KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Bersatu supreme council member Tan Sri Rais Yatim today complained about the long-term multiple entry visa for Malaysians visiting China, saying that Chinese citizens may use as a means to settle in Malaysia.

In his tweet this morning, Rais claimed that the Chinese in China could marry visiting Malaysians and then bring their families to settle down in Malaysia.

“What kind of policy is this. (You) can stay in China for three years? Is their head right? No country in the world would do this just to attract tourists. This is (for them) to get married and bring their children (and) wife back to Malaysia. In three years (they) can bring (them) back to KL (Kuala Lumpur) hundreds of thousands of new people,” he wrote in his Twitter account @DrRaisYatim.

Rais’ tweet garnered hits from several accounts that seemed to support Umno.

Kuasa Melayu (@MelayuBangkit) tweeted in jest to Rais, telling him: “Not to act weird, ask your ‘gang’ there”, alluding to Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the home minister.

Meanwhile, MalaysianCitizen (@MalaysianCitiz1) supported Rais’ theory suggesting that Bersatu’s Pakatan Harapan ally DAP — a frequent target for Umno and PAS for its non-Malay support base — as responsible for encouraging Chinese nationals to settle in Malaysia.

“True! That is the loophole. That’s why DAP met with @my_malaysia (Muhyiddin) to get citizenship. That is their hidden agenda to sell this country! Stick with the old BN policy when comes to Citizenship! Many Fake Marriages just to stay in Malaysia and get citizenship,” it tweeted.

However, Twitter account Aleksis N (@AleksisN1) argued that the visa could actually help the growing number of Malaysians who are working in China which has the biggest economy in the world currently.

“This is a good thing, is it not? Working Malaysians have more freedom,” it tweeted.

On Sunday, in conjunction with the China-Malaysia Year of Culture and Tourism and Visit Malaysia Year 2020, The People’s Republic of China Embassy released a notice on multiple entry visas to China to better facilitate applications by Malaysian.

The embassy in its Facebook posting listed several visa categories that allow Malaysians to enter China up to 180 days consecutively and three years with one visa.

Previously, Malaysians could only stay for six months on a multiple-entry tourist visa.