THE federal government, through the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (MOTAC) will delegate full authority over the Sabah-Malaysia My Second Home (Sabah-MM2H) programme to the state soon.
Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said this during a meeting on Sabah-MM2H with Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister (KePKAS) Datuk Christina Liew at the National Heritage Department under MOTAC on Thursday (July 18).
According to Liew, the delegation of full authority will mean that the Sabah-MM2H programme will fall under the supervision of her ministry as approved by the state government, the Borneo Post reported.
“This means Sabah can come up with its own terms and conditions for Sabah-MM2H. We will be empowered to process applications and issue the MM2H pass to successful applicants,” Liew was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday (July 19).
“And I was assured that the enforcement task will be passed to us whereby we can come up with our own version.”
During the meeting, Liew and Tiong exchanged views on the management of MM2H and Sabah-MM2H.
Liew further noted that Sabah has a state committee to oversee the Sabah-MM2H programme, and said her ministry will appoint representatives to handle participants’ applications.
It was pointed out that existing companies previously licensed by MOTAC under the MM2H programme have to get a special licence from KePKAS and comply with Sabah-MM2H terms and conditions if they wish to switch to Sabah-MM2H.
While acknowledging that the revised terms and regulations for new participants under the MM2H (Malaysia) programme will serve as a guideline, Liew stressed Sabah will not be bound by them.
“Sabah will appoint its own committee to study the terms and conditions of the Sabah-MM2H Programme,” she remarked.
“However, it was a good meeting between KePKAS and MOTAC where several terms and conditions for participation were cleared. We hope there will be more discourse on the programme from time to time.” – July 19, 2024
Main pic credit: Bernama
