This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 25, 2022 - July 31, 2022

The only class that exists is human class; the rest is human creation,” says Think City Sdn Bhd managing director Hamdan Abdul Majeed in a recent interview with City & Country, when asked about improving the quality of life in Malaysia’s public housing.

“There is a social stigma that children from public housing should grow up in a certain way, and it is a territorial stigmatisation. The more you stigmatise and draw the line, the more divided society will become … Any form of distinction should be by merit and intellect.”

He emphasises the need to work with the public housing community to bring out their best capabilities by finding solutions to their issues. It will, of course, take time and effort.

Since its inception in 2009, Think City’s mission has been to make cities more liveable, environmentally and socially resilient, and sustainable. It has since managed urban rejuvenation projects in George Town and Butterworth in Penang, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.

Over the last decade, Think City has been undertaking research and intervention at public housing projects across Malaysia. Last year, it started a programme called Rights to the City (R2C) to explore solutions to address issues that matter to public housing communities. This stemmed from ongoing community engagements with Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) residents who were concerned that their housing estates were turning into slums. 

Hamdan says Think City aims to build successful and inclusive cities, where everyone — including those staying in public housing — has his or her own space. Location, accessibility to amenities as well as density of the public housing would also matter. 

“For cities to succeed, there is a need to focus our efforts on building social resilience in these communities. How can we work with them to upgrade, improve and enhance the quality of space and life as well as allow better management of the spaces?

“Cities must be inclusive and for all. If not, we are creating a social divide and it will lead to social breakdown. It is challenging but it is not impossible … We should think of a mixed community as opposed to one that is segmented by class and race, which eventually makes us a divided nation that does no good to anyone collectively. The dialogue would be how we make a better Malaysia, which is an inclusive Malaysia. There can be differences in needs, but there shouldn’t be differences in how we live and have access to amenities, services and a good quality of life.”

Hamdan explains that being inclusive is not about making everything equal but, rather, that there should be a “right desired minimum standard” that needs to be defined and agreed to by all stakeholders.

He believes it involves more than just the government and non-governmental organisations to address issues that matter to public housing communities. It should include all Malaysians. 

“We all need to understand the challenges and be helping hands in society. We are all part of a body. Data has shown that people from public housing have low achievement in terms of education and social outcome.

“There are also high incidences of drug and youth problems because of the constrained space, which leads to people spending more time outside their home. Many are struggling with several jobs and have a substandard life. It will require a collective effort to solve this problem, but people should see what they can do for this group of people,” Hamdan says.

“A lot of discussions are on the affordability and accessibility of the homes, but they never talk about the liveability of homes or even building sustainable communities in public housing. These are the same group with the same mindset … It is hard for these people to break free and it becomes a cycle. That’s why we advocate a future of buildings with mixed communities. It is about creating greater realisation that the more we don’t do this and the more we avoid, the greater the problem will be in the future. 

“Maybe people now look at it from the perspective of class and asset value, but in life, we are interconnected. We need to be mindful, concerned and compassionate in addressing this issue in a more active manner. We need to realise that the issues won’t disappear if we leave them alone. And, no matter how much effort the government puts in¸ without the support of the community and businesses, we will not find a resolution.”

Hamdan adds that there are successful examples in Austria and Belgium, where social policy has worked effectively to produce a good outcome for all members of society. 

This lack of synergy among stakeholders, he says, shows that the community itself is not unified. “Getting them to agree and align is quite a big challenge — different groups will have different concerns. Many institutions are working on public housing, and common information is important for stakeholders to come together to make decisions, but that is absent and we are unable to provide specific solutions.

“Making the information more commonly available is important and I don’t think it is impossible. We need to know who needs help, what help is needed, how you can deliver the help and how best you can do it.

“We have been piloting and trying to see how to develop a more common platform where everyone can come together. We have also been trying to work on data collection, but all these efforts are in their early stages and there is a need for greater collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure that we focus on the people we are working on.”

Hamdan explains that Think City is trying to facilitate the efforts and provide the voice through city programmes, so that the issue of quality of life in public housing will be able to gain momentum and visibility.

He notes that while Malaysia has been successful in housing the nation, it has not succeeded in building communities. There have been no clear guidelines, but it is important for society to build communities together.

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