SEVERAL participants of the Malaysia My Second Home programme had to be deported because they had used Malaysia as a base for illegal activities, Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi said.
He said this in reply to a supplementary question from M. Kulasegaran (DAP – Ipoh Barat) on why some participants were sent back or returned home voluntarily and whether this was because of bureaucratic reasons.
Zahid said other participants were also deported because they did not fulfil the conditions for the programme.
However, he did not reveal the number of participants who had been deported.
“The existence of such cases is the reason the Immigration Department and police conduct thorough investigations to ensure that participants do not use the programme for illegal activities,” he said.
Answering the original question from Dr Rozaidah Talib (BN – Ampang) on moves to reduce red tape in the programme, Zahid said a one-stop centre would be established and be operational next year to process all applications.
He said that of the 5,970 participants, the majority were from China followed by Bangladesh, Britain, Taiwan, Singapore, and Indonesia.
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