Most urban-dwellers are bumiputera, latest census shows

 

Three-quarters of Malaysians live in urban settings, with most urban-dwellers being of bumiputera ethnicity, the latest census data shows.

According to the Population and Housing Census of Malaysia 2020, some 14.1 million - or 62.6 percent - of urbanites are bumiputera, followed by ethnic Chinese at 6.4 million or 28.6 percent, ethnic Indians (1.8 million or 8.1 percent), and other ethnicities (0.2 million or 0.7 percent).

The bumiputera proportion has also grown compared to the last census in 2010, when 58.9 percent of urban dwellers are bumiputera, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement today.

This is somewhat reflective of national demographics, and a stark contrast to the demographics of urban areas in the 1970s when only about a third of Malaysians were urbanites.  

Urban demographics, particularly by ethnicity, is a key issue in the debate over whether to bring back local council elections.

The third vote was suspended in 1964 amid the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, on the argument that it creates communal unrest.

The suspension was made permanent by the Local Government Act 1976.

At the time, most urban dwellers were ethnic Chinese.

Challenges in restoring the third vote

Restoring local government elections was part of the DAP election manifesto in 2008.

However, the DAP-led Penang government ran into issues fulfilling this promise.

At the time, its secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said it needed the federal government’s backing to amend some federal laws, including the Emergency Regulations, which bars local government elections.

The third vote did not make it to the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto in 2014, with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang saying that it could lead to another May 13 communal riot.

In 2018, the Harapan government’s federal territories minister Khalid Samad proposed that Selangor's capital, Shah Alam, be a launchpad to reintroduce the third vote.

However, this saw pushback from the Selangor government, which said the state was not consulted.

Then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was against reintroducing local government elections, while the minister in charge of local government Zuraida Kamaruddin said a study was needed before a decision could be made.

Neither Harapan nor coalitions who are part of the Anwar Ibrahim administration had promised to restore local council elections in their GE15 manifestoes.

However, Harapan vowed to allow Kuala Lumpur democratic representation in the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, albeit not through a direct vote. The coalition said the mechanism would be further discussed if Harapan won the election. - Mkini