The proposed Urban Renewal Act needs serious safeguards to protect marginalised communities.
MALAYSIA’S proposed Urban Renewal Act has been introduced with a familiar promise: to revitalise ageing cities, improve infrastructure, and “modernise” neighbourhoods that are said to be falling into decline.
On the surface, it sounds like a well-meaning effort to address real urban challenges. But beneath the language of progress lies a deeper concern – that this Act, if passed without serious safeguards, could become a tool for displacing low-income and marginalised communities in the name of development.
