SINGAPORE: Malaysia's inquiry into the case of two Singaporean women who were allegedly detained, forced to undress and do squats will take "a couple of weeks" to complete.
This is according to Malaysia's High Commissioner to Singapore Md Hussin Nayan, who was at an arts event at ION Orchard.
The two women said they crossed immigration lines accidentally because they saw no one at an immigration counter and had seen a green light ahead of them.
They were detained by Malaysia's Immigration authorities, who are investigating the incident and have suspended the officers concerned.
Commenting on the case, Md Hussin Nayan said he hopes the incident will not cast a shadow on relations between the two countries.
He said: "My only hope is that Singaporeans don't shy away from going to Malaysia. This incident in JB is definitely unfortunate but Malaysian authorities are taking measures to investigate and to punish those actions that aren't in conformity with the standards of operating procedures."
Well-known women's rights activist Marina Mahathir, who was also at the Singapore event, said that Malaysians are also expecting an explanation.
She said: "I can tell you a lot of Malaysians are very, very upset about it, particularly the women's groups.
"We think this was really uncalled for and we had this incident before with the police, not the immigration, and there was an order out that this shouldn't be done at all.
"This is a bit of a shock to all of us. And the two immigration officers have been suspended pending investigations, so we expect some explanation for this."
She added that Malaysia was generally a safe place and that Singaporeans should not have to worry about entering the country.
At a separate event in his constituency, Singapore's Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said Singapore will be watching the issue carefully.
"The allegations made by the two ladies raise serious concerns and we're happy that a committee has been set up and Malaysian authorities have said they are going to investigate this," said Mr Shanmugam.
Reports say the Malaysian panel to investigate the incident convened in Johor on 16 June to start the inquiry.
