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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 20. August 27 1979
M'SIA & Spore News
[unclear: M'SIA] & Spore News
[unclear: Housing] Problem in [unclear: Malaysia]
[unclear: uty] Housing and Local Government [unclear: ter], Datuk Samy Vellu, recently stated that [unclear: ird] of Kuala Lumpur's population are [unclear: ers], and that squatters are mushrooming in other new areas like Perak. "Overnight will be squatter houses there.....not just [unclear: at] several."
[unclear: he] same press release he described the steps [unclear: vernment] intends taking to overcome the [unclear: ter] problem:— the decentralisation of [unclear: tries] and more low cost housing schemes [unclear: nits] costing less than M$20,000.
[unclear: how] true and sincere is the Malaysian [unclear: nment] towards solving all these squatters [unclear: ems]? Let us examine a bit in detail.
[unclear: e] housing problems in Malaysia are not They have been in existence for the past ten at least. According to the 1970 Population Housing Census in Malaysia, the population [unclear: e] country was 10,420,915. With an average [unclear: y] size of 5.5 persons, the estimated number [unclear: milies] 1,894,712. Hence Malaysia needs [unclear: 712] dwelling units but there were only [unclear: 351] living quarters in 1970, a shortage of [unclear: 61] dwelling units.
[unclear: en] the figure was updated to mid-1974, the [unclear: age] had increased to 618,961 dwelling units. [unclear: s] consider the situation in Johore Bahru [unclear: e] the squatter problem, the Tasek Utara [unclear: in]1974-75, has aroused much concern [unclear: g] the public and students at home and [unclear: eas].
1970, Johore Bahru's population was [unclear: 03] and this required 24,730 housing units [unclear: he] number of living quarters was only [unclear: 0], a shortage of 3,830. The squatters' [unclear: em] had been accelerated by the continuous [unclear: se] in population and the migration of [unclear: le] from the countryside to the town to work. [unclear: 74]-75 the Tasek Utara issue arose because [unclear: e] demolition of houses in spite of peoples' [unclear: g] protest, and the inhumane arrest and [unclear: ment] of squatters when they staged a [unclear: ful] demonstration asking for a decent piece [unclear: nd] from their stale government which had [unclear: i] to keep their pre-election promises.
1970, the population of Georgetown was [unclear: 19] which required at least 49,094 housing There were only 30,855 housing units, a age of 18,345. With the increase of [unclear: lation] and the migration of rural folks to [unclear: n], the squatter problem was further [unclear: gerated]. The government of Penang has shown that it prefers to cater for foreign interests rather than solve the housing problem of the poor, landless and the squatters of the state. After the 1978 election came the demolition of squatters home in Jelutong.
Why so many Squatters in Malaysia?
Then why is this problem so accute in Malaysia. Is it because of the shortage of land, of funds and other resources in Malaysia? A wee look at the income distribution of her people and Malaysia's economy would reveal some of the causes of the squatters problems in Malaysia.
Income Distribution in Malaysia
Percentage Distribution of Households by income in Peninsular Malaysia 1970.
| Income Range (per month) | household |
|---|---|
| Under M$100 | 27.1% |
| M$100-$199 | 31.4% |
| M$200-$399 | 25.9% |
| M$400-$1499 | 14.3% |
| M$ 1500 and above | 1.4% |
The table above shows 1.4% of the households earn more than M$1500 per month while 84.4% of households earn less than M$400 per month. The treasury report also stated that 40% of the population live on less than M$25 (roughly NZ$10) per month in 1970. From this it is clear that even the price of a decent low cost house (M$10,000 to M$20,000) would be beyond the reach of the majority of the people. For example it took one of the residents of Tasek Utara 30 years to save M$10,000. With inflation rocketing up and the increase in demand for housing units, it is not surprising that many save the sum only to find the price of the house is many times higher than before. On the other hand we have people owning 2 or more unoccupied houses resulting in the wastage of a valuable resource.
The Economy of Malaysia
As many will be aware about 60% of Malaysia's economy is owned and controlled by foreigners. The foreign exploitation by multinational companies from United Kingdom, United States and Japan is one of the root causes of the squatters. The foreign corporate owners possesses 1,262,8 million acres, or 73.5%, of the total agricultural land and about 87% of the industrial land. This leads to a migration of rural folk to the urban areas in search of jobs. With low wages and high rents, these people have to resort to cheap shelter, living as squatters on government land.
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Surrounded by FRO, Tasek Utara squatters watch with despair their homes being demolished.
The foreign domination of Malaysia's economy and the unequal distribution of wealth in Malaysia are the main factors relating to the squatters problems in Malaysia. Unless these two defects are corrected in Malaysia, there are bound to be housing problems in Malaysia. But we are yet to know the next person to be blamed in the squatters issue...
We conclude this article with an article reprinted from Utusan Consumer June 1976. Official Publication of the Consumer Association of Penang.
Housing Outrage
West Malaysia today has 252,000 families who do not have a place called home—most of them live in slums or share crowded flats with other families while a good many rough it out on the pavements or in the fields.
Added to this huge number, another 140,000 houses need to be built this year to replace dilapidated houses to meet the requirements of population increase. But private housing develops, have said recently that together with government agencies they can only build about 60,000 units each year. With this state of affairs, current prices have doubled since 1970 and the cheapest three-roomed terrace house now costs $25,000. This price is beyond the reach of anyone earning less than $800 a month.
This is indeed a critical situation as decent shelter like food and clothing is one of man's basic needs and the average wage of a worker in Malaysia is less than $200 a month and only 4.5 percent of the households have an income exceeding $800 a month.
There is now an immediate need for the setting up of a national Housing Board to look into the question of public housing. This housing board must have the power, potential and means to generate massive housing projects to ease the existing shortage. This proposed Housing Board must build low cost housing of reasonable quality and the prices must be within the reach of the lower income group.
Housing and Village Development Minister, Michael Chen's recent disclosure that the government will build 12,000 units annually—if believed—is welcomed. But 12,000 units to be built is very insignificant when compared to the current annual demand of 140,000 and the backlog of 232,000 units.
Private housing developers have decided to join the bandwagon by offering their help. They suggest that the authorities relax the ruling on housing density per acre. The present ruling is 6.3 houses per acre while new development schemes have 10-12 houses per acre. Housing developers want to build 30 houses per acre. Architects say that they cannot plan cheap houses because of strict building laws. They want authorities to relax the requirements of room size, materials used and roads and drains constructed to minimum standards.
We thank these groups of public-spirited citizens no matter what their motives. But we have to say no, for their proposals contain the ingredients for making slums. The Government has already built low cost housing which has turned to slums and we cannot expect private bodies which are profit motivated to conduct themselves like charity organisations.