Room rentals in the Klang Valley that accept Indian tenants cost on average 11.2 percent more (about RM74 extra) compared to those that exclude the community, effectively imposing a “discrimination premium”, a report by Architects of Diversity (AOD) found.
The report, which examines rental discrimination across the Klang Valley, said the cheapest rooms are also the most explicitly discriminatory against Indians, as 43.7 percent of listings below RM400 deliberately exclude them.
This was similar for Chinese renters, who were excluded from 26.6 percent of listings in the same category, the report said.
On the other hand, Malay renters experienced a different pattern of discrimination, as they were consistently excluded from listings across different room prices at the rates of 5.5 to 8.5 percent.
“What this means in practise is that the most affordable housing, a segment that is critical for low-income renters, is also the most discriminatory, and especially for Indian renters who bear the brunt of this,” said AOD executive director Jason Wee at the launch of the report at an online press conference this morning.
Generally, Indian renters faced the worst exclusion at 31.7 percent, followed by Malays (7.6 percent), and Chinese (3.9 percent).
“When we look at the combinations of discrimination, we found that most discriminations happen when Indian tenants were excluded, but they accepted Malay and Chinese tenants,” Wee said, adding that this happened with 23.1 percent of listings.
The data in the report was collected with a custom scraper to target publicly available listings on ibilik.com, a rental platform that allows landlords and agents to tag racial preferences for tenants.
Malaysiakini has contacted iBilik about this practice.
Nearly 43pct of listings discriminate racially
Based on the data scraped, the report found that 42.8 percent of 35,367 listings analysed exclude at least one racial group, “making discrimination the single most common landlord stance on the platform”.
A significant factor identified in the report was location, with discrimination rates varying across rental areas.
The five areas with the highest levels of discrimination were Ampang (57.5 percent), Taman Desa (56.2 percent), Klang (54.8 percent), Setapak (51.1 percent), and Bangi (50.5 percent).
When broken down by racial discrimination, the area that discriminated the most against either Indian (47.1 percent) or Malay (23.1 percent) tenants was Taman Desa, while Chinese (23.8 percent) renters were largely excluded in Bangi.
However, the report stressed that discrimination against Indians persists even in areas with comparatively lower rates.
“Sentul, the area with the lowest rate, still records 8.5 percent exclusion of Indian renters,” it noted.
Only ‘one layer’ of rental racism revealed
When asked about the high incidence of rental discrimination against Indians, Wee said a few landlords interviewed did not see racial preferences as discrimination.
“We find this quite concerning as we believe that discrimination literacy is still quite low,” he added.
Wee further stressed that the report has only unveiled the floor of the problem, as many layers of rental racism - such as discrimination that occurs upon contacting the agent or landlord - were not part of the data.
“But this is meaningful still, as we are measuring the discrimination that landlords and agents are willing to state openly in public and on a listing,” he said.
He then called for the implementation of a Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), saying that rental issues could be more effectively tackled through regulation.
He said the RTA must also include a clause prohibiting racial discrimination at all levels of the renting process.
“It (the Act) would also allow for tenants who have been discriminated against to seek justice and recourse in either a tribunal or a court.
“That is quite critical to help create better, stronger, and more equitable norms of non-discrimination in Malaysia,” he commented.
The report can be accessed here. A second part, focusing on rental discrimination across the peninsula, will be released in April.
Last month, Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming said the RTA could be tabled later this year.
According to The Edge, Nga said the legislation is in its final drafting phase. Once it’s completed, he will scrutinise it before submitting it to the cabinet for approval. - Mkini
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