KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — Chinese nationals from Hong Kong are welcome to apply for the Malaysia, My Second Home (MM2H) scheme so long as they are not fugitives and are genuinely interested, Datuk Isham Ishak said today.

The secretary-general of the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) said, however, that there has not been a major rise in applicants from the special administrative region of China that is experiencing pro-democracy protests.

"If there are any new participants in Hong Kong interested to come to Malaysia, they are more than welcome, but they must be genuine.

"I mean that they are not running away from something,” Isham said during a press conference here.

Isham added that background checks would also be done on all MM2H applicants.

Last week, Reuters, citing a government official, reported that the MM2H programme that seeks to attract rich expatriates to live in Malaysia drew 251 applications from Hong Kong residents this year, compared to 193 applications which were approved last year.

The report cited property consultants saying interest in the MM2H programme has surged among natives of the wealthy Asian financial hub, which is still wracked by anti-Beijing protests that began over 11 weeks ago.

The report said that it was not immediately clear how many applications were received last year from Hong Kong.