‘Balik Kampong’: is Malaysia facing the trends of de-urbanization?

摘要

Malaysia is a fast-grown developing country which took only 30 years to shift from predominantly agriculture-based toudmanufactured-dependent society. This kampong to urban migration has created a new generation of urban society whoudhad disconnected themselves from the traditional subsistence farming but kept maintaining an occasional connection withudtheir hometown. With new jobs, environment and lifestyle, these urban migrants’ life and livelihood in cities improved andudexpanded. Growth in urban population and affluence raised the demand for housing, food and technological goods. Withudincreased growth in demand, came an increased challenge in resource management to satisfy needs. A recent debateudhas highlighted issues on oil depletion and competition from neighboring countries that indicates a possible economicuddecline. This situation has triggered discussions about limits to urbanization and the possibility of urban and peri-urbanudfood production in order to re-localize urban areas. Therefore, there is an emerging of decentralization of cities andudpopulation in Malaysia. This paper questions whether there is a further progression towards ‘de-urbanization’ or a returnudto a new form of rural life that takes advantage of new technologies to assists new way of life and improves the standardudof living in kampong.