Malaysia’s data centre boom faces backlash as residents protest over dust, water woes

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by BloombergFebruary 8, 2026 at 09:42 AM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

Residents in Johor, Malaysia, protested the construction of a data center by China's Zdata Technologies due to concerns about dust pollution and potential water supply issues. The protest, involving over 50 people representing nearly 1,000 residents, took place near a construction site in the Gelang Patah district. The residents are demanding the project be halted and that they receive compensation for any negative health impacts. Malaysia has become a major data center hub in Southeast Asia, attracting companies like Oracle, Amazon, Alibaba, and ByteDance due to its low costs and reliable infrastructure. The developers of the project did not respond to requests for comment.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Tropicana Firstwide 40% Oracle 40% Amazon.com 40% Alibaba Group Holding 40% ByteDance 40% Singapore 40% China 50% Gelang Patah 60% Johor 70% Zdata Technologies 70% Malaysia ×390%

Keywords

data centres 100% protest 80% dust pollution 70% water supply 70% malaysia 60% artificial intelligence 50% infrastructure 40% residential area 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Malaysia

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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data centres protest dust pollution water supply malaysia artificial intelligence infrastructure residential area

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