Support From The Government of M



	Support From The Government of Malaysia The MM2H Programme is not a private sector initiative programme. Indeed, this programme is officially initiated, organized and launched by none other than the Malaysian Government. In other words, it is a national mission of the Malaysian Government to see the MM2H Programme be successfully implemented. Any abuse on the part of any licenced MM2H agent is certainly not going to be tolerated and will be dealt severely. Therefore, participants of MM2H Programme can have peace of mind knowing that the Government of Malaysia also shares their ultimate aim to make the MM2H Programme a big success. Low Cost of Living Compared to many western countries, Japan or even Singapore, the cost of living in Malaysia is much lower. In general, lower cost of living inevitably means higher purchasing power. If you are earning an income from a developed country (whether it is in the form of pension or savings), you will found out that with the same amount of money that you have, you can purchase more things here in Malaysia than in your home country. This stronger purchasing power leads to a much better standard of living and quality of life. With the price of petrol is just RM 1.70 (USD 0.47) per litre, no wonder cost of living in Malaysia is low. Moreover, The Swiss Bank UBS did a survey of 71 cities around the world and found Kuala Lumpur to be the cheapest based on a survey of the cost of 122 goods and services geared to western European consumer habits Another interesting point is the fact that any remittances from overseas are not taxable. Therefore, if your funds are not taxed at source this means there is no ‘leakage’ on your income brought to Malaysia. Good Infrastructure Unlike some other developing countries, Malaysia clearly has good infrastructure such as well developed and maintained network of highways and roads. There are many expressways and highways in the city area itself. Even almost all the rural area roads nowadays are bitumen roads. Furthermore, the country’s telecommunication networks, whether fixed lines or mobile communication, can be said parallel to the developed countries’. Moreover, the launching of Multimedia Super Corridor, (a Malaysian version of Silicon Valley) shows a strong commitment by the Malaysian government to become a leading IT and multimedia hub for the region. According to "The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific” (UNESCAP) Report in 2007, Malaysia is among 'Top Five' countries (apart from New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Singapore) with internet access in Asia Pacific, with 55 per cent to 80 per cent of their populations having access to the Internet by 2007. Friendly Nature of Malaysian Generally, Malaysians are so accommodating and friendly wherever you go. You will find out that it’s very refreshing to see people in Malaysia will always give you a warm welcome and always smiling. If you reside in Malaysia, you can instantly feel the natural friendliness of Malaysians, especially your neighbours who will make you feel so welcomed. This is not a gimmick. It is a natural attitude of Malaysians towards foreigners. Sometimes it seems that generally Malaysians practice double-standard treatment towards their own local countrymen. Normally, foreigners will get preferential treatment. This extra-kindness attitude towards foreigners perhaps originated from the culture of our forefathers who always gave priority and better treatment to ‘guests’, starting from guests of the house right towards guests of the country. No Language Barrier Even though the Malay Language is the national language of Malaysia, English as the international language is widely used in Malaysia, especially by the business community. Moreover, Malaysia used to be a British colony. Compared to some neighbouring countries, the people on the street of Malaysia generally converse well with the foreigners, at least in simple English. This fact certainly makes your daily life in Malaysia interesting because there is practically no communication barrier between foreigners and the general public. You will be impressed by the ease of communication in Malaysia. No points for a foreigner to settle down in another beautiful country but ended up using ‘sign language’ most of the times to communicate with another human beings in the area. Instead of wasting your time to start learning a new foreign language, you may prefer to utilise that time to start exploring every part and corner of beautiful Malaysia. Multi-Cultural Society Malay, Chinese and Indian are the three major races in Malaysia. Besides those three races, there are indeed many more other ethnic groups such as Kadazan, Iban, Bidayuh et cetera. Each ethnic group has its own unique culture. Hence, as a ‘truly Asia’ country, Malaysia offers you an interesting new world of diversified multicultural experience. Political Stability & Safety Malaysia takes great pride in claiming that the country is probably one of the most politically stable democratic countries in the world. Therefore, there is extremely little possibility of any wide-spread anarchy in Malaysia that can jeopardize or compromise your personal safety, unlike in some other developing countries. You don’t want to wake-up in one fine morning only to see many military tanks nicely parked in front of your house, due to unrest and anarchy like what happened in a neighbouring country, do you? Malaysia has never been in the vicinity of that kind of chaos and unrest situation. When a foreigner lives in another country, the last thing he wants to do is to rush to the airport to catch the first place back home to his origin country due to civil unrest of his adopted country. This has never happened in Malaysia and will never be allowed to happen in Malaysia, ever. Numbers never lie. Hence, the crime rate statistics that shows very low crime rate index in Malaysia is the ultimate proof that Malaysia is one of the safest countries in the world. The Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends’, shows that under the category of ‘Total Crimes per Capita’, the UK is ranked 6th in the world with a crime rate of 85.5 per 1,000 people, whereas Malaysia is very much safer at a very far lower rank with a crime rate of just 6.9 per 1,000 people. ‘The Eighth United Nations Survey of Crime Trends’ also shows that under the category of ‘Murders with Firearms’, Thailand is ranked 3rd in the world with 20,032 cases while the UK is ranked 39th with 14 cases. What about Malaysia? Malaysia is so safe to the extent that it is not even included in the top 50 countries in the world for that crime index category. Weather Not only Malaysia enjoys a very stable political climate, but also the weather is very pleasant all year round. This tropical climate will enable you to get up early and not have to feel pinched and hunched over with the cold. Hence, Malaysia’s warm and pleasant weather with moderate rain throughout the year is another plus point for your pleasant living. The average temperature all year round is 26.7ºC. It is rarely the extreme heat found in some countries. The fact that most homes, cars, offices and shopping areas are air-conditioned makes it easy to escape the worst of it. One thing for sure, the climate here is much more pleasant than a typical cold, wet, and windy British weather. Since Malaysia is not located at the Pacific Ring of Fire Zone whereby there is earthquake and active volcanoes, the possibility of any earthquake in Malaysia is practically zero. History has proven that Malaysia is relatively safer from natural disaster as compared to some of the neighbouring countries. Surely, again the MM2H visa holders do not want to start a new life in a foreign country only to wake up in one fateful morning discovering that there are cracks similar to the size of Wembley Stadium in their house compound because of the earthquake, do they? It has happened in other neighbouring country. But due to its location outside the Pacific Ring of Fire Zone, it has never happened in Malaysia. Even though, no doubt that there is monsoon season from November to March each year, it will only affect the East Coast of Malaysia and it has no effect to the West Coast of Malaysia whereby Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Langkawi, Johor Melaka and other popular tourist areas are located. This monsoon season in the east coast part of Malaysia is nothing. The monsoon so-called 'storm' is just like a small vibrant inside the cup of your morning coffee as compared to ‘hurricane’ or other big storms phenomenon in the South Pacific islands . The fact remains that it is too mild to be compared with the effect of ‘Hurricane Katrina’. What about Tsunami? If Malaysia, a relatively big country, affected by Tsunami, then our ‘small-little-dot’ neighbour, Singapore, will be wiped out from the world map forever. The fact remains that Sumatera Island of Indonesia becomes a natural great wall that prevents disaster such as Tsunami from affecting Malaysian coastline. Moreover, Cameron Highlands, Fraser Hill, and Borneo Highlands are some of the highland residential areas and resorts with spring-like weather that are available throughout the country. Recreation & Entertainment As a progressive developing country, Malaysia has a very high golf course to population ratio. There are also many theme parks and water sports facilities throughout the country, for your leisure activities. To ensure your daily life in Malaysia is always full of excitement and adventures, our country also has a lot of jungle trails park and National Parks such as Endau-Rompin National Park, Kinabalu National Park, Mulu National Park, Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Kenyir National Park and Tanjung Piai Wetland Park. Thus, life in Malaysia will never be full of boredom. Great Malaysian Cuisine As a truly multicultural society, participants of MM2H Programme will be spoilt of choice, as far as food is concerned. Each race in Malaysia has its own unique ‘King of Food’. These varieties of food that can be purchased at a very reasonable price will certainly make your daily life full of ‘feel-good’ aura. For less than a £1 you can have a casual, but delicious snack at one of the hawker stalls Moreover, Malaysia also has a lot of tropical fruits. These unique and exotic fruits are available throughout the year nationwide. As a Muslim country, the halal food eateries are available in every corner of the country. Even all the famous international franchise restaurants such as KFC, McDonald, Pizza-Hut, Burger King and Subway are guaranteed to serve halal foods. Thus, whether it is halal or non-halal food, Malaysia is definitely your paradise for food. You can get all types of food here, anywhere and anytime 24 hours a day. Yes! It’s a ‘All Night Long’ event, because a lot of restaurants and hawker stalls in Malaysia really never sleep! Healthcare & Medical Facility The fact that all this while Malaysia has been promoting “Medical Tourism” to the world, shows our serious commitment towards providing world-class medical facilities. It is a well known fact that many patients from neighbouring countries have made Malaysia the preferred place for them to recuperate and seek medical treatment. Malaysia has many well equipped, modern hospitals with state of the art equipment and well qualified doctors and nurses and it comes with a very reasonable medical fee which is much lower than other neighbouring country. The advancement in facilities has reached a point where Malaysia actively promotes Health Tourism and it has slowly been gaining in popularity as word spreads about the quality of medical services available in Malaysia. Medical services are available at both public facilities and private facilities in Malaysia. The compulsory medical insurance requirement for MM2H visa holders will indeed cover most of their medical needs. Because of the betterment of public service delivery system, the ‘government hospital’ nowadays provide much better facilities and certainly more efficient than the condition 10 years ago. The government hospitals like Selayang Government Hospital, Kuala Lumpur General Hospital and Sultanah Aminah Hospital (just to name a few) also provide modern facility on par with the private hospitals. The government hospital is basically free-of-charge even though for certain treatment a very minimum fee is incurred. Even the cost of seeing a doctor in a private practice is very reasonable. It is also relatively easy to see a specialist and unlike some countries you do not require a referral from a General Practitioner (GP) before you can get access to them. The charges for a consultation usually run around RM24 (USD6) to RM50 (USD14) for a GP in a private non-government clinic. Beautiful Islands and Beaches The word ‘boredom’ does not have a place in the dictionary of life in Malaysia. Compared to certain city in the Middle East that resembling a huge construction site with its man-made island and man-made beach, Malaysia is blessed by God with its unparallel natural beauty. It is not wrong for me to say that how good a human creation is, it will never be able to compete with whatever God has created. There are lot of beautiful places, islands, beaches, waterfalls, jungles, mountain and outskirt areas that MM2H visa holders can explore throughout their stay in Malaysia. Among the most beautiful islands in Malaysia are Tioman Island, Langkawi Island, Pangkor Laut Island, Perhentian Island and Sipadan Island. Pangkor Laut Island Resort even won the prestigious award of ‘Number One in the World in Top 100 List’ by the Condé Nast Traveller UK magazine in year 2003. It is in fact an eye opener that the world best island is not located in the Mediterranean or Caribbean region, but in Malaysia indeed. Let us see what the rich and famous said about Pangkor Laut Island Resort: "This place is enchanting, it is a paradise. The morning when I woke up I went out and I was really moved, almost crying, to see what beautiful things God had done. This is a paradise." - The late Luciano Pavarotti "Pangkor Laut was everything one could hope for in a honeymoon because it was restful, romantic, private and it was perfect." - Joan Collins "What I've experienced so far has been nothing short of perfect, on the basis of the way I was treated, and the facilities here (Pangkor Laut) are superb - comfortable, private, very well appointed. It's very impressive, I must say." - Sir Jackie Stewart Tioman Island, another island located in Malaysia, has been hailed by the Time magazine in the 1970s, as one of the ten most beautiful islands in the world. In 2003, National Geographic discovered amphibians and reptiles that are rare and endemic to the island and once again putting Tioman Island in the limelight. In conclusion, the only problem that you may face is finding the time to do all that you want in a paradise called ‘Malaysia’!