SINGAPORE/JOHOR BARU - Before
the outbreak of coronavirus this year, Malaysian accountant
Jazerel See used to travel regularly between her country's
southern state of Johor and neighbouring Singapore where she
worked, going home once a week to her parents and her
seven-month-old boy.
But after Malaysia banned citizens from travelling overseas
in mid-March in a bid to stem the coronavirus outbreak, See and
hundreds of other Malaysian women were cut off from their
families if they wished to continue working, and unable to
breastfeed their newborn children.
See said the women, communicating via social media, then
pooled together funds to ship supplies of frozen breast milk to
their babies back home.
"We sought help from all the mummies and we tried to save
and share the cost, because it's not really cheap to send back
the milk," 32-year-old See told Reuters.
In Johor Baru town, her mother Wai Lan Moy said: "(I like
that the baby) is drinking her mother's breast milk, because
drinking breast milk is better for the baby's immune system.
It's easier to take care (of the baby) that way."
An estimated half a million Malaysians live and work in
Singapore, with thousands commuting regularly to the wealthy
city-state from Johor.
Although Malaysia allowed citizens to return, they have to
undergo two weeks of quarantine. Many of those working in
Singapore were reluctant to go back fearing the spread of the
virus as well as the risk of losing their jobs. Singapore also
set up restrictions of its own in late March, barring or
quarantining visitors.
"If I go back (to Malaysia) now, I might bring back the
virus," See said. "I keep telling myself to just bear it for a
moment to ensure a better future."
So far, four shipments totalling about 7,000 kilogrammes of
milk have been sent from 200 mothers in Singapore, Johor state
lawmaker Andrew Chen Kah Eng said. Such a shipment has never
been made before, he said.
"I talk to officers from CIQ (Customs, Immigration and
Quarantine), they have never done that before, even from
agriculture department, ministry of health and also customs,
they have never done that before.
"They are willing to help."
Singapore has among the highest number of coronavirus
infections in Asia, with more than 26,000 cases, mainly due to
outbreaks in cramped migrant-worker dormitories.
Malaysia had the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia
until mid-April but the daily rise in infections has steadily
declined since the curbs were imposed, with a total of around
6,800 reported so far.