Stranded Malaysians in Oman losing hope of returning home

While many Malaysians have been repatriated after being stranded abroad amid global lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of Malaysians in Oman has not been so lucky in their efforts to return home.

One of the Malaysians currently stuck in Oman, Mastura Badzis, is a child psychology lecturer from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM) who was a visiting professor at the Sultan Qaboos University in the Oman capital of Muscat when the Covid-19 pandemic started.

After they encountered challenge after challenge in trying to get back to Malaysia, Mastura said many of them are now becoming more stressed as they have lost their jobs or have sickly parents or pregnant wives among other issues.

The Muscat repatriation efforts began on May 17, she said, when the Omani government sent a Salam Air flight to Malaysia to bring back their own citizens from Malaysia.

Through the Malaysian embassy, they had offered seats on the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight for Malaysians in Oman at the time.

Similarly, on June 8, a company in Oman had also arranged for an Oman Air cargo plane to send their Malaysian employees back to Malaysia and offered, also through the Malaysian embassy, to include any other Malaysians who wanted to return as well.

Mastura said this second offer was only communicated to them two days before the flight.

She said she was not able to join either of these two flights because her contract with the Omani university only ended on June 18.

“Each of us has our own problems, our own plans. For example like me, my tenure only ended on June 18,” she said to Malaysiakini.

Even though the Sultan Qaboos University had provided her with an open flight ticket with Oman Air, she could not use it as the Omani government had closed the airports, she said.

She then registered with the Malaysian embassy to receive updates on any repatriation flights.

On June 22, she said those who had registered with the embassy were informed that the embassy had made arrangements with Malindo Air for a repatriation flight for 100 people at around RM4,000 per person.

“For me, even though it was expensive, it was still affordable. It’s fine, we can still accept,” she said.

But on June 24, the Malaysian embassy then informed them that only 60 Malaysians had signed up for the flight which in turn meant that each of them would have to cough up around RM6,000 each.

At the same time, she said the Malaysian embassy created a WhatsApp group to keep them updated on their repatriation efforts, including moves to engage Emirates Airline for another repatriation flight via Dubai.

The embassy managed to successfully negotiate for an Emirates flight where each person had to pay less than RM4,000 per ticket, said Mastura.

“Everyone was happy and we all started to pack for the flight via Dubai which was scheduled for July 4.

“But then on June 29, we were informed by the Malaysian embassy that they were having problems in negotiating with the Public Authority for Civil Aviation in Oman because the Omani government had decided not to allow other airlines for repatriation services apart from Oman Air, Salam Air or the respective country’s national airlines.

“This was a new revelation and the embassy was surprised when they found out and they tried to appeal the decision but to no avail,” Mastura said.

Hit with another snag in their plans, the Malaysian embassy informed the WhatsApp group members that they would try approaching other Asean embassies in Oman for a special repatriation flight for Asean nationalities.

However, a few days later, on July 1, the embassy told them their efforts to negotiate with the other embassies were not encouraging.

Undeterred, the embassy said they would try to get a MAS flight from other countries to make a stop in Muscat to pick them up before returning to Malaysia.

However, two days later on July 3, the embassy told them that this, too, was unsuccessful, she said.

“So we are back to square one where we have to pay RM6,000 for the Malindo Air flight and they asked if anyone is able to pay RM6,000.

“RM6,000 per head for those who have lost their jobs is too much, so I was thinking, the government should help us.

“I think if we still cannot find any solution, we should write to the National Security Council (NSC) informing them of what has happened and that many of us here are in desperate conditions.

“We should write an appeal letter to NSC asking for help to subsidise the Malindo Air fees. I believe the NSC would be able to help us, my two cents opinion,” she said.

Mastura said she had expressed this sentiment in the WhatsApp group a few days ago but nobody from the embassy followed up on it.

“We were just advised to be calm, patient and to wait,” said the lecturer, whose husband and children are in Malaysia.

Within the WhatsApp group, she said many of the Malaysians were increasingly losing hope, including a woman who had privately messaged Mastura to say she could not sleep at night due to this prolonged issue.

Another woman, Mastura said, had told the WhatsApp group that not only are her parents in the intensive care unit (ICU), she has also lost her job and cannot afford to stay in Oman any longer.

“I said to myself, I have to do something because no one is saying anything in there. I don’t know these people personally […] but we have to do something, otherwise what will happen to these people?

“I cannot just sit and look because I feel that even though the embassy has tried their best to arrange a flight, they have not tackled issues related to emotional welfare and financial matters.

“I am trying to highlight these issues and maybe we need to lodge a report with the NSC but who will take this matter? Maybe we can attract the attention of the ministries (to help us),” Mastura said. - Mkini