KUALA LUMPUR:The government has not cancelled the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, instead it is temporarily frozen, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the temporary suspension was to allow the ministry to make detailed specifications and improvements to the programme, comprising safety, property, wellbeing and economic impact.

“Actually we have not finalised the cancellation of the programme, we are reviewing and devising certain conditions. That is the reason why we returned the applications, to enable them (applicants) to meet the new conditions.

“We do not want to approve their applications and later hold them back thus disappointing the applicants. The deposits are not forfeited, applicants can get them back from their agents,” she said during the question-and-answer session, in response to a supplementary question from Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya) on how the government could provide financial aid to programme participants who had paid their deposits.

Nancy said although the ministry was aware that the suspending of the programme would affect the country’s economy but it has to be done as the programme had never undergone a detailed review since it was launched in 2002.

Replying to a supplementary question from Datuk Mohd Salim Sharif (BN-Jempol), the minister said a total of 66,458 applications had been approved since 2018 to date and China recorded the highest number of applicants for the programme.

Besides China, applicants also came from Japan, Bangladesh, the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Iran and India, she added.

-- BERNAMA