SARAWAK has tightened the screening process on foreign nationals wanting to make it their second home via the Malaysia-My-Second Home (MM2H) programme.
State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Karim Hamzah said the state had rejected certain foreigners who submitted their applications after discovering they had health issues as well as "questionable backgrounds".
"We have tightened the screening processes on those foreigners applying to make Sarawak their second home via the MM2H programme.
"We had already rejected applicants we found to have health concerns.
"There are also those with questionable backgrounds whose applications had been rejected.
"We don't want to see the MM2H programme misused by certain people to come and live here and end up committing activities relating to fraud, scams, money laundering, prostitution ...," he said at an event in Kuching.
Karim said last year alone, 560 foreigners had applied to live in Sarawak via the MM2H programme.
"They wanted to bring their families with them to Sarawak too.
"That is a big number of foreigners wanting to come to live in Sarawak," he said.
Recently, Karim had announced that nationals from mainland China top the list of foreigners interested in making Sarawak their second home.
These China citizens are the number one applicants, he said.
Karim said China citizens like to make Sarawak their second home due to similarities in culture, language, food, climate and also due to the favourable costs of living and conducive living. – March 19, 2025
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