SINGAPORE — Three days into Malaysia’s lockdown, musician Sufie Rashid, a Singaporean, is keeping himself busy by composing new music, but he can’t help worrying since all his professional commitments including concerts and recording new music have been cancelled.

Mr Sufie, 29, moved to Kuala Lumpur to pursue his music career in 2015 after winning Akademi Fantasia, a Malaysian reality TV singing competition.

Mr Sufie and his wife, Nurulaini Md Yusof, who is Malaysian, also started a business baking cookies, which they regularly deliver to Singapore — that is, until the lockdown, or restricted movement order (RMO), took effect on Wednesday (March 18).

“The day the RMO was announced, I was in Singapore,” Mr Sufie recounted in an interview with TODAY on Friday.

“The moment I heard the news, things became a huge rush. I immediately went back to KL to gather the cookies that needed to be delivered and came back to Singapore. I passed everything to my staff and rushed back to KL again before the RMO started,” he said.

Mr Sufie explained that he chose to return to KL to be with his wife during the RMO.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced on Monday that Malaysia would bar citizens from going overseas and foreigners from entering the country from Wednesday until March 31. The goal is to try to curb the further spread of Covid-19.

Malaysians returning from abroad will have to go through health checks and undergo a 14-day self-quarantine. Malaysians who commute to Singapore for work or study will not be able to do so.

Mr Sufie said that March has been a “very stressful” month for him so far.

“They also announced there won’t be a Hari Raya bazaar in Singapore this year. A lot of businesses will be affected, including mine,” said Mr Sufie, who had been planning to sell his cookies at the bazaar.

“The only thing I can do to stop from worrying is to distract myself by watching shows on Netflix or gaming and spending time with my wife,” he said.

Another Singaporean living in Malaysia, businessman Harris Baba, is forced to spend this time alone, away from his wife and two children in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. He moved there after getting married in 2016.

Singaporean Harris Baba and his Malaysian wife Jieha. Mr Harris was in Kuala Lumpur when the lockdown started but is hoping to get back to Ms Jieha and their two children in Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. Photo: Harris Baba

When the RMO was announced, Mr Harris, 28, had been in KL for two weeks taking care of business matters. He was unable to rush back to Kota Kinabalu to be with his family because of prior arrangements that could not be cancelled.

“I want to fly back to Sabah now but there are a few things that I have to do in order to be able to fly back. And there's no confirmation that I'll be able to fly back,” he said.

As part of the RMO, those who wish to travel from one state to another need to inform the police and obtain written permission to travel. They can obtain the document from any of the 156 district police headquarters nationwide.

“Even if I manage to fly back, I won't be able to meet my family for at least a week. I will have to get myself checked first and the results will take a few days as well,” said Mr Harris, referring to medical tests relating to Covid-19.

NOT FOLLOWING ORDERS

Mr Brian Victor, a Malaysian national, told TODAY that Malaysians have been taking the lockdown as an “opportunity to go back to their home states”.

“So many people are rushing to police stations to fill up forms to go home despite being urged by authorities to stay put,” said Mr Victor, 24, who lives in Selangor and works as a chef.

Ms Nicole Elizabeth Soyza, 24, a public relations executive from KL is just as frustrated.

“I do hope our government actually deploys the army because many Malaysians are still treating this like it’s a free holiday and going around visiting friends and relatives. We've already seen what happened in Europe when the virus was not contained, so I’m very disappointed that many Malaysians still choose to be so ignorant,” said the Malaysian national on Friday morning.

Her wish came true hours later when Defence Minister Ismail Sabri announced that Malaysia will deploy its military from Sunday to help police enforce the government’s order for people to stay at home amid the outbreak. The decision was made at a national emergency meeting to have the military assist the police with the RMO.

Ms Sara Edryanna, 22, who is from Pasir Gudang, Johor and whose uncle is a policeman, said: “Police have been patrolling certain neighbourhoods to warn those who are still out and about. Some are still hanging out in eateries.”

On Wednesday night, Mr Muhyiddin said that Malaysia may extend the RMO by "maybe another two weeks or even longer" if the current measures fail to contain the spread of Covid-19. He urged Malaysians to just stay at home during the two-week control order.

On Thursday, The Star newspaper reported that Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said that awareness of, and compliance with, the RMO was at around 60 per cent.

Ms Soyza, who is staying put at home, is trying to find “little projects” to do around the house, like gardening, teaching her dog new tricks and cleaning out her room and wardrobe.

“I’ve been spending a lot more time with my parents, since I usually only see them in the evenings during normal circumstances,” she said.

Ms Sara has started painting during this time.

While her father Mr Abdul Rahim, 48, is trying to make the most of this “pretty calming” period, the RMO has affected his career as an emcee and events coordinator.

“It has caused a lot of my jobs to be either cancelled or postponed which means lesser income for me as I get paid on the per job basis,” he said.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Malaysia has risen to 1,030, as 130 new cases were reported on Friday at noon, said the country’s Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Three people are reported to have died of Covid-19 in Malaysia: a 34-year old man from Johor who attended a large gathering at Sri Petaling mosque, a 58-year-old man who attended the same event, and a 60-year old pastor from Sarawak.