By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Oct 23: Sarawak Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts (MTCP) targets a turnaround time of 90 days for the approval of the Sarawak-Malaysia My Second Home (S-MM2H) applications.
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Datuk Sebastian Ting said of over 500 applications received from January until September this year, 281 have been approved.
“On our side, we hope to (achieve) a turnaround time of 90 days as our key performance indicator (KPI).
“This means that when we receive all the application forms, we hope to approve them every three months,” he told reporters after the 6th Malaysia Tourism Council (MTC) Gold Awards held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here last night (Oct 22).
Ting, who is also Piasau assemblyman, further said previously, the approval process for the S-MM2H was not under the MTCP.
“Previously, we (MTCP) received the documents and passed them over to another department for them to do the interviews.
“Right now, we have taken over (the process) after the Cabinet approved, so the MTCP Minister Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is the chairman of the committee overseeing the applications while I am the deputy chairman. We meet every month.
“The processing time before this is slightly longer and took up more than three months,” he added.
Meanwhile, MTCP permanent secretary Datu Hii Chang Kee said the largest approved applications for the S-MM2H came from the United States (US), followed by the United Kingdom (UK) and Hong Kong.
He also mentioned that Singapore, which ranked fourth in most approved S-MM2H applications, used to be single-digit in 2019.
“But this year, there are already over 30 of them applying, so I think S-MM2H will be gaining popularity for Sarawak because our criteria are very low,” he said.
The S-MM2H criteria include placement of fixed deposits in local banks from RM150,000 for individuals and a minimum stay period of 30 days cumulative per year, which applies to applicants 50 years of age and above.
Those who are between 40 to 50 years old must have an additional requirement which is to invest in real properties specifically for residential purposes with a total amount of at least RM600,000. — DayakDaily
