New Mm2h Rules Put Sabah At Great Disadvantage Says Leiking

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New MM2H conditions that require a monthly income of RM40,000 will make it difficult for the state government to promote Sabah as an investment haven, says Darrel Leiking.KOTA KINABALU: Former international trade and industry minister Darell Leiking claims Sabah will be at a great disadvantage when the revised Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme is implemented this October.
Leiking believed the new rules being implemented will impede the state’s ability to attract more foreign investors and subsequently affect efforts to resuscitate the economy and provide employment to locals.
While foreign investors normally have to consider factors such as incentives, labour, logistics and operational expenditure before deciding to invest in Malaysia, he said the well-being of their skilled citizens who are here as expatriates is equally important for them.
“During their stay here in Sabah, these expatriates will bring their families too and require houses, so the revised MM2H conditions that require a monthly income of RM40,000 will make it difficult for the state government to promote Sabah as an investment haven.
“We are already at a great disadvantage as enablers with poor logistics, high tariffs for electricity and energy, having minerals that we don’t own and an unstable water supply,” Leiking said.
“If the Sabah government’s priority for the post-Covid-19 era is to provide employment to thousands of our locals through investments by foreign investors and multi-national companies, we will need these skilled expatriates,” he said in a statement here today.
Leiking, who is also Warisan deputy president, said Sabah especially needed skilled expatriates in the medium- and high-tech manufacturing sector as well as the oleo-chemical and oil and gas industries.
He added that although local graduates were academically qualified, they did not have the experience acceptable to investors.
“It is because of skilled expatriates that the transfer of technology can happen. They come here and show our local graduates how things are done.
After being frozen last year for “review and further improvements”, the home ministry announced on Aug 11 that the country’s long-term visa programme for foreigners would be back online in October but with 10 major changes.
The programme will also be taken over by the immigration department from the tourism and culture ministry.
In a statement, the tourism and culture ministry said its MM2H centre would carry on assisting existing MM2H participants until Sept 15.
Established in 2002, the programme issued successful applicants a 10-year visa without any conditions on the number of days they needed to stay here every year.
However, the maximum period of the visa has now been reduced to five years and with a duration of stay of at least 90 days (cumulative) in a year.
Another change is an increase in applicants’ compulsory fixed deposits in local banks from between RM150,000 and RM300,000 to RM1 million, and an offshore monthly income of RM40,000, up from RM10,000.
Leiking challenged the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state government to show “its assertiveness” over the MM2H review, which he said could potentially cause Sabah great economic loss in the long run.
He said it was also imperative that the state sit down with all the stakeholders affected by the review, including the Sabah housing and real estate development association, and Sabah Law Society (SLS), to get their input over the matter.
“If necessary, the state government should express its official disapproval of the decision by the federal government,” he said. - FMT

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