15 - Johor Bahru’s Urban Transformation: Authority and Agency Revisited

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Johor, West Malaysia's southernmost state, has undergone a tremendous urban transformation over the last decade. Its strategic location, adjacent to Singapore, has contributed to escalating development and rising land values. The state offers many opportunities for investors; its rapid urban transformation is closely associated with the establishment of Iskandar Malaysia, a special economic zone (SEZ) that was officially launched in 2006. Initially 2,217 square kilometres in area, Iskandar Malaysia was singled out as the highest-impact development project in the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006–10). Modelled ostensibly after the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, Iskandar Malaysia seeks to maximize spillover effects for business and industry from land-scarce Singapore as well as other destinations. In its wake, the SEZ brought an unprecedented building boom and speculation in the international property sector.

Malaysia has a long-standing history of land reform and redistribution. From independence, land reform was deemed critical for poverty reduction, as seen through large-scale initiatives such as the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), which sought to create livelihoods for poor rural families with little or no assets (Henley 2015).

However, while land management is, according to the Constitution, a state government responsibility, national-level needs and initiatives have led to federal government encroachment in these and many other areas (Hutchinson 2014). As land remains a premium asset for the both levels of government, the process of sourcing for and developing land can become contested.

Johor's land redistribution policy and property development practices have undergone profound changes over the last ten years. The state government has opened up Johor Bahru's high-end residential market to both local non-bumiputra enterprises and foreign developers. There are about forty ongoing or recently completed property projects in Johor. These projects attributed to 42 per cent of the stock of 702,101 new houses in the state. From 2007 to 2016, Johor recorded a total sale of investment properties of more than US$8.1 billion. In 2013, over 76.4 per cent of investment properties (mostly residential) were purchased by foreign investors (Savills World Research Malaysia 2015).

This chapter aims to understand and reflect on Johor Bahru's fast-changing urban environment. It intends to broaden the study of land reform by considering how government-linked companies, bureaucratic elite and foreign developers have acted together to reshape land development practices in contemporary Johor.