For 61-year-old Aishah Rahmat, a Singaporean who has been away from her businessman husband who is stuck in Johor due to the strict border controls, the pain of this temporary separation for the last eight months has been eased to a certain extent by her best “friend” – Facebook.
What’s more, today is the birthday of her husband, Yaacob Moin, 63, a Singaporean businessman.
Since March, the 61-year-old has resorted to Facebook to share her sadness over the temporary separation.
On Nov 15, she posted: “15.03.20 – 15.11.20. Today is exactly 243 days since I was away from my husband. We are all tested to be patient and resilient until this Covid-19 pandemic passes. ”
Aishah also appended her posting with a link to an Islamic (Nasyid) song “Perjalanan Hati”.
Bernama met Aishah recently and her sadness ran deeper than just the unexpected separation — the deadly coronavirus had ruined her plan to perform umrah on March 13.
“We were about to leave for the KLIA before receiving a phone call from the umrah management firm saying that our trip was cancelled. It was right after the Azan ended (for sending pilgrims),” said Aishah.
Two days later, Aishah, who did not have a long-term visit pass to stay more than 30 days in Malaysia, had to return to Singapore and that was the day she had to part from her husband.
“I had no choice but to stay in Singapore as soon as the Malaysian government announced the movement control order (MCO) from March 18,” said Aishah, who has been travelling to Johor Bahru for the past 15 years.
“Like everyone else, I expected the MCO to be only for two weeks, but it has been eight months now,” said Aishah, who lives with her cousin in Tampines for the time being.
Things got more painful after her husband could not return to Singapore for the funeral of his youngest brother, Salim Moin, a former Singapore international footballer, who died on Nov 7.
“My husband could only observe the funeral via a video call,” said Aishah, who also shared with Bernama a picture of Yaacob and Salim when they last met at their children’s wedding in Singapore last February.
Salim, 59, a striker, represented the Lions in the 1980s and 1990s and played alongside Fandi Ahmad in the 1980 Malaysia Cup final against Selangor, which was led by the late Mokhtar Dahari.
“With the sudden death of my brother-in-law, it worries me more and more. I pray hard for my husband’s health. He is alone in Johor. Our children are all here with me,” she said in tears.
To keep herself occupied, Aishah has been participating in religious studies online every day since March 20.
“Besides that, I’m utilising the ‘SkillFutureSG Credit’ provided by the Singapore government. I’m learning about computers, mobile phones and tablets,” said Aishah, who had worked as a secretary in several international companies before.
The mother of two is immensely hopeful that Malaysia’s recovery MCO will end on Dec 31 so that the border control measures could be eased to enable her to reunite with her husband.