HOME Minister Hamzah Zainudin assured today that the stringent requirements for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme would be revised but added that terms must be beneficial to the government.

The requirements, set around 20 years ago, were in need of an update, he told a press conference today.

The home minister, who has come under fire over harsher revised requirements, said about 8,000 participants out of a total of 57,478 registered under the programme, have never even resided in Malaysia.

And only 10,000 participants had bought assets in the country, Hamzah added.

Of the total of 57,478 registrants, 28,249 are principal participants, while the remaining 28,229 are dependents.

Hamzah said Putrajaya wanted to ensure the programme was of benefit to the government, which he said subsidised the participants in various areas.

“We provide subsidies for petrol, sugar, gas, and many more types of subsidies,” he said, adding that this was “very profitable” for participants.

“So we want to have a balance between helping them (live here) and also generating income for the national economy.

“We should not look at it (the requirements) from one angle only. We need to see them in terms of our (the country’s) future,” he said.

Hamzah said existing MM2H participants should not be upset over the new rules and assured that the ministry would review each case.

“I am ready to look at those who are already registered and in our country.

“If they have huge loans or savings in our country, I will relook at their position,” he said.

The new MM2H rules announced recently will take effect in October.

Among the new conditions set is that participants must have a minimum monthly offshore income of RM40,000 instead of RM10,000 previously, and a fixed deposit here of RM1 million instead of RM150,000 or RM300,000 previously, depending on age.

They must prove ownership of liquid assets amounting to RM1.5 million and spend at least 90 days in a year in Malaysia.

Expatriate groups have slammed the new rules, saying they were impossible for programme participants and would-be applicants, many of whom are retirees who no longer have jobs or whose liquidated assets would be used to support their living here.

Hamzah said today that the total number of programme participants amount to about 1% of the country’s population.

“We can’t go beyond that so we tried to cap it by announcing the conditions for applications,” he said. – September 1, 2021.