International students return to Malaysia

By Nisya Salsabila Putri

Following the announcement made by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yakoob in December last year, the Malaysian border has been open for international students since 1 January this year.

The latest update on the SOP released by Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS), stated that the previous restriction put on 23 countries from entering Malaysia has been lifted.

Moreover, the entry of new international students has also been in effect, after it being postponed since the implementation of the first Movement Control Order (MCO) last year.

Jacey Yeoh from the Taylor’s International Office said that as of 9 April, around 600 returning and 100 new Taylor’s students have come back to Malaysia.

“We got a lot of students from China and Indonesia, and then followed by Bangladesh and Pakistan,” she added. As of 9 April, more than 100 students are still expected to come back.

Despite the good news, the lifted travel bar and thus the high volume of people, resulted in the long line at the airport due to the limited transportation that could take them to their quarantine centre.

Gloria, one of the Taylorians that just came back to Malaysia mentioned that she waited nine hours before she could settle at her accommodation.

“My flight arrived in Malaysia at 7 PM and I finally entered my room in the hotel at 4.30 AM the next day.”

The bus arranged by NADMA to transfer arriving passengers to their quarantine centre.

(Source: Jia Xin/Youtube)

When asked about this, Jacey mentioned that it is actually a normal occurrence.

She told the story of students who had to wait around 12 -14 hours, just to be transferred to their quarantine accommodation.

“But we cannot do anything, because we cannot go to the airport. If I can I would get a bus to fetch them,” Jacey said.