KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Housing and Real Estate Developers Association has urged the Federal Government to relax the conditions set in the latest requirements for the Malaysia MySecond Home (MM2H) programme.
The MM2H programme will resume from October onwards with revised requirements.
Among the most problematic for the applicants was the minimum monthly offshore income, which was raised from RM10,000 to RM40,000 per month.
Its president Datuk Chua Soon Ping said the government's move to raise the bar defeats the spirit of the programme of encouraging foreigners to invest in Malaysia.
He said the previous MM2H programme should be renewed with the original terms.
He said the country is now in need of foreign investments as the economy has been badly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The spirit of MM2H and the social pass is to attract qualified foreigners to spend more time in Malaysia, allowing social, cultural and economic exchange.
"Foreign spending and investment will help boost the local economy.
"In times like this, we should be lowering thresholds to attract more foreign investment, to help boost the local economy.
"We should attract more foreign knowledge workers, skilled workers, professionals and entrepreneurs who will have positive impact to the building of our nation," he said.
He was referring to the announcement of Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz who announced MM2H will be reactivated with improvements to policies and application conditions to balance the security and economic aspects.
He said new applications for the programme would be processed and managed by the Immigration Department beginning October after all legal processes are completed.
Chua said the new MM2H schemes requirement are not only unattractive but also too high.
He said Malaysia risks losing it all as the country is also competing with other countries like Thailand, Singapore and Australia.
"The real estate market is already impacted due to the pandemic and the lockdown, how can the country move towards speedy economy recovery if such stringent policy is implemented in October," he added.
He said that we should not deviate from the intent and purpose of the original objective by drastically changing the basic terms especially during challenging times like this.
For example, raising the active income requirement from RM10,000 to RM40,000 per month is unrealistic, as the pandemic affected the whole world, including the applicants.
"With such high financial requirement, the applicant has plenty of options to choose from.
"With the new cash and income requirement, applicants can easily get a Permanent Residency (PR) visa in some countries, instead of just a five year renewable social pass that MM2H offers," he said.
Chua said Malaysia has already missed the golden opportunity in 2020 as many wealthy Hong Kong Chinese left the island nation when it was facing political turmoil.
"Many of them wanted to come to Malaysia but our doors were closed. More parties should be consulted on the formation of such policies, especially stakeholders in the real estate industry as a significant part of the programmes allow the purchase of properties in Malaysia," he said.
Towards this end, Chua opined the MM2H programme should not come under the immigration department's purview, but that of the International Trade and Industries Ministry (MITI) or the tourism authorities, which works towards promoting more visitors into Malaysia.
"The Immigration Department can be a part of the deciding committee but the jurisdiction however should be handled by the Tourism Ministry or agencies that actually does the job of promoting Malaysia, as they would better understand the market and know the needs of customers." he said.
Chua said the focus on persons who have an active income overseas indicates the person is most likely working or running a business.
"In such case, what is the possibility of those with active work or business overseas staying 90 days a year in Malaysia?
"This requirement is equivalent to the condition of a permanent resident (PR) visa in many countries (but MM2H is just a five year social pass)," he said.