GEORGE TOWN, Aug 13 — The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (REHDA) hopes the government is open for a better dialogue with real estate players with regards to changes in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme.
Penang REHDA chairman Tan Hun Beng said while it welcomes the decision to reactivate the MM2H programme, several changes made to the policy might scare off potential applicants and existing holders.
“There is a steep competition between Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore; foreigners have many options and in order to attract them here, we must ensure the ease of application.
“There should be a better dialogue between us and the relevant authorities on how to make it work before any final decisions are made,” he told reporters here today.
Also present was the state’s Local Government Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo, who said that this programme had benefitted the country with the presence of 57,748 MM2H holders throughout Malaysia, contributing RM11.98 billion to the economy annually.
Jagdeep said one of the changes to the policy that raised concerns was that the participants need to make an asset declaration and prove that they own liquid assets of at least RM1.5 million, which is a significant amount compared with RM350,000 and RM500,000 according to respective categories, previously.
Meanwhile, commenting on the progress of Penang Saring COVID-19 (PSC-19), he said the programme had recorded registrations of 35,000 individuals for voluntary COVID-19 screening and was expected to reach its target of screening 40,000 individuals by Sunday.
“Of the 35,000 individuals that have registered, 29,876 have been screened and 3.12 per cent or 935 individuals were detected to be positive COVID-19,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency