20-10-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) Shocking conditions were uncovered when enforcement officers raided a four-story shoplot building in Taman Maluri, Cheras. The ground floor served as a shop, while the upper levels were divided into 78 shoebox rooms.
The first floor alone contained 38 of these cramped rooms, with 23 on the second floor and 17 on the third floor. On the first floor, the rooms were divided into lower and upper levels, with ladders allowing tenants to access their upper-level rooms. These rooms were so narrow that occupants had to crawl in, as they were too tight for walking. They lacked windows, with only a small hole in each room for ventilation.
Furnishings were minimal, with each room containing only a mattress, a pillow, a lightbulb, and a power point. Padlocks secured the doors of each room. Additionally, tenants on each floor had to share a single toilet and bathroom, both in poor condition, contributing to an unpleasant odor throughout the premises.
Despite paying approximately RM300 per month for a shoebox room, larger rooms on the second and third floors, with better furnishings, likely commanded higher rents.
Local Government Development Minister Nga Kor Ming led the raid at the shoplot and expressed his shock at the deplorable living conditions. He likened the living conditions to “cages or coffins” and considered the conditions “worse than a refugee camp.” Nga believed that between 40 and 50 tenants occupied the 38 rooms on the first floor.
He emphasized the inhumanity and illegality of such living conditions, citing health hazards and fire risks. Nga called on the premises’ owner or operator to surrender to the police, noting that the ministry had gathered sufficient evidence to take legal action.
