Ethnicity, Urbanisation and Crimes in Malaysia: Sociological and

GIS Transborder Analyses of a Social Conflict

Nur Suhaili Mansor

, Afriva Khaidir

, Arie Yulfa

Mohd Sobhi Ishak

Mansor Mohd Noor

and Suryanef

Universiti Utara Malaysia, Malaysia

Universitas Negeri Padang, Indonesia

Universitas Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia

Keywords: Ethnic Group, Urban Development, Crimes and Social Conflict.

Abstract: This study aims to explore social phenomena from the perspective of scientific and technological knowledge.

Information on urban development and its relationship with crime and conflict in a multi-ethnic urban setting

is collected through a social survey, narcotics and crime records from the police, and the GIS on the

development of the township of Sungai Petani. Surveys show that urban development is socially organized

and that the Chinese community benefits more significantly than Malays and Indians from urban growth. The

data on urban development reflect the fact that as both development and urban areas are growing, Malays

living in rural areas and Indians on rubber estates are dislocated, thereby joining the urban poor with limited

education, income, and job skills. The narcotic and crime data collected were superimposed on the GIS data

of Sungai Petani, Malaysia. Drug-related crime patterns were observed to be related to the expansion of

industrial and housing schemes. This situation, if not identified and managed, often ends in ethnic conflict. It

happened in 2012, these ethnic groups of development losers, street bikers and gangsters fought across ethnic

lines.

1 INTRODUCTION

Development, industrialisation, technological change

and internal as well as external migration within

Malaysia since the 1970s have transformed the

landscape, especially of Peninsular Malaysia into

cosmopolitan and urbanized society. Local Agenda

21 was introduced into the local governments

throughout the country in managing the urban, town

and city. The urban development agenda have

prioritised societal well-being and security of the

urban inhabitant in the urban planning and

implementation by the local governments in

Malaysia. The local governments are supported by

other agencies such as the Police, Welfare, Fire and

Rescue, Health, National Unity and, including

community and civil society to ensure that the urban

development goals defined will be achieved.

Yet in situations of drastic development,

urbanization, social changes and transformation,

development failures and social inequalities that

overlap over ethnic and religious lines in a diverse

society, not only produce social problems and crimes

but ethnoreligious skirmishes that eventually might

lead to ethnic conflict (Noor 2000). There is indeed a

correlation between crime, urban growth, and social

mobility among various ethnic groups (Noor and

Mansor 2017). In Malaysia, these societal

dysfunctions of ethnic skirmishes have erupted in

Kampung Medan, Kampung Rawa, Taiping, Pasir

Gudang and, among others in Sungai Petani. GIS-

based

analysis is able to determine conflict hotspot

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7780-3691

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1516-5652

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8207-6409

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6109-7246

Mansor, N. S., Khaidir, A., Yulfa, A., Ishak, M. S., Noor, M. M. and Suryanef,

Ethnicity, Urbanisation and Crimes in Malaysia: Sociological and GIS Transborder Analyses of a Social Conﬂict.

DOI: 10.5220/0013414100004654

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Humanities Education, Law, and Social Science (ICHELS 2024), pages 253-261

ISBN: 978-989-758-752-8

253

Figure 1: Study area at Sungai Petani, Kedah.

zones to describe how the conflict is spatially located

(Tadesse 2023).

1.1 The Ethnic Skirmishes in Sungai

Petani, Kedah

The township of Sungai Petani is located in the

northern part of Kedah. (see

Figure

1). Since the 1990s

industries from Penang over-spilled into the Sungai

Petani area, bringing in development and saw urban

spatial growth of its town area into the traditional

Malay villages and the rubber estates on the foothill

as new industrial sites, housing schemes and urban

centers were built. However, the urbanization taking

place that has encroached on the Malay kampong and

rubber estates have pushed the Malays and Indians to

migrate to the urban areas and become the indigent

urban poor there. The displaced groups of Malay and

Indian have low level of education, unskilled

occupation and low income. Thus, their migration to

the urban center continued their structural inter-

generational vicious circle of poverty that was

inherited from their great grand-fathers (Mapjabil,

Yusof, and Jusoh 2010).

On Sunday, 16 December 2012 group fighting

between Malay and Indian youths over

misunderstanding among the ethnic street-bikers in

the previous night in Sungai Petani. Illegal motorbike

street race among youth and gangsterism were the

catalysts for the incident. The skirmishes took place

in the low-income public housing scheme that housed

the relocated Indian and Malay communities that

were occupying on the river reserve land that pass

through the town. However, interviews with the local

leaders, government agencies and the community

show that those involved in the incident are the

victims of development losers that trapped them in

inter-generational poverty.

1.2 Research Objective

The focuses of this article are to identify and explain

the individual and urban security from social class

perspective, the roles governance in the social

problems, crimes, the individual and urban security

ICHELS 2024 - The International Conference on Humanities Education, Law, and Social Science

254

and action plans to manage the social tension for

future peace and national unity. This sociological

study was also supported by concurrent research of

the changing pattern of the urban land-use and its

relationship to crimes involving petty thefts, property

thefts and drugs.

With such focuses of study, the hypotheses are

that urban and individual security have a direct

influence by social problems and crimes, social

problems and crimes by urban governance and urban

governance has an indirect influence on urban and

individual security. While the patterns of land-use is

to measure the rate of urban development and its

relationship to crime. This trans-border study of

combining the socio-logical perspective and science

and technological approach using GIS in identifying

and explaining physical, economic and social

development could be better used in studying the

dynamic of social phenomenon and social changes in

the society.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research design is quantitative and a

questionnaire was used to collect primary data. A

total sample of 444 respondents were interviewed and

by ethnic groups, 217 were Malays, 145 Indians and

82 Chinese. The areas studied in Sungai Petani

Munici-pality were Taman Ria Jaya, Flat Paya Nahu,

Flat Paya Nahu 1, Taman Keladi, Taman Ria, and

Taman Petani Jaya.

The instrument of urban security has 6 items with

a five scale of agree to disagree and the reliability

composite is CR=0.586. While the individual security

has 13 has 13 items, with five scale and reliability

composite is CR=0.841. In the prediction variables,

the social problem instrument has 5 items and

CR=0.920 and the crime instrument has 5 items and

CR=0.863. And both these instruments used a scale

from 1 very bad to 10 very good. The governance and

development instrument has a five scale of agreement

with CR=0.877). In analysing the causal predictive

variable (β), the changes to the main variable (R

) and

the impact of the predictive variable (f

Primary data related to crime cases (

Figure

2) is

obtained from the crime record at the Royal

Malaysian Police, Sungai Petani, Kedah. The

researchers obtained information on crimes within the

period of 2000 to 2014 from Kuala Muda Police

Department covering, among others, violent crimes,

property crimes, and drug-related cases. Such data,

stored in an information system, can be analyzed

based on the overall statistics on crime cases, crime

rates, types of crimes, the geographical distribution of

crimes, and the characteristics of crimes.

Figure 2: Total Number of Crime Data from 2000 to 2014.

The satellite imagery data (

Figure

3) was obtained

from the Malaysian Space Agency (MySA) and the

Sungai Petani authority, Kedah. Both these primer

data of crime and land-use patterns were collected

from 2000 to 2013. Studies do show that urban

growth, over time, can also change the potential for

crime (Felson 1987).

Figure 3: SPOT-5 Satellite Imagery Year 2000, 2006 and

2013 for Sungai Petani.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Results

The predictive variables of urban governance, social

problems and crimes predicted urban security along

the low social status at 20.0 percent and middle social

status at 22.2 percent. While the same predictive

variables of urban governance, social problems and

crimes predicted individual security at 6.8 percent

among the low social status and middle social status

at 18.4 percent.

Among the low social status respondents, crime at

36.6 percent has a direct relationship with urban

security. While among the middle social status, social

problem at 35.8 percent shows a direct impact on

individual security. Both social status show that

governance and development at 16.7 percent and 19.7

percent, respectively, registered an indirect

Ethnicity, Urbanisation and Crimes in Malaysia: Sociological and GIS Transborder Analyses of a Social Conﬂict

255

relationship with urban security. Middle social status,

at 17.6 percent, has an indirect relationship with

individual security.

Analysing the instrument of social problem, the

low social status at 59.8 percent and middle social

status at 65.9 percent have a dominant influence on

crime with low social status at 45.3 percent and

middle social status with 49.9 percent. However, the

governance and development instruments show to

have a dominant influence on social problems, crime

and urban security.

A strong discovery of this study is the fact that

social problems are a major predictor of criminal

behavior. The major inference from this is that such

issues have a strong impact on people of both low and

middle social classes. As such, this study establishes

that governance and development of individuals from

lower social strata are of paramount importance and

must be informed by planning based on empirical

evidence to prevent social problems, minimize

criminal activities, and improve urban safety in the

study

area. In this regard, it is important to note that

Figure 4: Crime Distribution in Sungai Petani from Year

2000-2013.

ethnic and religious differences do not form the basis

of causes of conflicts witnessed in Sungai Petani.

In line with the above, the GIS analysis of the

relationship between urban growth and crime using

Spearman's rank-order correlation approach was

conducted to test the relation of overall crime with

urban land; the preliminary data examined via visual

inspection of a scatterplot showed that the relation

was not exactly monotonic. Although the linear

equation shows slight positive relation, yet result is

not statistically significant at r= 0.059> 0.05, since it

fails to reject, hence there is no significant

association. However, in a Precise analysis of Violent

Crime Related to Urban Growth in Sg. Petani That

shows strong positive correlation on the Spearman

correlation

co-efficient (=0.833). The increase in

Figure 5: Landuse Changes in Sungai Petani Year 2000,

2006 and 2013.

Figure 6: Landuse Changes in Sungai Petani Year 2000, 2006 and 2013.

Year

2000

Year

2006

Year

2013

Forest

21.4 23.8 19.0

Vegetation

35.8 24.1 33.7

Water bodies

0.6 0.8 0.9

Cropland

39.1 31.9 22.2

Built up

3.1 19.4 24.2

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

40.0

45.0

Area m

(%)

Land Use Changes in Sungai Petani

Year 2000, 2006 and 2013

ICHELS 2024 - The International Conference on Humanities Education, Law, and Social Science

256

urban areas over the same period manifested a strong

relationship with the recorded rise in general criminal

activities, rs(8) = 0.833, p < 0.05. Additionally, a

Spearman's rank-order correlation test was conducted

to ascertain the strength of the relationship between

urban growth over the period and the level of crime

in Sungai Petani. The analysis showed a positive

relation between urban growth and the prevalence of

drug abuse, rs(8) = 0.587, p < 0.05. However, the

relationship between urban growth and violent crime

is not significant in the scope of this research.

The increase in total crime recorded over the

period under study was found to have a positive and

significant relationship with the increase in

urbanization, rs(8) = 0.833, p < 0.05. Further,

Spearman's rank-order correlation was carried out to

assess the nature and strength of the relationship

between

urban development over the stated period

Figure 7: Course of Crime Occurrences in Sungai Petani for the Year 2000-2013.

Ethnicity, Urbanisation and Crimes in Malaysia: Sociological and GIS Transborder Analyses of a Social Conﬂict

257

and the prevalence of criminal activities in Sungai

Petani. Urban growth was positively correlated with

the rate of drug abuse, rs(8) = 0.587, p < 0.05.

However, urban growth and violence crime is not

significance in this study.

The types of crime distribution in Sungai Petani

are drugs, murder, rape, robbery, house damage,

vehicle theft, mugging and others in 2000 – 2013

(

Figure 4). These crimes occurred in commercial and

residential areas. Most of the crime that occurs is

southwest of Sungai Petani area.

On Figure 5 it illustrates the variations in land use

between 2000, 2006, and 2013, showing a rapid

growth in built-up areas from 3.1% to 24.2%. Figure

6 provides a visual analysis of urban development,

with water bodies in blue, forests in dark green,

vegetation in light green, cropland in yellow, and

built-up areas in red. The data indicates a significant

rise in urban growth and population during this

period. The findings from the sociological and GIS

approaches show that urban growth affects social

problems and crime, which negatively impacts

individual and urban security.

The analysis depicted in Figure 7 reveals the

movement patterns of criminal activity from 2000 to

2013,

differing from previous results. The study

Figure 8: Hotspot of Criminal Activities in Sungai Petani.

ICHELS 2024 - The International Conference on Humanities Education, Law, and Social Science

258

suggests that the physical structure of areas can

influence criminal behaviour. The map indicates that

criminal activities are increasingly distributed

towards Kulim and Penang, known as industrial

cities.

The Hotspot analysis was carried out to

determine the spatial distribution of crime activities

that occurred between the years 2000 and 2013 using

Euclidean distance for accurate measurement. The

research resulted in a z-score for each value, which

represents the statistical significance of the spatial

clustering based on the randomization null

hypothesis. The findings indicate that most crime

hotspots, particularly those in commercial and

industrial regions are located in Sungai Petani. To

represent the density of crime, a map using graduated

colors was made, in which green shows low z-scores

and yellow and red show moderate and high z-scores,

respectively, thus showing areas with the highest

crime rates.

Figure 8 shows these crime hotspots, with

the red areas representing high crime rates standing

out in Sungai Petani.

3.2 Discussions

The study shows that the social location of an

individual, group and community do have strong

relationship on social problem and crime experienced

and its impact on individual and urban security as

well their access to urban governance and

development. Even though the incident of ethnic

skirmishes in Sungai Petani did involve the ethnic

Malay and Indian groups but the data collected did

not give evidence that ethnic and religious differences

as the cause to skirmishes taking place among these

groups (Noor 2021).

The main causes highlight the failures of urban

governance of security and the redistribution of the

fruits of development fairly and inclusively,

especially to low social status group. Thus, social

problem and crime in urban area being studied are

related to urban planning and implementation of the

local development plan and, may be relevance to the

hot spot of ethnic skirmishes in other urban centres in

Malaysia (Browning et al. 2010).

Analysing the data by social status grouping do

show that social problems and crime are observed to

have negative impact on the family and life of the

majority of the low social status group (Mansor et al.

2014). Urban governance and development failures

that give rise to the social problem in the communities

are the causes to the rising level of criminal activities

that will influence negatively on urban security.

Despite the above findings, the low social status

group studied still views positively and recognises the

roles of governance by the local government in

managing to reduce the social problem and crime in

their areas. In fact, without effective intervention by

the local government, other state and federal agencies

as well as the NGO, they do anticipate that the

security of their family and housing areas in their

urban setting will be more negatively affected.

Among the middle social status group, they foresee

the initial factor of social problem and urban

governance and development failures that generate

the rising level of crime in their housing areas.

The variations between these social status groups

could be identified in which the middle social status

group place individual security compared to the low

social status group. To the middle social status group,

personal and family matters are importance to them

over others. This prevails as fundamental needs from

security is being con-trolled with care. Yet the group

does inform that, generally, urban governance and

development are still regarded as importance to

ensure their individual security.

The GIS and crime data do support the

sociological study that social location does influence

behaviour of the urban dwellers. The 2000 to 2013

data on changing pattern of land use and crime

including narcotic collected show that where the low

social status group stays, social problem, petty crime

and drugs overlap with social status and crime. While

in the middle social status housing scheme, property

crime is low as often theirs are a gated-community.

The study on the relationship between pattern of land

use and crime in Sungai Petani should be a

comparative study of other township and city in

Malaysia in order to measure the strength and

significance of their relationship.

3.3 Way Forward in Managing Urban

Skirmishes

These findings have contributed to the literature,

informed practical applications, and influenced

policy-making in the context of urban growth and

overall well-being. The information added from this

study will also contribute to the strategic planning of

future urban redevelopments that consider all

essential factors, particularly societal well-being, in

an attempt to increase the liveability of our cities. The

most important contribution that this study makes is

in its methodology, since it combines capabilities of

the social sciences with spatial analysts using GIS in

detecting and describing the social phenomena being

studied. This research has confirmed that the

disciplines of science and technology combined with

Ethnicity, Urbanisation and Crimes in Malaysia: Sociological and GIS Transborder Analyses of a Social Conﬂict

259

that of the social sciences would be able to support

our remark of the society together with the power to

explain challenges faced.

Social problems, criminal activities, and social

conflicts are linked to issues of rapid urban

development, industrialization, and uneven

development within urban and suburban areas. The

social consequences are proven through information

obtained from GIS, crime statistics, and social

surveys that demonstrate all communities in the area

are affected; this negatively hampers the realization

of sustainable development objectives set for the

areas (Tadesse 2023).

Planning for urban governance and development

of Sungai Petani must be given priority in managing

the social problem in eradicating crime so as to

enhance the level of individual and urban security in

the community (Jayasooria 2008). Intervention

through com-munity development among the B40

group should be given greater emphasised. Among

the initiatives can be planned for them are an

educational intervention among the children of the

B40 group be given in their community so as to

strengthen their educational achievement from the

kindergarten, primary school to the working world.

Training job skills should be made available to their

children who finish schooling and, especially the

drop-out from the schooling system, in ensuring they

be employable. Training social skills of life such as

parenting, educational culture and home science be

made available to the parents of the B40 group. At the

community level, community-based self-help group

and security patrol of their neighbourhood should be

encouraged as their responsibility. Non-

governmental Organisations and government

agencies should provide institutional and leadership

support to the local community in ensuring national

unity, public security and prosperity in the housing

areas be attained.

4 CONCLUSION

Urbanization is a universal phenomenon. Besides,

urbanization is directly linked to industrialization.

Industrialization is the major impetus to economic

growth that fosters modernization and contemporary

development in backward countries like Malaysia.

Still, even as modernization brings many benefits, it

also leads to problems of social stratification and

marginalization which come with the said

development.

Unplanned development and urbanization have

brought about unintended side effects of political

instability and ethnic conflicts among the bottom

fourty percent and the slum dwellers in Malaysia.

Although ethnicity is unlikely to be the direct cause

of tension and skirmish among a nation, how poorer

urban individuals develop within post-colonial

pluralistic societies may result in ethnic-group

competition for access to a nation's resources and

social attention that can sharpen ethnic divisions and

social inequality.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express our deepest gratitude to all parties

who have contributed to the success of this project.

This endeavour embodies a spirit of collaboration,

learning, and mutual support among three esteemed

universities: Universiti Utara Malaysia, Universitas

Kebangsaan Malaysia, and Universitas Negeri

Padang, Indonesia. Together, we have produced a

project of which we are truly proud.

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