KUALA LUMPUR: The revised criteria for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme adds an additional layer of protection for national security purposes, says Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.

       The Home Minister said the revised criteria aimed to attract genuine, high quality participants who can contribute positively to economic growth.

       He said the procedure for new participants of the MM2H programme had stricter measures for security purposes.

       However, he stressed that for previous participants, it will be decided based on a case-to-case basis due to the security aspect.

       "Some of them are disguising as the MM2H participants, but they are actually using it as a 'transit' to carry out unwanted activities, in terms of security.

       "That is why focus was given to security for the MM2H programme. In order to spur economic activities, let us attract those of high quality," he said in reply to a supplementary question from Wan Bakhtiar Wan Chik (PH-Balik Pulau) during Question Time.

       The revised terms and requirements of MM2H introduced by the federal government effective on October include an increase in the minimum monthly income to RM40,000; a minimum fixed deposit of RM1mil; a minimum liquidity requirement of RM1.5mil; a yearly visa fee of RM500 and the visa duration reduced to five years.

       Asked if the government had any intention to allow the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to handle the MM2H programme, Hamzah said that the matter was decided by the previous Pakatan Harapan government, not the current administration.

       According to Hamzah, there are more than 34,000 active principals under the MM2H programme.

       "From the total, 27,894 are from the MM2H programme, while there are 6,423 initial 'silver hair' participants," he said.

       Earlier, Hamzah said that the reason for the different policies for MM2H and immigration between the peninsula and Sabah and Sarawak was due to the special provisions outlined under Section 64 and 65 of the Immigration Act for the states to manage immigration affairs and the entry of foreigners, among others.

       "However, I will sit down together with the Sabah and Sarawak governments to standardise the programme across the country to ensure that there will be no issues raised with two sets of rules," he said.

       Meanwhile, at a separate press conference in the Parliament building, Hannah Yeoh (PH-Segambut) said the principle of security should not have been used to broadly review the present MM2H programme in Malaysia.

       "Police should know by now who's threatening security... You can't apply it as a broad principle," she said.