MARCH 4 — With reference to the Malay Mail Online article on the exodus of inhabitants from George Town coinciding with the repeal of Rent Control, it is my considered opinion that the repeal was carried without prior comprehensive study done on the socio-economic impact that it would cause.
There were some 12,000 pre-war premises in Penang State and most were on the island, in George Town.
The moratorium of three to four years, which graduated the hike of rents of controlled premises from 25-100 per cent of their Annual Value, was far too short.
And there was no preparation for relocation housing for rent or sale to dispossessed tenants.
Malaysia could have benefited from the advantage of hindsight by analysing the rent control repeal experienced by Singapore and other Commonwealth countries. Sadly, it did not.
Some members of the previous generation in my family could not afford to buy homes but luckily all my siblings and my cousins could.
We saw former neighbours who could not afford, suffer breakup of family and loss of their livelihood because the trades which were handed down by their ancestors to them depended on familiar suppliers in the old neighbourhood.
Balls of wantan noodles, panes of cut glass and rolls of rattan blinds previously delivered by tricycles, now have to be transported by vans and small lorries because upstream suppliers and downstream users no longer share the same precincts.
Increase in motorised vehicles fuel the need for more parking bays on land-scarce George Town and self-serving businessmen "booked" the bays near/fronting their premises by putting broken chairs and crates to prevent the parking of other vehicles.
By excluding users who competed for the bays, their selfishness also inconvenienced their own customers and inevitably, this led to a shrinking clientele.
Owners of decontrolled premises raised rents that forced out old tenants, causing a ghost town syndrome at night where only 20 per cent of the former population remained.
The meteoric rise in rentals coupled with heritage city status helped make budget hotels among the only viable business.
Prior to the advent of smart phones, notably the cheaper Android, the budget travellers of the 190 illegally converted hotels drove entrepreneurs to set up Internet cafes and bicycle/motorcycle rental shops in the vicinity of the hotels.
Almost every old Hainanese coffeeshop in city that shipped out was replaced with a kedai nasi kandar but most did not last 2 years despite their 24-hour operations.
The ill-effects riled Penangites to change their voting pattern.
In past elections, the trend was to vote BN candidates for State seats and the opposition for Parliament.
Having suffered from the implications of an ill-planned rent control repeal, Penangites voted in a Pakatan government in 2008.
George Town is now overly dependent on the industry as economic growth accelerator and multiplier.
A significant drop in the harvest of tourist dollars will deflate the balloon that helps keep the local economy afloat.
The state-planned social, cultural and economic event calendars of the last few years to stimulate the local economy will be butchered by the cavalier attitude of landlords bent on having their pound of flesh in rentals.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
