ADUN SPEAKS | The Johor state government has finally acknowledged that the state economy is in the doldrums mainly due to the border-crossing remaining closed. The large number of Malaysian workers in Singapore and Singaporeans crossing the border for shopping, entertainment, and tourism is critical for the Johor economy.

Unfortunately, the state government did not show any urgency in opening the border much earlier. Knowing the urgency of the matter, steps should have been taken to shorten the quarantine period, reduce the cost of the Covid-19 test, and keep interruptions to cross-border traveling to a minimum. Unfortunately, this matter was left to the federal government to handle.

The state government should set up a task force to review the opening of border-crossing as soon as possible. The focus should be to reduce the time period and cost of following the SOPs while crossing the border...