Behind every SDG 1 to MYR 3: Sacrifices and the ultimate price to pay
Mr Low Kim Cheong, 36.
Ms Tan Lay Ru, 30, who was six months pregnant.
On the morning of 16 March 2023, Mr Low and Ms Tan, who have been married since 2018, were involved in an alleged hit-and-run accident on the Bukit Indah Highway in Johor Bahru, 18.4 km from the Tuas checkpoint,
They were pronounced dead on the scene.
Photo source: Lianhe Zaobao
A young family of 4 forever and irrevocably changed. Their three-year-old toddler is, today, an orphan.
Mr Low and Ms Tan are just two of the more than 300,000 travellers that crossed the land border at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints every day.
For years, like many others, past and present, Mr Low and Ms Tan travelled to and fro Singapore, holding to the hope that their daily commute and sacrifices were necessary to give their families and children a better future.
To Singapore, before dawn. Towards a better future, for themselves and their loved ones.
Each day is a sacrifice – quality family time, birthdays and anniversaries, social lives and precious sleep.
While these sacrifices are hard, the thought of their families and loved ones struggling financially is even harder.
To Mr Low and Ms Tan, it also means missing out on the significant milestones of their 3-year-old child.
Mr Low and Ms Tan believed that grit, hard work and perseverance were their tickets to a better future.
The Straits Times, 19 March 2023
They drove and rode, scrimped and saved.
Singapore, that glittering and gleaming metropolis, is where their dreams and aspirations can be achieved, and their sacrifices redeemed.
For many Singaporeans, we take our commute to work for granted. That our homes and workplaces can merely be less than thirty minutes from one another.
To Malaysian workers, their daily commute is a painstaking journey across checkpoints and bureaucracies.
They leave home when their families are still in bed and return to find them safe in their sleep.
Lest we forget, Singapore is, today, a better home because of our Malaysian friends, who put their bodies, time and lives on the line for the development and growth of our economy.
Lest we forget, behind our 9 to 5 work day is their daily 4 to 9 shift – 4am to 9pm.
On the roads to the Tuas and Woodlands checkpoints, there are fatal accidents every week. Tomorrow could be their turn. Danger lurks at every corner. A better future can feel so distant and incomprehensible.
Last Thursday, Mr Low and Ms Tan failed to make the trip to cross over from Malaysia to Singapore, and all their hopes and their families’ futures were dashed. Tomorrow, another accident on the highways leading to Singapore will claim the life of another of their own.
Behind every wearied and fatigued face at the Causeway daily are stories of struggle, despair, melancholy and jaded hearts that are physically and emotionally drained.
There’s perpetually a long queue at the Causeway daily, and at times, the price to pay and the trade-offs can be immeasurably high.
Lest we forget, behind every SGD 1 to MYR 3 are heartbreaking stories of life and death - a human life and many broken families and hearts.
Shin Min Daily, 17 March 2023
Top image: TimeOut magazine
