Malaysia, like most other developing countries, is faced with massive housing problems. About 40 percent of the populations of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, live in slums and squatter settlements.
Profiteering and speculation in housing have pushed house prices beyond the means of most Malaysians. A 1982 analysis of the total market demand for housing in Kuala Lumpur revealed 40 percent was for housing stock for investment and speculation. The year before, half of all land converted for housing in Malaysia was held by speculators.
Even government low-cost housing schemes, which are considerably cheaper than houses in the open market because of subsidies and lower land costs, are beyond the means of most people. A study prepared for the Urban Development Authority found that the cheapest Malaysian public low-cost housing unit was beyond the means of at least 80 percent of the lower income group of the urban population - those in most need of affordable housing.
Conventional housing solutions have largely failed to house the majority in the Third World because they are too expensive, inappropriate, or tied to a market controlled by speculators. Traditional housing solutions, however, have continued to serve many in the Third World. Traditional houses are in many ways the antithesis of conventional modern houses: cheap to construct, making intensive use of labour rather than capital; adapted to the individual needs of the occupant; and tending to emphasize use-values rather than market-values.
The traditional Malay house serves the housing needs of the majority of people living in rural areas of Malaysia. It was evolved by the Malays over the generations, and adapted to their own needs, culture, and environment.
Basically a timber house with a post and lintel structure raised on stilts, with wooden, bamboo, or thatched walls and a thatched roof, the house is designed to suit the tropical climate. Ventilation and solar-control devices, and low thermal capacity building materials are part of the building heritage. House construction is highly systematised, like a modern prefabrication system, but with a much higher degree of flexibility and variation. The house components are made on the ground and later assembled on the building site. A very sophisticated addition system, which allows the house to grow with the needs of the user, is an advantage for the poor because it allows them to invest and build gradually, rather than shouldering one huge initial financial burden.
The traditional Malay housing process is highly autonomous, largely controlled by the user. Guided by building tradition and the village carpenter, the owner-builder designs a house that is uniquely suited to the family’s socioeconomic and cultural situation. Not only does the traditional approach foster a better match of house to user, it keeps the cost down by eliminating the need for professional intermediaries such as architects or developers. Self-help and cooperative labour are the resources upon which the owner-builder relies.