MM2H visa holders from Medan miss Penang

GEORGE TOWN: Things are looking bleak for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa holders from Indonesia.

They have been trying to get back to Penang for months without luck and now that all visitors from Indonesia are barred as of next Monday, there is nothing more they can do except remain in limbo.

An MM2H agent revealed that his clients from Medan had been trying for months to get back to their homes in Penang.

“They couldn’t get approval even though the government announced that MM2H visa holders could come back from June.

“Even when they stated that they needed to come back for medical treatment, they still could not get permission,” said Jackson Khoo, business development director (Indonesia division) of Zeon Properties Sdn Bhd.

But since there are a few more days before all Indonesians are disallowed from entering Malaysia, he said his clients were making a lastditch effort to come back.

“They really miss Penang and desperately want to come back because they can see Penang is much safer from Covid-19 than their homeland,” he said.

Khoo added that they would send messages to him regularly to ask for updates on when they could fly to Penang.

An MM2H visa holder in Medan, who only wanted to be known as Suri, said she bought a condominium unit in Penang last year for RM1.5mil.

“We would come and stay for four or five days a month and bring friends along.

“All of us long to return to Penang.

We have many Covid-19 cases here and we don’t feel safe at all.

“In June, we received a report that MM2H visa holders were allowed to go back to Penang. I applied but still could not.

“I feel it is not fair, but I partly understand how Malaysia needs to be careful,” said Suri in a phone interview.

Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers Penang chairman Datuk Ooi Eng Hock welcomes the move even though he foresees problems for factories in need of special skilled labour.

“We support the tightening of our borders. But many factories use enterprise-level software that are custom-programmed by Indian software engineers.

“If something goes wrong with the software that cannot be resolved remotely, it will be necessary for the software engineers from India to fly in. Maybe the government can consider such urgent cases,” said Ooi.

Meanwhile, a spokesman from Island Hospital said that since the government was completely barring Indonesians from entering, the hospital would obey and stop accepting medical evacuees from that country.