Singapore and Malaysia Reunite, If Only for Cake
People can finally move freely across the border. Rather than a big surge in spending, they’re enjoying the small stuff.
Homeward bound.
Photographer: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFPThey came to hug parents, hold loved ones and cradle babies they made but hadn’t met. They loaded up on cakes, grabbed cheap massages and pumped gas. After two years of tight restrictions, the border between Singapore and Malaysia, one of the world’s busiest crossings, has finally reopened. In the process, a key export resumed to the city-state’s larger neighbor about half a mile across the water: people.
This is about more than tearful reunions, as heartening as they are. It's a big milestone in Southeast Asia's journey from trying to quash Covid-19 to living with the disease. The economic recovery in either country can't be complete without a relatively free flow of human capital alongside investment. Before Covid, more than 300,000 people crossed the boundary each day. As much as Singaporeans and Malaysians complain about each other, and for all the differences in politics and relative wealth, the resumption of cross-border travel has underscored just what's been missing during the peak of the pandemic.