Over 457,000 M'sians could be stuck overseas: Ismail
As many as 457,000 Malaysians could be stranded overseas due to various international travel restrictions.
Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that 387,702 of them had registered with their respective Malaysian overseas missions and called on those who had yet to do so to give them their details.
As many as 457,000 Malaysians could be stranded overseas due to various international travel restrictions, said Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
At his daily briefing today, he said that 387,702 of them had registered with their respective Malaysian overseas missions and called on those who had yet to do so to give them their details.
“The government is working to facilitate the return of stranded Malaysians. However, there are some restrictions based on the laws of certain countries, including the limitation on foreign planes from landing in their country.
“Wisma Putra has been asked to discuss with its foreign counterparts for a solution,” he added.
Ismail said that there were as many 250,000 Malaysians transitting between the Malaysian and Singaporean border and while it was agreed upon in principle to loosen the standard operating procedure (SOP) for Singapore travel, discussions were still taking place.
Wisma Putra had identified 10,484 citizens abroad who might become stranded comprising those who recently lost their jobs overseas or were finishing their studies.
He added that Wisma Putra will present a detailed plan as well as the costs for the repatriation of these Malaysians.
"One problem is that there might be no commercial flights operating between the two countries," Ismail (above) said.
It was mooted at the special ministers meeting today that the Covid-19 fund be used to facilitate the return of stranded citizens, he added.
Elsewhere, the defence minister said police detained 251 people yesterday for violations of the recovery movement control order (MCO). Of them, 111 were remanded while 140 were slapped with fines.
More than half of them (126) were caught at pubs and nightclubs, 123 had participated in activities that made social distancing difficult and two were detained for breaching SOPs.
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