KUALA LUMPUR – Approximately 480,000 Malaysians commute daily between Johor and Singapore for work, facing high-risk travel conditions that result in nearly one traffic fatality every week.
To address this, Malaysia’s Ministry of Human Resources plans to table a Bill in Parliament in July to include a “Commuter Scheme” in the Self-Employment Social Security Act to bring these cross-border workers under the national safety net.
The amendment is designed to eliminate the “no man’s land” on the Johor-Singapore Causeway, where jurisdictional gaps frequently leave victims of accidents completely unprotected by standard domestic or foreign insurance policies, said Edmund Cheong, deputy chief executive for strategy and corporate affairs of the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO).
The Bill amendment will introduce a specialised self-contribution system, allowing cross-border Malaysians to fund their own coverage, ensuring full protection across both countries and the transit zones connecting them.
In an exclusive interview with Sin Chew Daily, Cheong pointed out that the greatest dilemma faced by cross-border workers is not a total lack of insurance, but rather the reality that even if they buy insurance, they may still end up unprotected due to jurisdictional gaps.
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