Enjoying life in Malaysia

Enjoying life in Malaysia
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By Pang Hong Yee

Jolly Green House: Australian retirees Pat and Alan Jones find Penang a wonderful place to settle down under the Malaysia My Second Home programme. They chose a traditional Chinese shophouse on Muntri Street for its sense of history and culture. They live above the shophouse and operate a quaint cafe below.
MALAYSIA is home to a lot of natural treasures. From white sandy beaches and clear blue waters on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia to the more urbane lifestyle of city centres on the west coast – we are truly a plural society, with a bit of everything under the sky.

On the other side of the South China Sea, the eastern States of Sabah and Sarawak are still covered with lush tropical jungle. The cities, towns and villages are populated by a diverse range of ethnic communities. For instance, indigeneous Sarawakian communities still remain true to their cultural identity despite colonisation by the White Rajahs, followed by the country’s Independence.

Malaysia’s rich cultural heritage and multi-lingual society is well-known throughout the world, attracting attention from holidaymakers as well as retirees who wish to escape to a place where it’s sunny, peaceful, breath-taking and with delicious and inexpensive food at every corner.

Offering a relatively high standard of living, Malaysia is a country that has much to offer for a comfortable and relaxing second home.

All the cities and major towns in Malaysia are supported by excellent infrastructure and are either easily accessible by sea, air or land.

The narrow balcony of the shophouse owned by Pat and Alan is a delightful place to have breakfast and watch the world go by.
And the healthcare system in the country includes top-notch medical centres and private clinics with 24-hour emergency services. There are also a significantly number of international schools and colleges in almost all cities.

High-end condominiums and gated properties as well as affordable housing developments at relatively reasonable prices offer local and foreign home-buyers a wide selection.

Prime properties in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Penang are still highly affordable compared to Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and even smaller cities in Japan.

With the aim of attracting foreigners especially wealthy retirees to make Malaysia their second home, the Malaysia My Second Home Programme (MM2H) was relaunched last April. Subsequently, the MM2H One-Stop Centre was established on May 19 last year under the Ministry of Tourism.

MM2H Centre

"Antiquing": Pat and Alan with a vintage cigarette box they found in one of the antique shops in George Town.
This new centre on the 23rd floor of Menara Dato’ Onn in the Putra World Trade Centre is now the co-ordinating body for MM2H.

Services include:

* application

* counselling

* resource & information

The centre is available to both local and foreign parties including individuals and companies.

The One-Stop Centre, or the MM2H Centre, also acts as the hub for information, reference and research on the effectiveness and impact of the programme.

It is also the policy-making secretariat which plans the direction of the MM2H programme.

Engaging themselves in local culture enriches Pat and Alan's new life in Penang.
Over 10,000 successful applicants

The MM2H programme can trace its beginnings to the inaugural Silver Hair Programme launched in 1996. Since then 10,308 foreign individuals have chosen Malaysia as their second home.

Within the first six months of this year, 757 applications were approved. Out of this figure, most of them came from the UK, Bangladesh, South Korea, Japan and China.

With MM2H campaigns in countries like Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Northern Europe and the UK, in conjunction with Visit Malaysia Year 2007 programmes, more foreigners are getting acquainted with living in Malaysia.

Even former Malaysian citizens residing in countries such as Australia and the United Kingdom are applying to relocate back to Malaysia under the MM2H programme which offer a speedy way of coming home.

* Got a question? Further enquiries of MM2H may be channelled to the MM2H Centre via 6-03-26963367, 6-03-26963354, 6-03-2696 3361, 6-03-26963351, 6-03-26963366 or visit www.mm2h.gov.my