Squatters and Squatter Settlements in Kuala Lumpur
Author(s): S. Robert Aiken
Source: Geographical Review , Apr., 1981, Vol. 71, No. 2 (Apr., 1981), pp. 158-175
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/214185
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SQUATTERS AND SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
IN KUALA LUMPUR*
S. ROBERT AIKEN
HIRD World urban areas will contain approximately 64 percen
residents on the earth by the year 2000, if recent population
tinue.1 In the Third World, the urbanized population rose fr
lion persons to 775.1 million persons between 1950 and 1975,
in the developed countries increased from 457.3 million to 78
increase was 201.2 percent in the Third World, 71.1 percent i
countries.2 High rates of natural increase in urban areas and
migration account for the "explosion" of urban dwellers in the l
two-thirds of the world. Numerous problems have accompan
growth of the urban population in the Third World: among them
housing shortages, increased numbers of squatters, unemploy
deremployment, widespread poverty, persistent disease hazar
congestion, and environmental pollution.3 The same problems ex
cities, but rarely to the acute degree found in the Third World.
ments, alternatively labeled peripheral, spontaneous, uncontr
rized or autonomous, house millions of urbanites in Latin America
Asia.4 The squatter settlement is a major element in the physical
World cities and a vivid reminder of the glaring contrasts that
the living conditions of the rich and the poor.
Squatters are unauthorized occupants of private or governm
though squatters obviously constitute a legal problem, the basic
I contend, is their human condition. Squatting is often initiated
of refugees whose motivations are fear, hunger, or rural dep
quest for subsistence in the burgeoning urban areas, or by sim
ism. Surplus rural labor and the need for labor in urban cent
* I am grateful to Dr. Colin H. Leigh for his comments on a draft of this articl
Meana who drafted the maps.
1 Global Review of Human Settlements, A Support Paper for Habitat: United
on Human Settlements (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1976), p. 20.
2 Global Review of Human Settlements, Statistical Annex (Oxford: Pergamon
3 Charles Abrams, Man's Struggle for Shelter in an Urbanizing World (Camb
Press, 1964); Kingsley Davis, Asia's Cities: Problems and Options, Populatio
Review, Vol. 1, 1975, pp. 71-86; D. J. Dwyer, The Third World City, Geograph
50, 1978, pp. 519-522; D. W. Fryer, Cities in Southeast Asia and Their Proble
1972, pp. 1-8; N. G. Gratz, Mosquito-borne Disease Problems in the Urban
Cities, Critical Reviews in Environmental Control, Vol. 3, 1973, pp. 455-495;
March of the Peasants from Land to City, Geographical Magazine, Vol. 46, 19
Yue-Man Yeung, Southeast Asian Cities: Patterns of Growth and Transformati
and Counterurbanization (edited by Brian J. L. Berry; Beverley Hills, Cal.: Sage P
pp. 285-309, reference on pp. 294-297.
4 Kemal H. Karpat, The Gecekondu: Rural Migration and Urbanization (Camb
bridge University Press, 1976), pp. 13-14.
* DR. AIKEN is an associate professor of geography at Concordia Unive
Quebec, Canada H3G 1M8.
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
encourage migrations. When there is no housing for the migrants, they appr
priate land, often publicly owned land, from which there is less fear of bein
dislodged than from private property.5
In Kuala Lumpur, as elsewhere in Peninsular Malaysia, squatting is ess
tially a result of poverty, which is in turn related to differential patterns o
regional development, occupational structure of the labor force, interethnic
intraethnic income disparities, high levels of unemployment and undere
ployment, and ultimately low incomes. The existence of a large squatter p
ulation in Kuala Lumpur is a reflection not only of conditions in the city bu
also of economic imbalances in Peninsular Malaysia.
The rapid growth of Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital, has overtaxed
capacity of the city to provide a large segment of its inhabitants with emplo
ment opportunities, housing, and basic services. The rural population of P
insular Malaysia, meanwhile, continues to increase and thus provides a sw
ing reservoir of potential migrants to the city.6 A substantial number of ne
migrants and many of the urban poor who were born in the city will be
sorbed by squatter settlements.
GROWTH AND ECONOMY OF KUALA LUMPUR
Located at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak rivers, Kuala Lumpur
has long been a center of trade and commerce. Tin mining was responsible for
the early rapid growth of the town, and its administrative role began in 1880
when the British transferred the capital of Selangor from Klang to Kuala Lumpur.
In 1896 Kuala Lumpur was chosen as the capital of the Federated Malay
States (Selangor, Perak, Pahang, and Negri Sembilan), a choice that added
important political and administrative functions to the rising commercial significance
of the city.7 Between 1896 and 1910 road and rail networks were
centered on Kuala Lumpur, and the city began to emerge as a major commercial
focus for the developed west-coast lowlands (with the exception of Singapore).8
By the late 1920s the population of Kuala Lumpur reached 100,000 and by 1947
was almost 176,000. The rapid growth of the city during the interwar period
was intimately associated with the varied fortunes of tin and rubber production,
the two mainstays of the economy, both of which relied heavily on alien
immigrant labor. Many immigrants, the majority of whom came from China
and India, found employment opportunities in Kuala Lumpur.
5 Abrams, footnote 3 above, p. 14.
6 Robin J. Pryor, Internal Migrants in Peninsular Malaysia, Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 46,
1978, pp. 61-75.
7 W. J. Bennett, Kuala Lumpur: A Town of the Equatorial Lowlands, Tijdschrift voor Economische
en Sociale Geografie, Vol. 52, 1961, pp. 327-333; J. M. Gullick, The Story of Kuala Lumpur (Singapore:
Donald Moore, 1965); and Hamzah Sendut, The Structure of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's
Capital City, in The City in Newly Developing Countries: Readings on Urbanism and Urbanization
(edited by Gerald Breese; Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, 1969), pp. 461-473.
8 C. A. Fisher, The Railway Geography of British Malaya, Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. 64,
1948, pp. 123-136; Thomas R. Leinbach, Transportation and Modernization in Malaya (unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University
Park, 1971), pp. 34-71; and G. T. Missen, The Big City in Malaya: A Study of Kuala Lumpur,
Capital of a New Nation, in New Viewpoints in Economic Geography: Case Studies from Australia,
New Zealand, Malaysia, North America (edited by J. Rutherford, M. I. Logan, and G. T. Missen;
Sydney: Martindale Press, 1966), p. 394.
159
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
GROWTH OF KUALA LUMPUR (1895-1974)
PERLIS, THAILAND
i;5 \' ; _ 0 60 Ml.
-6' KEDAH . o 60 KM.
PENANGi / "PERAK I A
KELANTAN
TRENGGANU
4 PAHAN
-4 ^. ^ PAHANG /
SELANGOR,
Kuala Lumpur [
\ NEGRI /l
SEMBI LAN'--
MALACCA
--2' JOHORE
PENINSULAR SINGAPORE
M ALAYSIA ~ SINGAPOREMALAYSIA
100' 102? 104'
L I I
0 1 2 Ml.
1 2 3 KM.
FIG. 1-The growth of Kuala Lumpur, 1895
549.
Kuala Lumpur is now the religious, cultural, educational, political, and commercial
center of Malaysia. No longer dependent on immigration, the city has
grown through natural increase, annexation of adjacent areas, and rural-urban
and interurban migration. After independence in 1957 the principal trends
were the concentration of industry in and around Kuala Lumpur, the rapid
suburbanization of the population, and, since 1965 when Singapore withdrew
from the federation, the expansion of the hinterland of Kuala Lumpur to embrace
the entire country. During the period 1957 to 1970 the population of the
city increased at more than twice the rate of the total population of the pen-
160
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
insula. In 1974 almost all of the municipality of Kuala Lumpur with a
thirty-six square miles was included in the ninety-four-square-m
the newly created Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (Fig. 1). In 1
timated population of the Federal Territory was 820,000. The almost
built-up region between Kuala Lumpur and Port Klang will increas
inate the settlement system of peninsular Malaysia.9
A fundamental difference between most Third World cities and Western
ones is the urban economic structure. The rapid growth of the economically
advanced urban areas was sustained by the creation of productive job opportunities,
initially in manufacturing and later in retailing, services, and other
branches of the tertiary sector of the economy. Recent experiences of most Third
World countries differ. In Peninsular Malaysia, one of the richest regions in
Southeast Asia, opportunities for productive employment have not kept pace
with the growth of urban population.
The economy of Kuala Lumpur has two sectors: the capital-intensive, Western-style
or formal sector, and the labor-intensive, traditional or informal sector.
The informal sector comprises activities such as petty trading, food hawking,
domestic service, and numerous small home-based manufactures, the last
mostly confined to the Chinese-dominated parts of the city.10 Only the informal
sector has the ability to absorb a sizable number of the urban labor force, albeit
at high levels of underemployment and low levels of income. This "involuted"
sector of the urban economy employs the most people in Kuala Lumpur."I
Some indication of the importance of the informal sector in Kuala Lumpur
may be obtained from the size of the hawker population. In major concentrations
there were an estimated 13,000 or more hawkers, most of whom were
born in the urban area or had lived there for ten or more years. The total
number of licensed and unlicensed hawkers might be as high as 30,000.12 Hawking
and other informal activities are commonly the only source of employment
for unskilled and poorly educated persons. These activities provide large numbers
of people with cheap food products, dry goods, and services in an efficient
distributive system. Although individual incomes in the informal sector are
generally low, the total income generated may be substantial. In view of
generally limited employment in industry and tertiary activities of the formal
sector, penetration of the labor-intensive sector by the capital-intensive sector
offers little except more unemployment.13 In other words, benefits may be
9 S. Robert Aiken and Colin H. Leigh, Malaysia's Emerging Conurbation, Annals of the Association
of American Geographers, Vol. 65, 1975, pp. 546-563, reference on pp. 546-554; and Economic
Report 1977/78 (Kuala Lumpur: Ministry of Finance, 1977), p. 164.
10 Ali bin Esa, Kuala Lumpur, in Rural-Urban Migration and Metropolitan Development (edited
by Aprodicio A. Laquian; Toronto: Intermet, 1971), p. 105.
11 W. R. Armstrong and T. G. McGee, Revolutionary Change and the Third World City: A Theory
of Urban Involution, Civilization, Vol. 18, 1968, pp. 353-378; and Clifford Geertz, Peddlers and
Princes: Social Change and Economic Modernization in Two Indonesian Towns (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1963), pp. 28-81.
12 T. G. McGee and Y. M. Yeung, Hawkers in Southeast Asian Cities: Planning for the Bazaar
Economy (Ottawa: International Development Research Centre, 1977), pp. 33 and 36-40; and The
Star (Penang), April 11, 1977. Unless otherwise noted, all newspaper citations refer to Kuala Lumpur
editions.
13 Brian J. L. Berry, The Human Consequences of Urbanization: Divergent Paths in the Urban
Experience of the Twentieth Century (London: Macmillan, 1973), pp. 93-94.
161
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
derived from the careful planning and gradual upgrading of the informal s
not from its rapid eradication.14
The existence of the two-sector urban economy with high rates of und
employment and unemployment, low incomes, and poor access to urba
vices and facilities in the informal sector is a major reason for widesp
poverty in Kuala Lumpur. The poor, however, are not confined to the inf
sector but rather are found throughout the secondary and tertiary activit
the formal and informal sectors of the economy.15 Squatters are generally
poorest of the urban poor and the most economically depressed group
population in the Federal Territory. In 1977 approximately 73 percent of sq
households in the territory had an income of less than US$141 per mon
contrast 49 percent of all households in the area was in this income catego
An additional problem is that the age structure of the population is h
weighted in favor of the age group zero to fourteen years. Unemploym
a particularly serious problem for the age group fifteen to nineteen years
large number of young persons results in a variety of strains on basic ser
such as education, health care, and housing.
SQUATTER CHARACTERISTICS
Before World War II squatting was not a major problem in the citi
Southeast Asia. During the war many persons migrated to urban areas in s
of employment and safety. The rapid increase of squatters in Kuala L
began during the Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945, when
impoverished economy brought many people. . .into town in search of a li
and...greater security."17 Several squatter settlements were construc
close proximity to wealthy residential areas.
The squatter population of Kuala Lumpur fluctuated considerably d
the past three decades, although the available information is not totally r
In 1954 the number was approximately 140,000, or 50 percent of the mun
population, but by 1961 the figures declined to 100,000 and 25 percen
survey by the municipality of Kuala Lumpur from 1966 to 1968 reported
squatter households, or 32 percent of all households, in the city.19 O
assumption of an occupancy-rate ratio of 5.7 persons per household, the s
ter population was estimated at 150,000.20 By 1973 the number of squ
14 T. G. McGee, The Persistence of the Proto-Proletariat: Occupational Structures and Plan
the Future of Third World Cities, in Third World Urbanization (edited by Janet Abu-Lug
Richard Hay Jr.; Chicago: Maaroufa Press, 1977), pp. 257-270, reference on pp. 269-270.
15 Government of Malaysia, Third Malaysia Plan 1976-1980 (Kuala Lumpur: Government
1976), p. 167.
16 Economic Report, footnote 9 above, p. 164.
17 Bennett, footnote 7 above, p. 328; and Chong Seck-Chim, The Development of Kuala Lumpur
District, Malayan Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 3, 1954, pp. 48-50.
18 T. G. McGee, The Southeast Asian City: A Social Geography of the Primate Cities of Southeast
Asia (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, 1967), pp. 146 and 157.
19 Cited in Emiel A. Wegelin, Some Characteristics of Squatters in Kelang Valley Area, Development
Forum (Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Centre for Development Studies), Vol. 4, 1974, pp. 39-46, reference
on p. 40.
20 Ishak Shari, Squatters: The Urban Poor in Kuala Lumpur, in Some Case Studies on Poverty in
162
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS IN
I \
(.
/
! 4
N i
j
I.
' ~ ~~~~~~~ --,
KUALA LUMPUR (1973)
Federal Territory
Municipal Area
_q Squatter Areas
Major Roads
- Major Rivers
0 1 2 Ml.
1 2 3 KM.
FIG. 2-Squatter settlements in the Federal T
Wegelin, text footnote 44, p. 53.
households had increased to 29,00
city. Application of the occupancy
lation of 165,000. The decline of the
1968 and 1973 was the result of t
Malaysia: Essays Presented to Ungku A. Az
Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press,
163
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
inside the old municipal limits, and the settlement of m
outside the city limits.21 The creation of the Federal Territor
the number of squatters counted in Kuala Lumpur becaus
eral squatter settlements were incorporated in the expanded
There is little agreement on the number of squatters prese
Territory. Newspaper reports in the late 1970s gave figur
and 226,000.22 A government ministry stated that an estim
ters, or 21 percent of the population in the Federal Territor
in 106 settlements with 29,308 housing units.23 It remains u
estimates were determined, but the sources concur that the absolute number
of squatters has increased in recent years, while the percentage of squatters as
part of the total urban population has declined.
Squatters in Kuala Lumpur included persons from the three major ethnic
groups of the peninsula. The 1966-1968 survey indicated that 67.2 percent of
the squatters was Chinese, 20.4 percent Malay, and the remainder primarily
Indian.24 These ethnic proportions changed dramatically by 1977: 45 percent
was Chinese, 44 percent Malay, and 11 percent Indian. In the same year the
ethnic composition of the total population in the Federal Territory was 58 percent
Chinese, 25 percent Malay, and 17 percent Indian.25 Clearly the Chinese
and Indian communities were underrepresented, and the Malays were overrepresented
in the squatter population.
I will now examine the rapid increase of Malay squatters in Kuala Lumpur.
In 1947 the Malay proportion of the population of Kuala Lumpur was 12.5
percent; by 1970 the figure had doubled. During the decade prior to independence,
Malays were drawn to the city by opportunities for employment in the
police, the armed forces, and the civil service. Available housing in the Malay
sections of the city was soon exhausted by the rapid influx. By 1961 approximately
half of the Malay population in Kuala Lumpur lived in scattered, but
ethnically homogeneous squatter settlements.26 After independence the Malays
acquired political power, and the government initiated a program of rural development
with improvement of Malay living conditions as a primary aim.
Control of the urban capitalist economy was left largely to the Chinese. Rural
modernization, however, did not stop the movement of Malays to the urban
areas that were perceived as having preferable economic opportunities, but in
which the Malays had to compete with the Chinese for limited employment,
housing, and other facilities.27
21 Wegelin, footnote 19 above, p. 40.
22 Malay Mail, July 1, 1977; and New Straits Times, June 14, 1976, and August 23, 1976.
23 Economic Report, footnote 9 above, p. 164.
24 Cited in Esa, footnote 10 above, p. 100.
25 Economic Report, footnote 9 above, p. 164.
26 T. G. McGee, Rural-Urban Migration in a Plural Society: A Case Study of Malays in West Malaysia,
in The City as a Centre of Change in Asia (edited by D. J. Dwyer; Hong Kong: Hong K
University Press, 1972), p. 114; and McGee, footnote 18 above, p. 161.
27 Hamzah Sendut, Patterns of Urbanization in Malaya, Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 16,
1962, pp. 114-130, reference on pp. 121-122; T. G. McGee, Beach-Heads and Enclaves: The Urban
Debate and the Urbanization Process in South-East Asia, in Changing South-East Asian Cities:
Readings on Urbanization (edited by Y. M. Yeung and C. P. Lo; Singapore: Oxford University
Press, 1976), p. 69; and Fred R. von der Mehden, Communalism, Industrial Policy and Income
Distribution in Malaysia, Asian Survey, Vol. 15, 1975, pp. 247-261.
164
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
An important factor behind the movement of Malays to Kuala Lumpur
the continued identification of income, employment structure, differential r
gional development, and other characteristics of life in Peninsular Malays
with the ethnically based plural structure of the society. As Wolfgang Kasper
observed, albeit rather baldly, "Malays generally form the majority of th
poorer income groups and regions and live in the rural areas, while the Chine
dominate the relatively better off income groups, regions, and urban areas."2
This generalization was substantiated by data from the intercensal period 1957
to 1970 when relative incomes of rural dwellers, predominantly Malays, probably
declined, and when the Malays suffered a higher incidence of pover
than the Indians and the Chinese.29 These conditions, combined with the
promises of the government to provide Malays with employment in industry
and commerce in order to eliminate the longstanding association of ethnicity
with particular economic activities, continue to lure Malays to the capital city.
Many in-migrants, the bulk of whom are from states adjacent to Selangor, are
poor, unskilled, and unable to afford conventional housing.30 Thus in-migration
of the economically deprived and incorporation of squatter settlements on
the peripheries of the city account for the rapid increase of the percentage of
Malay squatters in the Federal Territory.
The Chinese are generally more prosperous than their Indian and Malay
counterparts, but poverty in Kuala Lumpur has no racial or ethnic barriers.
Tens of thousands of poor Chinese are concentrated in central-city slum areas,
and, at least until recently, the Chinese, who have always been numerically
dominant in Kuala Lumpur, composed the majority of the squatter population.31
Urban poverty is a relatively new experience for most Malay squatters.
In contrast, 41.4 percent of the Chinese squatters were born in the city.32 In
both absolute and relative terms the Chinese squatter population has declined,
while the size of the Malay squatter community has risen sharply. The Malay
share of the squatter population in Kuala Lumpur will probably continue to
increase because, of the three largest ethnic groups on the peninsula, the Malays
are the poorest, constitute the largest reservoir of potential rural-urban
migrants, have the highest propensity to migrate, experience the fastest rate
of urban population growth, and are generally the least socially and economically
mobile.33
28 Wolfgang Kasper, Malaysia: A Study in Successful Economic Development (Washington, D. C.:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1974), p. 36.
29 D. R. Snodgrass, Trends and Patterns in Malaysian Income Distribution, 1957-70, in Readings
on Malaysian Economic Development (edited by David Lim; Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University
Press, 1975), pp. 251-268.
30 Town Drift: Social and Policy Implications in Eight Developing Countries (Ottawa: International
Development Research Centre, 1973), p. 51; and Suresh Narayanan, A Note on Internal Migration
and Regional Growth Trends in Peninsular Malaysia, 1957-1970, Malayan Economic Review, Vol.
23, 1978, pp. 53-60.
31 M. S. Sidhu, Chinese Dominance of West Malaysian Towns, 1921-1970, Geography, Vol. 61,
1976, pp. 17-23.
32 Town Drift, footnote 30 above, p. 51.
33 Suresh Narayanan, Patterns and Implications of Urban Change in Peninsular Malaysia, Malayan
Economic Review, Vol. 20, 1975, pp. 55-71, reference on p. 66; and Robin J. Pryor, Malaysians on
the Move: A Study of Internal Migration in West Malaysia (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department
of Geography, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 1972), p. 639.
165
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Most squatters have resided in the Federal Territory for more than fiv
The longer association of the Chinese and Indian squatters with the city,
pared with that of the Malays, is reflected in the differential size of ho
and the average age of household heads by ethnic group. Malay squatter h
holds on the average are smaller than their Indian and Chinese counte
and the mean age of Malay heads of household is considerably lower
the other two squatter communities. These facts convey an image of
families that recently migrated from rural areas.34
Squatters of both rural and urban origins move to the capital in se
employment, higher incomes, and better prospects for their children. A
of rehoused squatters in the Cheras Road Flats of Kuala Lumpur revea
45 percent of the migrants to the city were unemployed in their place of
20 percent migrated because of low incomes in their home areas, and the
either followed their parents to the city or moved there for further educ
A study of Kampong Setor, a Malay squatter settlement in Kuala Lu
reported that the majority of household heads was born in rural areas an
unmarried on arrival in the city. Later evidence suggested that the perce
of individuals who were married on arrival in the city had probably incr
considerably during recent years.36
Most squatters lack the qualifications and the means to achieve mor
a minimal livelihood. Two consequences are that socioeconomic mobil
the majority of the squatters is curtailed and that poverty may be perpe
through one or more generations. Although some squatters in Kuala
are relatively affluent, own property, and rent to other squatters, the m
is poor or very poor. Because of inflation and the high cost of living in th
the real income of all three ethnic squatter communities probably declin
recent years.
LOCATIONS AND LIVING CONDITIONS
Squatter settlements differ considerably in appearance and internal layout.
They have been described as chaotic, haphazard, and slumlike. To one observer
they were a spreading malady harboring "excessive squalor, filth, and poverty."37
These perspectives, however, were based largely on comparisons with the
Western city and tended to be grounded in the concept of the culture of poverty
that Oscar Lewis initially expounded.38 I offer a different perspective that emphasizes
the role of the squatter settlement in the process of adaptation to
urban life.
The inner and outer areas of Third World cities contain squatter settlements,
but the large ones are usually on the periphery. Studies of squatter settlements
34 Wegelin, footnote 19 above, p. 41.
35 Toh Kin Woon, Urban Poor: The Case of the Cheras Road Flat Dwellers, in Some Case Studies,
footnote 20 above, p. 128.
36 McGee, footnote 18 above, p. 164; and Town Drift, footnote 30 above, p. 98.
37 Morris Juppenlatz, Cities in Transformation: The Urban Squatter Problem of the Developing
World (St. Lucia, Qld.: University of Queensland Press, 1970), p. 5.
38 Oscar Lewis, The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family (New York: Random
House, 1961), pp. xxiv-xxvii; and Charles A. Valentine, 'The Culture of Poverty': Its Scientific
Significance and Its Implications for Action, in The Culture of Poverty: A Critique (edited by
Eleanor Burke Leacock; New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971), pp. 193-225.
166
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
in Southeast Asian cities tend to emphasize two locational factors: avai
of land, especially public land that is unsuitable for development pur
and proximity to employment and markets.39 In Kuala Lumpur there are
large squatter colonies in outlying areas, numerous others around the
of the central city, and only a handful of small settlements in the centra
(Fig. 2). Squatter settlements are found along roads, railroads, and riverba
on undeveloped land or wasteland at the periphery of the city, and on
land in the city. Several areas are subject to periodic flooding, and many h
no access roads.
Proximity to employment is an important locational variable in Kuala
pur, and squatter colonies can generate their own employment opport
One observer noted that Chinese squatter settlements in the southern pa
the city were "characterized by a multiplicity of tiny workshops eng
such business as the repair of motor vehicles, metal and wood worki
the manufacture of concrete products."40 Some squatters close to the
commercial area or adjacent to commercial nodes along major arter
employment in these areas, while other squatters are located near factori
other sources of employment. In Kampong Kelantan, 51 percent of the sq
lived less than three miles from their place of work.41
Squatter settlements in the Federal Territory have considerable divers
age, density, and appearance. Houses in some areas are well built and substantial,
but in others extremely flimsy. Malay squatters tend to live in settlements
that resemble rural kampongs. In these areas traditional house styles are
replicated; dirt paths link the houses and give access to the outside world;
chickens scavenge for food; fruit trees and vegetables may surround the dwellings.
Chinese squatters, on the other hand, commonly live in settlements that
resemble urban slums. Evidence from a 1966 survey indicated that Malays tended
to squat on public land, the Chinese on private land, most of which is in the
central area; that rents were higher on private land than on public land; and
that accessibility to electricity, water, and sewage facilities was much greater
on private land than on public land.42
In 1973 an estimated 80 percent of the squatters had no electricity, 75 percent
had no piped water, and 35 percent lacked sewage facilities.43 Later estimates
for conditions on government land were 90 percent lacking piped water and
94 percent lacking electricity. The same source noted the complaints of squatters
about rats, mosquitoes, waste disposal, indoor crowding, and other problems.44
Few squatters have hygienic toilets. The sewage system remains essentially
unchanged since 1964.
39 R. P. Poethig, The Squatters of Southeast Asia, Ekistics, Vol. 31, 1971, pp. 121-125; and Richard
Ulack, The Role of Urban Squatter Settlements, Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
Vol. 68, 1978, pp. 535-550.
40 J. C. Jackson, Urban Squatters in Southeast Asia, Geography, Vol. 59, 1974, pp. 28-29.
41 Shari, footnote 20 above, p. 115.
42 Esa, footnote 10 above, pp. 100-101.
43 Emiel A. Wegelin, Urban Low-Income Housing and Development: A Case Study in Peninsular
Malaysia, Studies in Development and Planning (Leiden and Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978), Vol.
6, pp. 107-109.
44 Melinda S. Meade and Emiel A. Wegelin, Some Aspects of the Health Environments of Squat
and Rehoused Squatters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Journal of Tropical Geography, Vol. 41, 1975,
pp. 45-58, reference on pp. 51-54.
167
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
Because of the general absence of piped water, sewage facilities, a
gienic surroundings, squatters are subject to various disease hazards.
ticularly serious problem for the young is the threat of dengue hemo
fever (DHF), a relatively new viral disease that may result in mortality r
10 percent. The main vector of DHF, the mosquito Aedes aegypti, fin
breeding sites in household-water containers, discarded cans and tire
gutters, and other manmade habitats in squatter settlements.45 Although
riasis is not now a problem in Kuala Lumpur, conditions in some sq
settlements provide potential-breeding sites for the vector of the diseas
mosquito Culex pipiens fatigans, that seeks larval habitats in cesspits
ganically polluted stagnant water. Inadequate diets, crowded living condit
and unsanitary surroundings result in high infant, child, and maternal d
rates, malnutrition, and fecally transmitted and airborne diseases.46
PERCEPTION OF SQUATTERS AND SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
Planning for squatters in Kuala Lumpur, to be effective, not only
take cognizance of the perception of squatters and their residences by go
ment officials, planners, and architects but also should embrace the squa
perception of their own conditions, their values, their needs, their aspir
and their human capabilities. To my knowledge these themes have n
systematically investigated. My discussion of them is admittedly sug
rather than comprehensive or definitive.
The position of the government on squatting, officially at least, is leg
As one minister stated, "To occupy any State land illegally is wrong and
the law. We must be firm and try to stop such things from taking place."
other position would be tantamount to extending security of tenure
squatter population. In Malaysia, as in many other Third World coun
squatting is perceived negatively by the government. Illegal settlements,
contended, harbor criminals and racketeers, pose fire and disease ha
impede the orderly development of the city, result in a loss of revenue
assessment rates, tarnish the image of the capital at home and abroad, an
not cleared away or at least disapproved of, simply encourage additional
ting; furthermore, squatting promotes juvenile delinquency, challenges t
tus of the government as the source of law and order, and threatens the
nomic, social, and political stability of the city.48
The overall import of these contentions is that Kuala Lumpur does not
the government image of the ideal city, that is, does not resemble the W
model. Although the incidences of fires and certain diseases are hig
squatter settlements than in low-cost housing schemes, the same pattern
be demonstrated for crime rates.49 The negative images, furthermore, f
45 S. Robert Aiken and Colin H. Leigh, Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever in South-east Asia
actions, Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 3, 1978, pp. 476-497, references o
and 484.
46 Khairuddin Yusof and T. A. Sinnathuray, Medical Index of Poverty, in Some Case St
footnote 20 above, pp. 41-52.
47 New Straits Times, June 14, 1976.
48 Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia, Squatters in Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, n.d., pp. 6-7.
49 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, pp. 200, 253-256, and 265-276.
168
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
recognize the role of the squatter settlement in the process of adapta
urban life or the contribution of squatters to the economy of the city. U
cially the government often ignores squatting, probably for various
including humanitarian considerations, social and political pressures,
tude of the squatter population, and financial, administrative, and pe
constraints tfnder which the government operates.50
The perception of the squatter "problem" by architects and planners i
clear from the available evidence. Some clues, however, may be obtained
one of their major preoccupations in recent years-the planning of new t
and suburbs in the Klang Valley. The plans incorporate rigid land-u
zoning regulations and tend to emphasize the physical components of pla
rather than the socioeconomic, environmental, and communal aspects of
development. Residential areas are laid out largely in accordance with We
especially British, planning practices. Low-income housing in the new
and suburbs is invariably beyond the means of squatters, and no att
made in these areas or in squatter-resettlement housing to incorporat
enous architectural styles and arrangements of interior spaces in the pla
process. There may be some truth in the charge that architects and p
perceive squatting as a "wasteful and costly use of urban land 'grabbed' b
squatters which could be used for alternative and more profitable purpos
How do squatters perceive their lot? The available fragmentary ev
indicates that the majority of squatters in Kuala Lumpur is satisfied wit
present circumstances. Squatters from rural areas are predominantly
who tend to view their life in the city as preferable to their previous on
as better for their children. Initially the Malays probably find the c
attractive than do their Chinese counterparts, many of whom are experi
urban residents. Because the first years of living in a city are usually th
difficult in terms of adaptation, some Malays display a willingness to
home. For the majority of squatters, satisfaction with life in the city is m
not only in terms of individual economic betterment but also in relation
presence or the absence of community life and values. In Kuala Lumpu
other Third World cities, less attention is given to the quality of housin
to employment opportunities, to proximity to work and schools, and to
able utilities and services.52
PLANNING IN KUALA LUMPUR
Planning in Kuala Lumpur has been haphazard, desultory, and primarily
confined to paper. Planning was introduced in 1921 with the "objective of
controlling, guiding and determining the proper planning of all land in the
town."53 The controls imposed, however, tended to be negative rather than
positive because they emphasized the avoidance of problems rather than the
encouragement of the best possible development of land in the city. The first
50 Chan Kok Eng, Lim Heng Kow, and Tunku Shamsul Bahrin, Urban Squatters-An Adaptation
to Poverty?, in Some Case Studies, footnote 20 above, pp. 99-108, reference on p. 102.
51 Shari, footnote 20 above, p. 121.
52 Town Drift, footnote 30 above, pp. 7-8, 111-112, and 123-124.
53 Ghazali Mohd. Ali, Recreation/Open Space (Kuala Lumpur Perspective), Majallah Akitek, No. 3,
1975, p. 10.
169
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
plan for Kuala Lumpur was prepared and published in 19
force, despite subsequent changes in the growth and the
city, until the early 1960s, when the provisions in the plan
new master plan, consisting of three documents on land use
density, and central-area development, was published in
National Operations Council officially promulgated Emergen
ers) Ordinance No. 46 to regulate planning in Kuala Lump
development of Kuala Lumpur was to be guided by a set
Development Plans that were similar to the 1967 documen
ever, have been roundly criticized because they are ambiguo
plans, and have "caused more disorders and confusions to
opment of Kuala Lumpur than desirable results."54
With the creation of the Federal Territory, a new master
essary. During the past few years newspaper reports asserte
would be ready in two years. Recent evidence indicates that
of the city has been prepared and that the provisions of
Lumpur (Planning) Act of 1973, which superceded the Em
Powers) Ordinance but retained the original comprehens
extended to areas outside the old municipal boundaries th
Federal Territory.
Because squatters have generally been perceived by the go
no place in the well-ordered city of the future, they hav
hoc, largely uncoordinated, planning strategies. For the mos
use exercises and planning for physical structures take pr
ning for people. Late in 1979 the government announced
plan for Kuala Lumpur would be completed in 1980 and that
consideration would be made for squatters living in the
nouncement noted that "squatters had a role to play in th
economic progress of the capital."55 Positive statements such
atively new and hopefully signal the emergence of new a
of the government toward the squatter population.
Planning for squatters in the Federal Territory is the resp
federal government and its appointed agencies. To solve t
problem in Kuala Lumpur, the government has pursued a
relocation in conventional low-income housing schemes, e
ternative housing or compensation, upgrading of existing se
the provision of utilities such as electricity, piped water, an
and site-and-service projects. Of these policies, the first for
of the government-planning objectives; the second, becau
considerations and political pressures, is probably not widely
ent; the third, although it may become important, is gener
ad hoc basis; and the fourth has suffered a number of setba
A study of relocation in low-income housing schemes i
demonstrated that rehousing provides squatters with sec
with vital services. Social benefits such as improved perform
54 W. Y. Chin, The Traffic Dilemma of Kuala Lumpur, Majallah Akitek, No
55 Malaysia, September, 1979, p. 5; and New Straits Times, June 15, 1979.
170
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
school, lowered incidence of fires, and decrease in incidents of illness can als
result. Other problems, however, may arise or continue: increased distan
from work places, poor construction standards, high noise levels in multisto
apartment buildings, and crowding. Crime is not reduced by rehousing,
electricity, water, and rent must be paid from often meager incomes. Interra
tolerance is perhaps promoted in integrated low-rise and terraced-hous
projects, but not in high-rise structures. The advantages and the disadvantag
of conventional low-income housing are recognized by squatters and reho
squatters.56
To date low-cost housing schemes have been insufficient to meet the demand
for minimum-standard housing in Kuala Lumpur. From 1968 to 1973,
when the number of squatter households in the city increased, only 8,500 units
of low-income housing were completed in the greater Kuala Lumpur area, and
fewer than half of them went to squatter families.57 During the period of the
Third Malaysia Plan (1976-1980), M$156 million, or US$73.3 million, were to
have been allocated to the construction of more than 13,000 housing units in
the Federal Territory, not all of which were for squatters.58 Early in 1979 the
number of completed units was well below the projected target. Demand greatly
outstrips supply: 14,000 persons applied for 676 units in the Cheras Road
Flats.59
Although the government has recently shown an increased interest in lowcost
housing, the number of units completed in the Federal Territory has not
been sufficient. This situation is unfortunate, because construction of conventional
low-income housing is an efficient economic policy. This viewpoint is
supported by a small, but growing number of scholars who contend that allocation
of financial resources to housing, contrary to the opinions of some
economists, contributes significantly to economic development.60 Although
Malaysia should increase its expenditure on public housing, this policy alone
will not solve the housing problem. Rural-urban migration will continue apace,
and a sizable proportion of the urban poor cannot afford the rents and the
other expenses that must be incurred even in heavily subsidized public housing.
In terms of these circumstances, there is a strong case for improving squatter
settlements rather than for ignoring or abolishing them.
Squatters throughout the world are capable of housing themselves.61 From
this perspective, squatter settlements account for a "significant proportion of
the real physical capital" in developing cities.62 Furthermore, squatter settlements
also contribute to the urbanization process, because they perform im-
56 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, p. 148.
57 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, p. 110.
58 New Straits Times, November 16, 1976, April 12, 1977, August 17, 1977, and March 20, 1979.
59 New Straits Times, November 16, 1976.
60 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, p. 196; and Hugh Stretton, Urban Planning in Rich and Poor Countries
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978), pp. 96-116.
61 Karpat, footnote 4 above, pp. 92-95; William Mangin, Latin American Squatter Settlements: A
Problem and a Solution, Latin American Research Review, Vol. 2, 1967, pp. 65-98; Geoffrey K.
Payne, Urban Housing in the Third World (London: Leonard Hill, 1977), pp. 71-81 and 185-216;
and John Turner, Lima's Barriadas and Corralones: Suburbs versus Slums, Ekistics, Vol. 19, 1965,
pp. 152-155.
62 William L. C. and Margaret F. Wheaton, Urban Housing in Economic Development, in The City,
footnote 26 above, p. 143.
171
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
portant urban functions. In addition to providing cheap or rent-free h
for the lowest income groups, squatter settlements act as "shock absorber
"reception centers" for recent urban migrants and ease the transition to
life. These settlements generate employment opportunities in a variety of
scale enterprises, offer housing close to places of work, supply various so
welfare services, and encourage ongoing improvements in housing, ser
and utilities, where security of tenure exists.63
The basic idea behind the site-and-service projects that have been i
mented in areas around Kuala Lumpur since 1965 is to provide the urban p
with building lots, services such as water, drains, and roads, and, in
cases, community facilities. Squatters are then expected to build thei
houses and to improve their living conditions over a period of time, as ci
stances warrant. Thus far, site-and-service projects in the Kuala Lump
have had only limited success. Distance from work, lack of adequate se
and, perhaps most importantly, the absence of coordinated planning have
parently resulted in the unpopularity of the schemes.64 If the intentions
Third Malaysia Plan are realized, inhabitants of site-and-service schem
receive housing lots and basic housing shells, and financial assistanc
be available for procurement of building materials. The plan also points to
need for coordinated planning of housing development. In mid-1977 a low
pilot-housing project was launched at Salak South in the southeastern p
the city. The scheme includes core-housing units that later can be enl
house sites, drains, roads, other services, shops, and industrial sites, and p
vision will be made for the upgrading of existing squatter areas.65
Upgrading schemes have been undertaken in areas such as Ampang
pong, and Petaling Valley where there are dense and large concentrati
squatters. These peripheral areas have been supplied, in varying degree
services such as roads, water, and electricity. Standpipes serving between
and one hundred households have been provided in approximately half
squatter settlements in the Federal Territory, and there are plans to u
nine squatter settlements that cover 686 acres. Upgrading schemes, acc
to the Third Malaysia Plan, are to receive greater emphasis in the future.
policy would seem to imply that security of tenure may be extended to s
squatters under certain circumstances. At present, site-and-service an
grading schemes have resulted only in modest improvements to the
conditions of squatters. The potential of these policies has yet to be realiz
The current policies for planning by the government recognize that sq
settlements differ considerably in location, housing density, environm
conditions, and other respects. These policies need further clarification, a
as better coordination and administration. They require a strong foun
of accurate information, continuing research, and analysis of the cos
benefits of different policy options. Because of widespread poverty in ru
63 Mangin, footnote 61 above, p. 74; and Colin Rosser, Housing and Planned Urban Cha
Calcutta Experience, in The City, footnote 26 above, p. 186.
64 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, pp. 91-92.
65 Government of Malaysia, Mid-Term Review of the Third Malaysia Plan 1976-1980 (Ku
pur: Government Printer, 1979), p. 213; and New Straits Times, January 22, 1979.
172
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
urban areas and the likely continuation of in-migration by the poor, squ
will persist in Kuala Lumpur tor the foreseeable future. Planning should
fore be oriented both to the present and the future needs of the squatt
the city. Future-oriented planning will require acquisition and devel
of urban land in advance of need, new and imaginative land-manag
policies, extension of services and utilities to new settlements, creation
opportunities, and programs for inexpensive public transportation.
while, problem solving should emphasize the eventual integration of
squatter settlements in the physical and social fabric of the city.
In outlying districts of the Federal Territory, land should be reserved
site-and-service schemes. Because extension of electricity, sewage, wa
other necessities to these areas will be expensive, investigation of f
cheap options, or at least temporary relief, should be undertaken. The o
might include standpipes and public washhouses rather than indivi
piped household-water supplies, public latrines and septic tanks rath
pipes and pumping stations, and low-capacity electrical systems that are
able for lighting and small appliances but not for cooking and heati
which kerosene is adequate and commonly used.66
Squatters have already made a considerable contribution to the stock of
housing in densely settled areas, most of which are located between the
commercial area and the former municipal boundaries to the north, east, and
south (Fig. 2). Little, except an increased shortage of dwellings, will result from
eradication of these settlements in favor of conventional low-income housing.
In these areas services and utilities should be upgraded, self-help housing and
employment schemes encouraged, and increased security of tenure extended
to the inhabitants. In some of these areas and the squatter settlements in the
central city, the high cost of land and the demand placed on it for other urban
functions will necessitate the resettlement of squatters in high-density walkup
or multistory apartments. Such housing, which largely precludes self-help
building programs, will be required in order to maintain current proximity to
work places, schools, markets, and other facilities.67 However, the appropriateness
of high-rise dwellings in the multiethnic context of Kuala Lumpur and
the question of whether there are interethnic variations in adaptation to highrise
living conditions are debatable topics.68
At this point it is important to note that squatters constitute only a portion
of the urban poor. Thousands of slum dwellers reside in substandard, mostly
prewar structures in the old sections of the central city. Densities are high;
work is frequently in the home; the incidence of communicable diseases is
probably higher than elsewhere in the city.69 Although slum dwellers have
access to piped water, electricity, and sewage, in other respects their living
66 Town Drift, footnote 30 above, pp. 196 and 198.
67 Wegelin, footnote 43 above, p. 93.
68 Alvin Rabushka, Integration in Urban Malaya: Ethnic Attitudes among Malays and Chinese,
Journal of Asian and African Studies, Vol. 6, 1971, pp. 91-107; and Alvin Rabushka, Racial Stereotypes
in Malaya, Asian Survey, Vol. 11, 1971, pp. 709-716.
69 James C. Jackson, The Chinatowns of Southeast Asia: Traditional Components of the City's
Central Area, Pacific Viewpoint, Vol. 16, 1975, pp. 45-77; and Syed Hussin Aljoofre, Towards
Environmental Planning, Majallah Akitek, No. 6, 1973, pp. 30-34.
173
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
conditions are comparable to those in squatter settlemen
dard, low-income housing would appear to be appropriate
sections of the central city.
FURTHER RESEARCH
The lack of accurate, up-to-date, relevant data for Third World countries is
a perennial problem. To provide a firm foundation for research and planning
in Peninsular Malaysia, there is an urgent need for continuing collection and
analysis of comprehensive data about the socioeconomic, cultural, demographic,
and other characteristics of squatters. Also required is a typology of
squatter settlements based on dwelling types, building materials, physical conditions,
and degree of security of tenure. This typology could yield useful
comparative information about squatter settlements and may provide a basis
for studies of changing living conditions.
Rural-urban migration will continue to augment squatting in Kuala Lumpur.
Most migrants will be Malays. Because of rapid economic development
and modernization, villages, small towns, and cities in Peninsular Malaysia
are increasingly being drawn together in a single, interdependent, socioeconomic
and political system. In the context of this interdependence, the pushpull
model of migration and the folk-urban continuum model, both of which
draw dubious distinctions between rural and urban lifestyles, have limited
analytical utility for the study of squatters in Kuala Lumpur.70 The folk-urban
model assumes that migrants to a city suffer from anomie, alienation, breakdown
of group affiliations, and other problems of adaptation.71 Although some
of these conditions exist, many studies demonstrated that migrants in squatter
settlements are generally capable of adapting to urban life.72 The ethnically and
culturally diverse squatter population of Kuala Lumpur offers many possibilities
for cross-cultural studies of urban adaptation.
Studies of the origins of recently arrived squatters should deal not only with
socioeconomic factors but also with the effect of return migration, the circulation
of information about living and working conditions in Kuala Lumpur,
the perception and the evaluation of this information, the selectivity of the
migration process, and the kinship networks that link migrants with a city.
Personal networks are highly efficient in helping migrants to establish themselves
in urban areas. Conversely migrants outside networks of mutual assistance
and security lack a sense of belonging and are likely to endure difficult
problems of adaptation.
The patterns of intraurban movement of squatters, the differential roles of
kinship, friendship, voluntary associations, political parties, and other institutions
in the adaptation process, and the issues of community values, atti-
70 McGee, footnote 26 above, pp. 109-110.
71 R. E. Pahl, The Rural-Urban Continuum, Sociologia Ruralis, Vol. 6, 1966, pp. 299-326.
72 Janet Abu-Lughod, Migrant Adjustment to City Life: The Egyptian Case, American Journal of
Sociology, Vol. 67, 1961, pp. 22-32; Edward M. Bruner, Urbanization and Ethnic Identity in Northern
Sumatra, American Anthropologist, Vol. 63, 1961, pp. 508-521; L. Alan Eyre, The Shantytowns
of Montego Bay, Jamaica, Geographical Review, Vol. 62, 1972, pp. 394-413; Robert V. Kemper,
Migration and Adaptation: Tzintzuntzan Peasants in Mexico City (Beverly Hills, Cal.: Sage Publications,
1977); and Aprodicio A. Laquian, Slums are for People: The Barrio Magsaysay Pilot
Project in Philippine Urban Community Development (Honolulu: East-West Center Press, 1969).
174
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SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS
tudes, and preferences are complicated by the cultural diversity of Kuala
pur. Intraurban movement is one example. A thesis in certain studies of L
American and other cities is that migrants initially go to central-city loc
and then, after gaining some urban experience, move to the peripheri
this model applicable to Kuala Lumpur migrants who are likely to be chan
first to ethnically segregated residential zones and then to ethnically hom
neous squatter settlements? Or perhaps another model, also based on o
able trends in Latin America, is appropriate for Kuala Lumpur: recent mi
settle in intermediate and peripheral areas rather than the central city?7
A study of squatter settlements in the southern Phillipines concluded t
old squatter settlements had higher socioeconomic status and better lo
with respect to employment and amenities and played a more positive
the life of the city than did new settlements.75 Is this conclusion true for
Lumpur? Have the attitudes of government officials, planners, and ot
dividuals whose decisions shape the lives of the poor changed towards
ters in recent years? The topics requiring further research are legion. Re
ers, planners, and officials should remember that in many instances a squ
settlement is a solution to a problem, an investment in the future, a cent
shared values, and a home.
73 John C. Turner, Barriers and Channels for Housing Development in Modernizing Countries, in
Peasants in Cities: Readings in the Anthropology of Urbanization (edited by William Mangin;
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1970), pp. 1-19; and Turner, footnote 61 above, pp. 152-155.
74 Kemper, footnote 72 above, p. 109.
75 Ulack, footnote 39 above, pp. 548-549.
175
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