KOTA KINABALU: Sabah will launch its Sabah Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme with applications opening on Monday (July 1), after over a month of disputes with the Federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry. The issue began when the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry issued a circular on May 27 to all licensed agents handling MM2H applications, including those in Sabah and Sarawak, directing them to stop their operations. The Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry then wrote to the Federal ministry the following day, detailing its preparations to launch the Sabah MM2H programme.
On May 31, the Federal ministry replied stating that no one was allowed to process new applications for Sabah-MM2H until further notice. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew criticised the move and said Sabah would continue with its Sabah MM2H with or without federal approval, resulting in her Federal counterpart Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing defending the decision. During the launch of the Sabah MM2H on Sunday (June 30), Liew said that although the launch is a month later than scheduled, she is glad the programme can proceed with updated terms and conditions.
With the latest guidelines, she said she is confident that there will be no policy clashes with Federal laws, as both state and Federal Cabinets had agreed on the terms. Liew said the timeline for application approval for the Sabah MM2H programme will generally take between eight to 10 weeks. She added.