COMMENT At a press conference on Tuesday, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan was quick to condemn the Ridzuan Condominium in Bandar Sunway for placing a blanket ban on Africans tenants.  

NONE “You cannot deny anyone from buying property based on their race. It is crazy, it is not right,” Abdul Rahman ( left ) said.

When this reporter asked whether the government would consider a law similar to that in countries such as Australia, outlawing racial discrimination in the housing sector, he was equally quick to dismiss the idea as unnecessary.

Discrimination based on race or religion in the renting or buying of a property is illegal in Australia under the Racial Discrimination Act 1975.

While offences under the act don’t carry prison sentences or fines, judges are able to make orders to correct the breaches and fines can be given if those orders aren’t followed.  

In 2010, Pauline Hanson, who is the leader of a small ultra-right-wing political party called One Nation, announced that she was selling her house but would refuse to sell it to a Muslim.

"I just don’t believe that they are compatible with our way of life, our culture,” she said at the time.

Along with a huge public outcry against her, the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner for the state affirmed that Hanson was breaking the law.

If a Muslim sent in an offer to buy Hanson’s house and was knocked back solely on the base of religion, both Hanson and the real-estate agent selling the house could be charged under the Act.

This didn’t transpire as Hanson quickly pulled her house off the market, and the whole thing was seen as a racist publicity stunt.

This reporter was surprised by Abdul Rahman’s immediate dismissal of backing up in law his belief that racial discrimination in renting houses was wrong.

However, many Malaysiakini readers have pointed out that his reluctance to the idea might not be about African tenants, but perhaps because of some housing policies affecting people from much closer to home.