Foreign spouses allowed in from 23 banned countries

 

The human rights commission had made an appeal on behalf of Malaysian mothers who are stranded overseas.

PETALING JAYA: Foreign spouses of Malaysians can now enter Malaysia from 23 countries although travel from these countries remains banned, the government announced today.

Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the exemption was given to the spouses even though Malaysia had not reopened its borders to the 23 countries.

“They are not restrained, as long as they get permission from the Immigration Department by applying through My Travel Pass and complying with all the SOPs including bearing the full cost for quarantine,” he said, according to Bernama.

The countries are: The US, UK, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, France, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Russia, Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

The decision came hours after an appeal by the human rights commission, Suhakam, for a review of the entry ban so that Malaysian mothers could return home accompanied by their foreign spouses.

Suhakam’s children’s commissioner, Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said the pandemic had forced many mothers to choose between giving birth to their child overseas, at the risk of the child becoming stateless, or returning to Malaysia but being separated from their spouses for months.

Malaysia imposed an entry ban on citizens of 23 countries in September after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The Foreign Spouses Support Group said earlier today that many children born to Malaysian mothers were being raised in hotel rooms overseas without access to vaccination or education.

The group’s co-founder Bina Ramanand said 205 mothers had reported that their spouses were stranded overseas in August, with 44 of them either pregnant or raising their newborns without their fathers.

Sabah adopts federal 23-nation travel ban list

The Sabah state government said today that it had decided to adopt the federal government’s travel ban on 23 countries. In September, the previous state government had barred visitors from only three countries namely India, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun said the holders of long-term passes who have been barred include those with permanent residence permits, the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, all expatriates, spouses of Malaysian nationals, and holders of student passes and temporary work visit documents.

Masidi said there were certain exceptions, including diplomats and their dependents, crewmen and professional workers in the oil and gas industry and crew members of marine vessels.

On Covid-19, Masidi said there was a backlog of 4,496 virus test samples still unprocessed, of which 64% will be processed in Sabah and the rest in the peninsula.

He said 12.15% of the 25,441 cumulative Covid-19 cases statewide, or 3,030 cases, involved babies and children under the age of 12, of which 1,241 cases involved children aged below five and 191 cases for babies aged below one. - FMT