578 days of separation: Malaysian woman surprises young daughters in tearful reunion

The Singapore-Malaysia Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) has allowed many families to finally reunite after being painfully separated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a Facebook post on Monday (Jan 10), a Malaysian man wrote that his wife has returned home after nearly two years – 578 days to be exact.

Cheah Wen Jie first greeted his wife with a bouquet of flowers and recorded what went down during the emotional reunion. 

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/cheahwenjie/videos/956661335235767[/embed]

He entered the house first to keep the surprise going and to not arouse suspicion. While their two daughters did not sense anything out of the ordinary at first, they soon rushed to embrace the woman after seeing her at the door. 

The emotional scene was all too much for the woman's mother, who was stunned at her return. 

Hugging the woman while sobbing uncontrollably, the mother said: "Why did you lie to me?"

The last person to receive the surprise was the woman's sister, who arrived at the house sometime later. 

Keeping up with the 'plan', the family kept her occupied in the living room. But when the sister went into the bedroom, she was greeted by the woman. 

With the secret finally out, Cheah filmed the pair sobbing tears of joy as they locked in a warm embrace. The sister was seen touching the woman’s face as if to reassure herself that this was reality.

In the comment section, netizens could not help but shed virtual tears at the heart-warming video.

If this video is not enough to pull your heartstrings, a trio of Malaysian siblings was filmed in December last year dressing up as waiters to surprise their parents upon returning home from Singapore after two years.

Since quarantined-free travel opened between Singapore and Malaysia, up to 1,440 people are able to cross the Causeway daily. 

But the wait goes on for some Malaysians who are looking to reunite with their families in time for Chinese New Year. 

All Malaysia-Singapore VTL bus tickets for trips on the first six days of February were snapped up within hours on Monday (Jan 10). 

chingshijie@asiaone.com