PM: Malaysia’s Borders Will NOT Reopen This 1 March, Cabinet Yet To Discuss MPN’s Proposal

Following the proposal by the National Recovery Council (MPN) to reopen Malaysia’s borders by 1 March 2022, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri had clarified that the Cabinet has yet to discuss on the matter and that Malaysia’s borders will remain closed until feedback has been received by the Health Ministry and subsequently evaluated by Cabinet. Hence, Malaysia’s borders will NOT reopen on 1 March 2022.

As reported by national news agency Bernama, Ismail Sabri clarified that the Health Ministry has yet to provide feedback on the proposal and that as of right now, borders will remain closed. He further commented,

“We must find a balance between wanting to protect the tourism industry and the people’s health, so the Health Ministry will look into it in detail and propose to the Cabinet on the next step… Our borders are still closed… There’s no discussion yet to reopen,”

For illustration purposes.

Speaking at a meet-and-greet programme with Ledan Barisan Nasional (BN) election machinery at Dewan Putra Padang Lerek in Tangkak yesterday, Ismail Sabri, who is also the vice-president of UMNO stressed that the Federal Government thus far had only reopened the Malaysia-Singapore border in Johor through the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme.

The Prime Minister also assured those in the tourism industry that the government was aware of the woes that they face due to the Covid-19 pandemic but did not want the entry of foreign tourists to cause a further spike in cases in Malaysia. Ismail further asserted,

“We may eventually reopen the borders but, to do that, we have to get the advice from the Health Ministry. Yes, it’s true we want to reopen the borders because we want to assist the tourism industry, but we also want to protect the health of Malaysians.”