PETALING JAYA: Another man is finding it difficult to rent a home due to his ethnic background, less than a month after a viral report about a 25-year-old’s encounter with racist landlords in Penang who preferred only Chinese tenants.
The latest incident took place in Kuala Lumpur, where a newly married couple is trying to rent a home.
The man who only wants to be known as Kevin told FMT that they shortlisted a fully furnished home in Taman OUG near Jalan Klang Lama with rental of around RM2,000 a month.
After speaking to the agent, they set an appointment to view the property.
But Kevin and his wife received a shock the night before they were supposed to view the home, when he got a text message from the agent accompanied by their picture.
“The agent asked if it was us in the picture,” he told FMT.
After Kevin’s reply, the agent informed them that the landlord had cancelled the viewing appointment because “we looked like Indian and Malay”.
He later found out from the agent that the landlord did not want any Indians or Malays as tenants.
“I understand that people may have had bad experiences with certain tenants in the past, but to discriminate based on race is unacceptable,” he said.
Kevin’s plight is similar to Divyang Hong, who is of Chinese and Indian heritage.
Despite speaking fluent Mandarin, Hong was rejected by at least 10 landlords in his search for a room to rent in Penang, because they only wanted Chinese tenants.
“I am not really a Chinese-looking Chindian, but I thought by virtue of my dad and granddad being Chinese, I would qualify on a technicality,” Hong told FMT last month.
Kevin said it was “ridiculous” that people still practise such wanton racial discrimination.
“If landlords want to size up their prospective tenants to know their personality, or even ask for their payslip, that is fine. But ruling out people based on their race is a real slap in the face,” he told FMT. -FMT
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