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Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Sabah branch has submitted five governance improvement proposals to the Sabah Ministry of Rural Development (KPLB) concerning the issue of unoccupied Rumah Mesra Sabah Maju Jaya (RMSMJ) after their completion.

MACC Sabah Director Datuk Mohd Fuad Bee Basrah said the first proposal is to strengthen recipient eligibility criteria, including requiring applicants to be heads of household; mandating that owners of dilapidated homes whose applications have been approved demolish their old houses once their new homes are completed, rejecting the applications if applicants have a source of income and prohibiting the transfer of RMSMJ ownership to others except in cases where the head of household has passed away and ownership is transferred to heirs.

The second proposal, he said, calls for the establishment of a monitoring mechanism before, during and after the construction of RMSMJ units. 

The third proposal involves the introduction of a standardised RMSMJ application form.

“This would include the insertion of a reminder clause under Section 18 of the MACC Act 2009 in the application form. 

“The fifth proposal involves providing briefings and improving understanding of RMSMJ guidelines among parties involved in the programme,” he said when presenting the proposals and recommendations to KPLB, received by Sabah KPLB Permanent Secretary Datuk Myrna Jimenez, at the Ministry’s office here, recently.

The proposed improvements are based on preliminary investigations by MACC Sabah, which found that some recipients of housing assistance under the RMSMJ programme were not residing in the houses and had instead rented them out to others.

Meanwhile, Myrna welcomed the proposals and said her Ministry would take action to address the weaknesses highlighted by MACC Sabah.

Also present were MACC Sabah Governance Investigation Branch Chief Hamsia Abdul Ham and a representative from the Sabah State Integrity and Governance Division, Mohd Jamri Ag Damit.