Malaysian workers in Singapore spend emotional Hari Raya Puasa without loved ones

Many workers were forced to stay in Singapore after Malaysia imposed movement control order banning citizens from leaving the country amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Video calls replaced a usually colourful and joyous family affair this year

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A street in Singapore decorated with festive displays for Eid al-Fitr. Photo: AFP

Published: 3:58pm, 25 May 2020Updated: 4:17pm, 27 May 2020

Alone in her rented room in Singapore, Malaysian worker Siti Fatimah Awang waited for a video call on Sunday.

The morning of Hari Raya Puasa was to her, utterly unfamiliar. Back in her village in Johor Baru, the dawn of this festive occasion – which marks the end of the fasting month – was usually a race against time getting everything ready before her husband and other male relatives returned home from prayers at the mosque.

She would run after her two sons to get them dressed, before helping her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law to set the dining table with ketupat, rendang and an assortment of other dishes made specially for the day. “The feeling was … the best,” she said.

This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, there was none of that.

People in Malaysia go shopping ahead of Eid al-Fitr, on May 21, 2020. Photo: AFP

Siti Fatimah’s husband, a construction worker who also works in Singapore, is not allowed to leave a temporary isolation facility for migrant workers. Their sons, aged seven and two, are being cared for separately by her sister in Malaysia and a babysitter.

On Sunday, she put on a purple baju kurung, the colour her family had chosen for this year for their traditional outfits.