to 5,000." - Mkini