A video has been viewed thousands of times on Twitter and YouTube alongside a claim that it shows Malaysian nationals storming a customs office in the Malaysian state of Johor after Singapore closed its borders in an effort to curb the growing COVID-19 pandemic.
Below is a screenshot of the misleading post:, The video’s Malay-language title translates to English as: "Malaysian Workers in Singapore Rage To Return to malaysia!”, The video description translates to English as: “Happening at CIQ JB. The situation is out of control. Malaysian workers in Singapore are trying to return to Malaysia in droves.”, “CIQ JB” refers to a customs, immigration and quarantine (CIQ) office in the Malaysian city of Johor Bahru, which is often abbreviated as JB. The office\xa0is\xa0known as the\xa0Sultan Iskandar Building\xa0and is also a port of entry along the Malaysia-Singapore border., On April 7, 2020, Singapore imposed a month-long lockdown, dubbed a “circuit breaker”, in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19., "Weeks earlier\xa0on March 17, 2020, Malaysia issued its own “Movement Control Order”\xa0banning citizens from travelling abroad. The move\xa0was expected to\xa0affect\xa0at least 300,000 Malaysian nationals who cross into Singapore daily and\xa0make\xa0up a substantial part of the city-states\xa0workforce.", The video was also\xa0viewed more than 2,500 times after it was shared here on Twitter, and here and here on YouTube alongside a similar claim., The claim is false. On April 10, 2020, Malaysia’s Immigration Department shared the video alongside\xa0this statement on Facebook\xa0refuting the claim., , The statement reads: “Immigration Officials Deny Viral Video Linking to The Storming of Malaysians in Johor. Following the viral video, the purported incident of stampeding Malaysians that happened in the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) is not true. In a media statement, the Immigration Department of Malaysia (JIM) explained that the video was the atmosphere during a fire drill at BSI that was held on December 18, 2019., “JIM seriously views the act of spreading the video done by irresponsible parties that intend to create anxiety among the society.", The Immigration Department also issued another statement on Facebook here on April 10, 2020, along with photos that it said showed “the situation during late night at April 9, 2020,” at the Sultan Iskandar Building., , AFP conducted a series of keyword searches on the Malaysian Immigration Department’s social media channels and found this Instagram post published on December 19, 2019, about an “evacuation exercise” at the Sultan Iskandar Building., Latihan Pengungsian Bangunan Sultan Iskandar & JB Sentral Johor Bahru pada hari Rabu 18 Disember 2019 diantara jam 10.00 malam sehingga 12.00 tengah malam., A post shared by  Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (@imigresen) on Dec 18, 2019 at 8:02am PST, It reads, in part: “The evacuation exercise program is an annual activity conducted to make sure relevant government agencies are always in a state of preparedness to face any possibilities.”, A further keyword search on Facebook found photo albums on the accounts of the Immigration Office’s corporate communications team here and South Johor Bahru Police here, including photos of the safety drill, both dated December 19, 2019., , Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoint Authority also issued this advisory on its Facebook page on December 17, 2019\xa0about the planned safety drill, advising travellers to use an alternative port of entry for the duration of the exercise., , Copyright © AFP 2017-2020.  All rights reserved.  Users can access and consult this website and use the share features available for personal, private, and non-commercial purposes.  Any other use, in particular any reproduction, communication to the public or distribution of the content of this website, in whole or in part, for any other purpose and/or by any other means, without a specific licence agreement signed with AFP, is strictly prohibited.  The subject matter depicted or included via links within the Fact Checking content is provided to the extent necessary for correct understanding of the verification of the information concerned.  AFP has not obtained any rights from the authors or copyright owners of this third party content and shall incur no liability in this regard.  AFP and its logo are registered trademarks.
This video shows a safety drill at the Malaysian customs office building in December 2019 | AFP Fact Check