The processing of applications to the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H)programme should be decentralised, said Penang Tourism Development and Environment committee chairman Teng Chang Yeow.

“Approval for MM2H applications have been under the purview of the Tourism Ministry since three years ago.

“Decentralising the processing of the applications will make things easy for the applicants,” he told newsmen after chairing a special roundtable discussion with stakeholders who are directly and indirectly involved in the MM2H programme in Penang recently.

Some 24 representatives from an airline company, develo- per companies, banks, research institutes, property agencies and accounting firms attended the inaugural meeting held in collaboration with Social Econo- mic Research Institute (SERI), Malaysia Airlines and Henry Butcher.

Seri and Henry Butcher have set up a working sub-committee to formulate action plans based on the ideas mooted during the brainstorming session.

Teng also said property developers as well as marketing and financing sectors should be roped in to promote the programme together with the relevant agencies.

“We will be looking into all aspects including preparing brochures and taking integrated approaches to attract buyers.

“We are targeting tourists from Britain, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Indonesia,” said Teng.

Among those present were Real Estate and Housing Deve-lopers’ Association (Penang) chairman Datuk Jerry Chan Fook Sing and Henry Butcher Malaysia honorary chairman and business advisor Datuk Seri Kamal Hashim.

Andy Davison, a publisher and one of the founders of The Expat magazine, said Malaysia would be losing out to other markets in the region if it kept changing its policies.

“This country offers great po-tential. But the opportunities are not fully utilised,” he said.

Chan said Penang’s selling points in attracting MM2H par-ticipation included comfort, cuisine and affordability.

Source: theStar

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