Fears poor Malays will be displaced by a law to expedite development of rundown urban centres has stirred tensions as opposition Muslim Malay parties accuse the government of using gentrification as a smokescreen to push out the most vulnerable city residents.
More than 78 per cent of Malaysians live in cities including Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru, drawn by job opportunities and amenities.
But rapid urbanisation has led to haphazard development, turning pockets of the city centres into unsafe, unsanitary slums.
To address the issue, the government plans to table the Urban Renewal Act later this year, which will lay the legal ground for regeneration of dilapidated tower blocks. Authorities have said such efforts are often blocked by the refusal of some residents.
However, opposition lawmakers have pushed back, portraying it as a tool for the government to seize homes and dispossess the nation’s poorest urban Malays in favour of developers, who are often ethnic Chinese.
The opposition Islamist party PAS has called for a street rally against the bill, labelling it “modern colonialism” that must be stopped.