PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and Singapore are still discussing plans to reopen their shared borders, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.
He said both countries were focused on tackling three matters, namely the business communities, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for those working in Singapore for over three months, as well as some 250,000 Malaysians who commute to the republic for work.
"Today's special ministerial meeting heard a proposal on SOP for the business communities where Malaysians enter Singapore for such purposes and vice-versa.
"However, the meeting is in the opinion that all these issues need to be resolved holistically, especially on the 250,000 Malaysians who commute to Singapore for work.
"Discussions are ongoing between our Foreign Ministry and its Singaporean counterpart," said Ismail Sabri in a live telecast press conference today.
He said some matters needed to be looked into such as the SOPs for returning Malaysians who had been living in Singapore for three months.
He added that there were also strict SOPs that needed to be relaxed and he hoped that Singapore would not enforce tight regulations when the borders were opened.
"We had previously agree to loosen the SOPs for Malaysian lorry drivers transporting supplies such as fish, vegetables and meat to Singapore, that the drivers only need to have their body temperature checked and not subjected to swab tests.
"So we now hope Singapore will not require swab tests on our lorry drivers during the discussion."
On a separate matter, he said four foreigners, who flouted various immigration laws, were arrested during Ops Benteng where 67 roadblocks were mounted nationwide yesterday and 38,421 vehicles were checked.
From May 1 up to yesterday, 1,362 illegal foreigners and 223 boat skippers were arrested for attempting to enter Malaysia via rat trails.
Also detained were 85 individuals suspected to be smugglers and 44 ships.
He added police had apprehended 251 individuals for flouting the Recovery Movement Control Order, of which 111 were remanded and 140 were served with compounds.
They had breached the SOPs by being involved in pubs and night club activities, present in a crowd which deters social distancing and other activities that go against the rules.