'Chinese Flight' in Johor Bahru

I live in Johor Bahru, yea the city right next to Singapore. Before the COVID outbreak, you sometimes see more Singaporean cars than Malaysian cars on the road. Where I live, it used to be 90% of the residents in my area are Chinese. And then in the 2010s Chinese started moving out and rent the houses to foreign labors like the Bengalis (Banglas), Viets, Burmese and Thais (kind of similar to White Flight but in reversed sequence).

It’s kind of strange because my area is very close to Singapore, even if the local Chinese move out I reckon the Singaporeans (who couldn’t afford housing in Singapore) would move in. Apparently the Singaporeans go live in those same areas where the local Chinese move to as well. Well, larger houses. I still stay in my area for the convenience: public hospitals, post office, schools, library and shopping malls all in vicinity. My area is still about 60–70% Chinese, but it’s been dropping over the years and shows no sign of reversal or plateauing.

The exact reason of this ‘Chinese flight’ is unclear, but definitely not due to safety issues. It’s cheaper to purchase larger houses in the ‘suburbs’ (we don’t really have the concept of ‘suburbs’ here like in the Western countries but it’s similar), so that’s one of the reason. It’s unlikely to be racially motivated, although these new towns do show Chinese predominance in demographics.