Tiong to meet Hajiji, Abang Jo on MM2H

The tourism, arts and culture minister says Sabah and Sarawak will have autonomy in running the Malaysia My Second Home programme within their respective borders.

(FMT) – Tourism, arts and culture minister Tiong King Sing said he will meet with Sabah chief minister Hajiji Noor and Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg to talk about the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme in East Malaysia.

“I have reiterated many times that Sabah and Sarawak will have autonomy in the MM2H programme.

“I will meet with the Sabah chief minister (Hajiji) and the Sarawak premier (Abang Johari) soon to discuss this further,” he said in a post on Facebook.

Tiong was again critical of Sabah tourism, culture and environment minister Christina Liew, asking her to be patient and focus on her duties.

“As a practising lawyer, she should understand the law better. Her assertion about determining the terms of the Sabah MM2H programme contradicts existing regulations,” he said in response to Liew’s statement that the state would take matters into its own hands should Putrajaya fail to reconsider its suspension of the operations of all licensed MM2H application agents.

On Monday, Liew denied skipping meetings hosted by the federal government on MM2H, saying she was never invited to them.

She said she and her ministry officials attended at least five federal-level tourism meetings, some chaired by Tiong, none of which discussed the MM2H programme.

This was in response to Tiong’s accusation that she or her representatives were absent despite multiple invitations to discuss MM2H.

Tiong also claimed Liew did not understand the policy on MM2H agents, emphasising that existing agents only needed to re-register to prevent misconduct, such as agents subleasing permits or cheating prospective clients.

In his Facebook post today, Tiong mentioned that during a meeting last November, representatives from all states discussed various topics, including tourism funding, the 2026 Visit Malaysia Year, and the MM2H programme.

All these were recorded in the meeting minutes, he said.

He urged Liew to either attend meetings personally or ensure her representatives do so “diligently”, to avoid wasting time.