Archive | January, 2007

Ah once again another case of something fucking up due to corruption/stupidity/greed etc etc.

This time it’s the Malaysia My Second Home Program (MM2H), you can read about this crap over here at the original site.

Malaysia My Second Home Programme is promoted by the Government of Malaysia to allow people from all over the world who fulfill certain criteria, to stay in Malaysia as long as possible on a social visit pass with a multiple entry visa. The Social Visit Pass is initially for a period of ten (10) years (depending on the validity of the applicants’ passport) and is renewable.

The basic premise is, if you stick RM300,000 in a fixed deposit you get a social visit pass for up to 10 years.

It seem as though some hanky panky has been going on though, fingers in the piggy bank mister?

The news report is kind of shocking too, it’s apparently so messed up…they can’t even tell us what happened? You can read about it from The Star here.

Among the requirements for those intending to make Malaysia their home under the programme is for those below the age of 50 to have a fixed deposit of RM300,000 in a local bank. They are allowed to withdraw up to RM240,000 after one year on condition that the money is invested in Malaysia.

“Unfortunately during this transition period (one year), some of the officers from a department did something which is not nice for me to sa

I can guess it’s one of the following:

1) Officers taking bribes so the applicants don’t have to make the full deposit, just immediately put the RM60,000 in
2) Officers taking bribes so the applications don’t have to make any deposit at all
3) Applicants making legitimate deposits only to find their money has disappeared
4) Applicants withdrawing their RM240,000 only to find it’s rapidly shrunk
5) Something else fishy

Whichever it was, this is a fine case for transparency, they should tell us exactly what has transpired, who was responsible and how long they are going to be in prison for..not some shite like this.

“A few officers from the department have been sacked for not following the stipulated rules and regulations on fixed deposits,” Tengku Adnan told reporters after launching a six-page special supplement entitled “Panorama 6” for the Japanese market in conjunction with Visit Malaysia 2007 at the Putra World Trade Centre here yesterday.

He said he did not want to discuss or elaborate on the problems within the department as the matter was being sorted out.

There seems be another related problem with the agents that ‘help’ people with their MM2H applications…or help relieve them of their money anyway.

As for the local agents appointed by the ministry to help foreigners with their MM2H applications, he said some were charging up to US$15,000 (RM52,500) for their services.

“The agents are only allowed to charge a maximum of US$2,500 (RM8,750) but some of them are known to have charged between US$10,000 and US$15,000 (RM35,000-RM52,500).

Shocking.

The whole thing seems like a huge stinking scam anyway.

Other mentions:

Where’s the Transparency?
Relaunch of MM2H