All successful applicants of the Malaysia My Second Home programme will now be issued with identification cards that are similar to the MyKad.
Tourism Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Ong Hong Peng said the card, which was silver in colour, was introduced on March 9.
It is being issued to all participants of the MM2H programme under the re-branding exercise which was launched yesterday by the Tengku Mahkota Kelantan Tengku Mohd Fariz Petra Ibni Sultan Ismail Petra.
“So far we have issued 30 cards,” he said at a Press conference after the launch at Saloma Bistro where Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman was also present.
“This will enable the participants to move around without the hassle of having to carry their passports with them everywhere. It is very similar to the foreign student ID cards,” he added.
He said the cards were issued at the MM2H one-stop-centre at the ministry by Immigration Department officers stationed there.
He said the ministry’s target for this year’s MM2H programme was 1,700 participants. At present there are 12,566 applicants registered as at the end of 2008.
The highest number of applicants are from China (2,231) followed by Bangladesh (1,646), UK (1,497), Japan (921) and Singapore (710).
On why Malaysia was not attracting enough of the very wealthy participants to the programme like Singapore, Ong said this was Malaysia was aiming at a different target group.
“We are targeting retirees and pensioners and people from cold climate countries. Our target groups includes those from the Middle East and Russia,” he added.
He also said the waiting period for approval of applications for the MM2H programme has been reduced from 30 to 21 days. This included the two weeks for the background and security checks on each applicant, he added.
With the re-branding of the MM2H programme, new participants will be allowed to invest in business in Malaysia while those above 50 years old can also apply to work in critical areas like engineering and the petroleum sector where the country does not have the expertise.
by June Ramli
Source: New Straits Times – March 23, 2009
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