“MEDIUM room for rent, Chinese only. Fully furnished room, near MRT, Indian preferred.
Three-room apartment for rent, Malay family only.” Let’s face it — those who had the experience of searching for a place to rent would attest that they had encountered such “discriminatory demands” from landlords.
Already, the amount of time spent and effort looking for a suitable or practical place to rent according to one’s budget is daunting. It gets more arduous when landlords don’t want tenants of certain ethnicity.
Rental discrimination is common in Malaysia.
A survey involving more than 1,000 Malaysians by YouGov Omnibus revealed that 62 per cent of respondents, aged 18 and above, have encountered advertisements with specific racial requirements when looking for a place to rent. If one opines that this is prevalent only in the cities, you are wrong.
A quick search for one ethnicity “preferred” or “only” on property rental websites pulls up thousands of posts in locations across the country.
Stories of victims of racial discrimination sharing their annoyance at being rejected by landlords who preferred a particular race are abound too.
One in particular which went viral recently was about a Chindian man who almost secured a room to rent when the landlord, at first, thought he was Chinese.
The landlord later rejected him when he told the former that one of his parents is Indian.
Given so much weight is being placed on racial criterion in renting out a house or room, any sensible Malaysians who vouch for national unity would agree that such practice paints us as being racists. Such discriminatory practices have no place in a multicultural country. It contradicts Malaysia’s melting pot image.
Article 8 of the Federal Constitution states that “there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion, race, descent, place of birth or gender”. Thus, the move by the government to draft a new law similar to the internationally recognised Residential Tenancy Act, among others, to address racial discrimination in the property market must be applauded and supported.
Detractors may argue that it is the right of landlords to decide to whom they want to rent out their properties. They may argue that religious sensitivities of the landlord or the prospective tenant have to be taken into account.
Their argument may include that renting out properties is a personal matter and does not require a new law or policy. But do we really need to specify race in the advertisements? Both parties could always discuss sensitivities face to face.
Putting in place such anti-discrimination law could go a long way in creating an ethnically inclusive Malaysia. How are we going to continue to live together in a “bigger house” that is this land, Malaysia, if we allow racial discrimination in renting out our rooms to persist?