Labuan residents glad to be able to travel to Sabah again

LABUAN: After being separated from his parents for two years, Alfred Nikko Sibil, 22, disembarked on Saturday in Menumbok jetty, Sabah, after travelling from this duty-free-island with his two sisters.

"It is hard to believe...we thought we were never coming back," he told Bernama.

Alfred Nikko and his sisters are Sabahans who live and work in Labuan and had long wanted to return to Sabah to see their parents, who are in Kota Belud, but could not because of the raging COVID-19 pandemic earlier.

They could not board a plane or ferry to mainland Sabah due to the state's strict border restrictions.

Thousands of Sabahans have been stranded in this federal territory since the pandemic started, due to the Movement Control order (MCO) imposed by the government in fighting the pandemic.

On Nov 8, the Sabah disaster management committee fully lifted restrictions on citizens and permanent residents from Labuan seeking to return or travel to the state without having to produce a COVID-19 negative test results, but only need to be fully vaccinated.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, Sabahans are now able to leave Labuan without needing to be granted an exemption from the government (COVID-19 test and quarantine), which came into effect on Nov 1.

Bernama's random checks at the Menumbok jetty ferry terminal, found families reuniting with tears and kisses.

After 19 months apart, Roslan Rasman, 49, and Dayang Surayah Alil, 45 and their 22-year-old daughter, embraced each other.

"It's been pretty dreamlike...it's been really difficult to get back," Roslan said.

"I want to seize and hide her passport so she doesn't take off again," her mother, Dayang said with joy.

From Nov 1, the roll-on, roll-off ferry services from Labuan to mainland Sabah resumed according to the regular timetable.

Labuan Marine Department director Alimuddin Amirudin said the back-to-normal ferry service schedule was in accordance with the lifting of the interstate travel ban by the Sabah government.

Eight daily trips between Labuan and Menumbok were approved for two ferry operators, operating four ferries respectively.

--BERNAMA