A general view of office blocks and condominiums in the Bangsar area in Kuala Lumpur, where some residential landlords are said to filter tenants based on their ethnicity or nationality. — Picture by Hari Anggara

KUALA LUMPUR, March 11 — The mostly upscale Bangsar neighbourhood may be seen as a liberal bastion that is accepting of differences, but nationality and ethnicity still influence the selection of tenants here.

A reader and professional, Suriani Ariff*, told Malay Mail her enquiries to real estate agents with a view to renting a condominium unit in Bangsar within the RM2,500 to RM3,000 price range were met with rejections, allegedly because she is Malay and that the landlords prefer tenants who are ethnic Chinese or white expatriates over Malays or Indians.

Suriani said she was shocked at the reason given, saying it was the first time she encountered overt racial discrimination apart from dealing with comments regarding generalised stereotypes about her race or the ethnicity of her Chinese and Indian Malaysian friends.

“How can this be? This is Bangsar. I would have thought it’s an upper middle-class neighbourhood, you would be thinking in a more educated way,” she told Malay Mail.

“We got a new government in 2018 and my God, we still have the same problem. Racism is institutionalised in Malaysia, you cannot change this overnight, it’s going to take more than a few generations.

“I know it’s the first year of Pakatan rule but I was hoping for a better Malaysia,” she said.

Unlike this banner against foreigners as tenants as seen in a Shah Alam condominium in December 2015, property agent Song Sia said Bangsar landlords would tell agents their preferences for tenants. — Picture by Aizyl Azlee

It’s not really about Malaysians

When Malay Mail spoke to real estate agents who handled condominiums in the Bangsar area, they pointed out that the overwhelming preference of Bangsar landlords was for expatriates over Malaysians.

But another filter by the landlords kicks in even if one is a foreigner who wants to rent a Bangsar condominium: loose categories of “Middle Eastern” and “African” or “black” tenants are less welcome.

Bangsar property specialist Song Sia said condominium owners here would not take the overt approach like some in the Klang Valley by displaying banners against renting out to black tenants, but would tell property agents not to look for Middle Eastern or black tenants.

“Mostly they will be more keen on renting to expats, mostly they prefer not Middle Eastern [sic]. They will much more prefer (tenants from) Australia, US. Even some will highlight not to rent to Middle Eastern people,” he told Malay Mail when contacted, noting the alleged issues elsewhere such as illegal parties at rental units as reasons for the landlords’ preferences.

He said up to 90 per cent of enquirers for units with rentals above RM4,000 are usually expatriates, while Malaysians generally go for those between the RM2,000 and RM3,500 range.

Because of higher rental prices in Bangsar, landlords would ask for the tenants’ occupation, and those who really care about the ethnicity of their prospective tenants would be personally present during viewings to get to know the tenant better, he said.

On Suriani’s experience, he said he has not encountered issues involving the ethnicity of Malaysian tenants, saying: “As long as they are doing a proper job, they can afford rental, owners will rent out.”

A general view of condominiums in the Bangsar neighbourhood in Kuala Lumpur. — Picture by Hari Anggara

Joe Vivek, who also handles Bangsar properties, told Malay Mail that most of the owners in the neighbourhood buy their condominiums as investments and fully furnish them as expatriates usually require ready-to-move-in conditions.

“They don’t prefer locals because locals, some can’t afford, because of the price in Bangsar, the price is quite high,” he said, adding that Bangsar owners would usually require post-dated cheques or standing instructions to banks for rent payments from local tenants to avoid delinquency.

“In general, it’s only a competition between expats and locals If two people have offers, the owner will accept the expat first rather than the local,” he said of Bangsar residential owners.

He explained that some locals are seen as poor paymasters and fussy while owners find expatriates easier to deal with.

“The only problem which owners find is when locals move out, they don’t agree with the claims for damages, that’s the reason owners are avoiding locals,” he said, noting that locals may dispute the property damage at the end, while expatriates who are leaving the country would just pay up.

He said the composition of tenants in Bangsar condominiums currently include those from the UK, US, Japan, China and India with the top tenants being from the UK and Europe.

Landlords have no issue with Indonesians and Singaporeans, or those from India who are known to be highly paid with most working as engineers or in the IT industry; while more questions may be asked about Chinese nationals working in online or gaming companies to determine that they have valid documents, he said.

Race appeared to be less of a factor for Malaysian tenants in comparison to having a good and well-paying job, he said. “The ones with good profile, the owners don’t mind whether it’s Chinese, Malay; it’s not a matter of the race, because it’s a matter of expat and local.”

He acknowledged, however, a minority of Bangsar landlords may not want to rent to ethnic groups such as Malays and Indians due to worries about their ability to pay rent, but said those with good profiles such as professionals in big firms would have no trouble renting homes compared to those who are business owners due to the risk attached to businesses.

A general view of a condominium in Bangsar. — Picture by Hari Anggara

Another property agent with 10 years’ experience in the Bangsar, Bangsar South, Bukit Damansara and Petaling Jaya neighbourhoods, said prospective tenants in Bangsar were mostly expats, and disagreed with the view that landlords reject Malaysian tenants due to their ethnicity.

“I don’t think racial discrimination is very prevalent in the rental market, it’s just a few cases and people talk about it,” the agent who declined to be named said, noting that most owners would not reject tenants due to race as they would want to get their units rented out to pay for housing mortgages.

“I never experienced owners discriminating for race, the reason why they reject is because of other reasons,” he said, citing a past case where a condominium owner was not keen to rent out to an Indian family whose prayers would fill the unit with smoke from the burning of incense, and the rare scenario of a Muslim family preferring not to rent out to non-Muslims due to concerns over possible handling of pork.

“The most important criteria is a person’s employment,” he added, having noted that those working for major firms were preferred over the self-employed or new workforce entries due to concerns over prompt payments.

A property agent with 30 years’ experience said Bangsar owners would accept locals tenants regardless of whether they are “Chinese, Malay or Indian—doesn’t matter, as long as they are able to pay the rent”, but noted that some Africans have faced rejections.

“It’s sad. Some of them could be genuine, it’s sad when they are turned away. We as agents, we can’t do anything, we can’t tell owners these people are OK. It’s their property so they have a right to choose,” the agent who declined to be named told Malay Mail.

A view of shoplots in the fairly affluent neighbourhood of Bangsar, which Oh Ei Sun notes is famous as a hangout for 'liberals' but may not necessarily be where they live or own rental property. — Picture by Hari Anggara

Why, why, why?

Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, weighed in on Bangsar landlords’ preference for expatriates over locals, with the general exclusion of Middle Eastern and African tenants.

“While such filtering of tenants may be viewed as racist by some, landlords who do so may be basing their choices of tenants on their subjective, sometimes subliminal stereotyping of different ethnic groups and nationalities.

“The stereotypes that landlords have are also reinforced and influenced by their sometimes unpleasant, albeit anecdotal experiences and encounters in real life and rental engagements with members of certain ethnic groups or nationalities,” he told Malay Mail.

When asked if he was surprised that ethnic filtering happened even in Bangsar, Oh pointed out that Bangsar is where liberals hang out, but not necessarily where they own or rented out properties.

“The Bangsar landlords who may or may not live in Bangsar may be conservative or liberal, but above all they are pragmatic like all other landlords in Malaysia, namely they treasure stable and hopefully appreciating rentals without much trouble, and also their properties be well maintained by their tenants,” he said.

For higher-priced properties like those in Bangsar, Oh said there are at least three inter-related factors with no particular order of precedence for landlords, including steady rental income that also hopefully increases every time tenants change.

This would explain why expat tenants who are well-paid by multinational companies or with such employers even directly paying their rentals are preferred, in contrast to local tenants who may have to “deal with the vagaries of the undulating local economy and therefore may not be able to pay their rents as stably..

Landlords would also want “no official trouble, as in not being suddenly and innocently charged with harbouring terrorists or aiding and abetting drug production and distribution”, as well as a “clean and presentable property ready for next tenant who are usually at least as picky as the landlord.”

Prof Jayum Jawan of Universiti Putra Malaysia said the Bangsar landlords’ preferences when it comes to tenants could be due to stereotypes involving preconceived ideas of certain ethnic groups based on their personal experience or the experience by others.

Once their prejudices have been confirmed with a single bad experience with someone from a particular ethnic group, these landlords may reject others in the future from the same ethnic group even if they may not behave the same way, he said.

The Bangsar scenario is essentially about landlords “out to ensure they get their rental money without a hitch each month”, with the factor of race and ethnicity influencing their choices, he said.

Jayum said the Bangsar landlords’ preferences are also due to a continued captivation with the West, adding that this was due to an “inferiority complex” that is partly linked to the country’s former past of being colonised and governed by the British.

“Tun Mahathir has argued before that Malaysians are still captivated by the West and whites. I don’t disagree. This is something Malaysians need to disengage themselves after more than 60 years of independence and to move forward,” he said, further questioning Malaysians’ continued feelings of inferiority by asking if the sending of the country’s best students overseas is due to a lack of confidence in local public universities.

Protesters are seen here in Perak in November 2018 objecting to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD). Research fellow Faizal Musa says bad behaviour should be disassociated from race. — Picture by Farhan Najib

Faizal Musa, a research fellow at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, noted that property owners have the right to choose their tenants, and with non-legal measures being the only available options in Malaysia to deal with racial discrimination.

“If there are evidences of racism, for sure it have to be dealt with. Unfortunately this country refused to ratify ICERD, so no measures can be taken legally,” he told Malay Mail, referring to an international convention against racial discrimination that Malaysia has yet to adopt.

“We have only one remedy. To educate people that bad behaviours should not be associated to a certain race. We should deal with behaviours not race, this is standard human rights parametre.

“We can deal with bad behaviours by setting up good laws/rules that can discipline tenants (from whatever race or corner of the world). It is up to the management then. Or the Housing Ministry can help quarters, apartments, condos to form better rules that are more accessible and maintain certain standards of equality. This will help the expats, and the local landlords, neighbours etc,” he said.

* Name changed at request of interviewee.