New laws to address racial discrimination in property market
A law, which among others aims to address issues of racial discrimination in the property market, would be tabled in Parliament early next year, says Zuraida Kamaruddin.
Bernama quoted the Housing and Local Government Minister as saying that the law, known as the Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), was still being drafted and is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
She said this to reporters after a working visit to the Hulu Langat Zone Fire and Rescue Department’s sacrificial ritual programme here on Friday (July 31).
In January, Zuraida said that the RTA would help address the issue of racial discrimination following incidents of landlords refusing to accept tenants due to their ethnicity.
According to a Star Exclusive report last year, it was reported that tenants seeking to rent rooms or homes feel that Malaysian landlords continue to place too much emphasis on race.
One in five Malaysians or 21% of 1,204 Malaysians surveyed, claimed to have experienced discrimination based on their ethnicity when seeking a place to rent.
A study by YouGov Omnibus showed that about 46% of Indians polled claimed to have faced discrimination.
This is higher than local Chinese (20%) and Malays (18%), who have faced ethnic discrimination when surveyed.
The findings is based on a survey involving 1,204 Malaysians, aged 18 and above.
Source: TheStar.com.my
There are a myriad of reasonings behind that “trend” ! It’s the govt duty, should (instead) go to the ground to find out by themselves !
Not only confined to rental problems, its not that simple lah !
These are the kinds of tenants I will definitely avoid when renting out my properties :-
(1) Indians – there is a 75% chance that they will drag rental payments and ruin your property
(2) Single young ladies from china – 90% chance they are karaoke GROs and STD carriers
(3) Single guys from china – 80% chance they are online scammers
(4) Middle easterners – no experience in personal encounter with them, but if the testimonials of Penang taxi drivers is anything to go by, there’s a 100% chance they are crude, uncivilised and impossible to reason with.
(5) Africans – 70% chance they are online scammers
I am a malaysian chinese, and what I am doing is just tenant profiling, so that I can decide who is the best tenant, in the shortest time, based on general info available, to reduce (not totally eliminate) the risk of future rental delinquency, tenant-owner dispute, and property damage/contamination for my financial safeguard.
Racial discrimantion? Don’t think so, as my favourite restaurant is Hameediyah Nasi Kandar, I have always had the hots for Indian ladies, and my top karaoke destination is in Midlands Mall.
“Profiling” is something you do when you don’t have the luxury of all the time in the world to get to know someone to determine whether he/she is suitable for a role. And profiling is what a job interviewer does, based on the limited info in a resume provided. Is that wrong????
So now we list to rent to “Buddhist or Athiest” only?
The government should address the issue of noisy azan calls also.. so noisy and disturbing.
@RacistBastard
What you are doing is racial profiling which is still racism.
You did not seem to profile local Chinese or Malays. But you are discriminating people of certain nationality and race based on hearsays or the limited experience of others….
Same like saying a Chinese will rob you, or a Malays are lazy, it’s just wrong.
@thedude
I think what that said is quite fair. A percentage was given to each category, which means he/she suggests that there are still the good ones within each category. Its just that the risk level varies, which affects landlords preference. Same goes for job hiring, you can never tell precisely whether a candidate is suitable for that high paying job. Just because that someone doesnt have an ivy league degree does not mean he is less intelligent or less hard working, but the decision to hire will have to be based on a set of pre-determined objective criteria, based on mostly anecdotal evidence and info.
i have rented to expat from india twice.. sadly to say, my apartment is seriously run down and the kitchen are full of grease and beyond clean-able. i ended up replacing the hood and hob and the whole counter table.
i have also rented to korean and mat salleh. i am satisfied with how they care my unit.
so, i am ok govt to reduce the discrimination based on race. but reality sometime sucks.
In the debt market, borrowers with AAA+ rating get to borrow at the lowest interest rates, while borrowers rated DDD- will have to pay “AhLong”‘s interest rates. Ratings are based on a preset criteria, which also include “country of origin”. Racist ah like that??
If you’re a Public Mutual salesman, and you have a customer who is from “certain” countries and of “certain” occupation with loads of cash, their SOP reminds you of “money laundering”. Racist ah like that??? Or just profiling to reduce criminal risk???
C’mon, get real lah! Human race practically cannot advance if we always wait until after falling into a hole to realize the danger, instead of anticipating potential danger based on a set of criteria(either consciously or intuitively) , evaluate the risk, and take the appropriate action to avoid the hole.