“The exact details are still being worked out,” the republic’s foreign affairs minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan told the Singapore parliament today.

He was replying to a question by MP Sylvia Lim, on whether the Singapore government is working with the Malaysian authorities to facilitate Singaporeans entering Malaysia for essential personal matters, such as family bereavements.

It was reported on Jan 3 that both governments are in talks on standardising the standard operating procedure (SOP) for those wishing to travel between the two countries due to a family bereavement.

Foreign affairs minister Hishammuddin Hussein was reported as saying that currently there is no standardised SOP for those wishing to travel cross border on compassionate grounds.

“So far, it has been on an ad hoc basis, whereby those intending to travel across the border have to submit an appeal letter,” Hishammuddin had said.

To one of Lim’s supplementary questions on how functional are the diplomatic channels to resolve bilateral issues given the dynamic political situation in Malaysia that includes the state of emergency, Balakrishnan replied: “We’ve been able to maintain good functional communications and relations.

“What I would say from a foreign affairs ministry perspective is that throughout this entire (Covid-19) crisis, we’ve been able to maintain good functional communications and relations.

“Between the prime ministers, between the ministers, certainly between myself and the foreign minister of Malaysia Hishammuddin, as well as at the public service level,” Balakrishnan said.

On Jan 30, Singapore announced that it was suspending the reciprocal “travel bubble” between the republic and countries like Malaysia, South Korea and Germany.

The green lane agreement had allowed people living in these countries to travel to and from Singapore for business, and for Singaporeans to enjoy the same privilege in the countries involved.