Tiong, Abang Jo to meet next week to iron out Sarawak tourism powers

SARAWAK’S powers regarding state tourism will be discussed next week when Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing meets Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg in Kuching.

Sarawak wants greater authority and say in deciding its tourism policies now that tourism is being moved from the federal list in the Federal Constitution to the concurrent list.

The list decision was made at the last meeting of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council Technical Committee late last month.

Sarawak also wants the power to conduct courses and issue licences to its tour guides and agents handling the Sarawak–Malaysia My Second Home (S-MM2H) programme.

The upcoming meeting between Abang Johari and Tiong was revealed by Sarawak Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Minister Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Hamzah.

Tiong’s recent decisions, particularly the revocation and freezing of Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) and S-MM2H agents’ operating licences, drew severe criticism from many quarters, including Sarawak and Sabah.

What irked Sarawak is that approvals for S-MM2H applications are made by the state cabinet while the residency permit is in the hands of the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) and there have been cases where the ministry deemed it fit to override the state cabinet’s decision.

Alluding to Tiong’s earlier assurance that he will delegate powers in the S-MM2H programme, Karim said he is curious about what is being delegated.

“Does that include giving Sarawak and Sabah the powers to issue licence to the (S-MM2H) handling agents?”

Describing the rift between the state and Motac over the S-MM2H programme as “a little hiccup (that) will be settled soon”, Karim said Motac does not understand that Sabah and Sarawak’s My Second Home programmes are different from the federal MM2H.

He said Sarawak’s programme requirements are more competitive and relaxed compared to the federal MM2H, making it “more acceptable” to most applicants.

For a single application in the S-MM2H programme, the applicant is required to deposit only RM150,000 whereas it is RM300,000 for a couple.

In comparison, it is between US$150,00 and US$1 million in the federal programme – US$150,000 (RM706,802) for the silver category, US$500,000 (RM2.35 million) for the gold category and US$1 million (RM4.7 million ) for the platinum category.

In the SMM2H programme, participants can live anywhere in Malaysia and they only need to fulfill a minimum stay of 30 days a year in Sarawak.

For MM2H, participants are restricted to only staying on the peninsula.

Lower cost of living in Sarawak, compared to the peninsula, is also a plus point for the Borneo territory, especially for pensioners with limited economic resources.

Since the adoption of the S-MM2H programme, Sarawak has attracted 2,593 “high-valued” participants between 2007 and June this year, according to statistics from the Tourism, Creative Industry, and Performing Arts Ministry.

The top ten countries are China (373 participants), the UK (342), Taiwan (258), Hong Kong (251), the US (198), Singapore (194), South Korea (167), Japan (125), Australia (116) and Indonesia (115). – June 26, 2024