KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — Racial discrimination in Malaysia’s room rental market is not limited to the Klang Valley and is instead widespread nationwide, with a new study finding that more than four in 10 listings explicitly exclude at least one race.

The study released today was conducted by Architects of Diversity (AOD), a Malaysian group that works on diversity, equity and inclusion by helping organisations and communities better understand cultural differences.

In the study titled The Room Rental Discrimination Vol. 2: The Semenanjung Report, AOD found that 43.6 per cent of 40,294 listings on rental platform iBilik included explicit racial preferences, making exclusion more common than listings open to all races.

Overall, only 22.6 per cent of listings were open to all races, while 33.8 per cent did not state any preference.

AOD noted that its earlier Volume 1 study on the Klang Valley had already found a similar pattern, with discrimination rates above 40 per cent, suggesting the issue is not confined to urban centres but persists nationally.

In the latest nationwide analysis, Indians remain the most frequently excluded group, with 31.4 per cent of listings indicating they were not preferred tenants.

However, the report said exclusion patterns vary by location, with some states showing significantly higher rates, including 46.7 per cent in Melaka and 40.7 per cent in Perak.

It added that new regional trends have emerged beyond Klang Valley, including notable levels of Malay exclusion in northern states such as Kedah, Penang and Perak.

In Penang island areas, Malay exclusion rates reached 29.8 per cent in George Town and 29.0 per cent in Tanjung Tokong, indicating that discrimination patterns differ depending on local demographics.

The study also found that discrimination is more pronounced in lower-cost rental segments, potentially restricting affordable housing access for lower-income tenants.

Listings priced below RM400 showed a 42.5 per cent exclusion rate for Indian tenants, compared with 37.9 per cent for units priced between RM400 and RM700, and 21.7 per cent for rooms above RM1,000.

At state level, Perak recorded the highest overall discrimination rate at 66.3 per cent, followed by Melaka at 60.5 per cent and Johor at 55.2 per cent.

The report said the findings point to a systemic issue rather than isolated incidents, driven in part by the availability of race-based filtering tools on rental platforms.

Among its recommendations was the removal of racial preference filters on listing platforms.

“Since the release of Volume 1, iBilik has not removed its racial preference feature. The company described the tool as facilitating ‘compatibility between housemates’. AOD rejects this characterisation,” it said.

“When a platform allows a landlord to tick a box that excludes an entire racial group from being considered as tenants, the outcome is exclusion on the basis of race, regardless of how it is labelled.”

It added that such practices would be illegal under housing anti-discrimination laws in countries including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The report said while landlords may be concerned about risks when renting out properties, race should not be used as a proxy for assessing tenant reliability or behaviour.

It argued that stronger legal protections, including a comprehensive Residential Tenancy Act, would reduce reliance on racial preferences by providing clearer safeguards for landlords and tenants.

AOD executive director Jason Wee urged Housing and Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming to table the Residential Tenancy Act in the next parliamentary sitting.

“Every session that passes without this law is another session in which landlords have no proper legal framework, renters have no protection from discrimination, and platforms like iBilik continue to fill the vacuum with race filters,” he said.