The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) said migration brought changes, more so with the migration of youth to smaller towns.
“When a town does not have telecommunication services, these youth will demand for it. When the town doesn’t have a proper road, the migration will push for it to build up eventually.
“It takes time, but there will definitely be positive change,” IDEAS external relations manager Azrul Mohd Khalib told FMT.
Azrul agreed that young Malaysians were leaving the city and moving to smaller towns because they were seeking ways to cope with the rising cost of living.
“We are having a pool of youth today who are thinking in a different way to survive and to try and make a living.”
He was responding to a report by Asean Today which said young Malaysians were leaving the cities and moving back to rural towns as the rising cost of living made it difficult to survive in urban centres.
The report also said the migration was largely due to a spike in property prices.
When asked whether poorer communities in smaller towns would be left behind, Azrul said there would always be people left behind as the country moved forward.
“But we have to look at the future of the country as a whole. These pockets of people will eventually get addressed when development was stable in these smaller towns,” he said.
Migration possible only with connectivity
On a different note, Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen told FMT that the migration of urban youth may displace the poorest rural communities.
Wong said when these youth buy land and houses, the overall prices of rural land will go up. This would make the poorest of the rural folks unable to compete with the rising prices.
“As such, they will move further away from the towns to poorer areas,” he said.
However, Wong said youth migration from the cities to rural areas also depended on the connectivity of an area and the facilities that followed.
“Youths migrating to rural areas can only happen if there are good road networks to cities (to commute to work) and decent Internet connection.
“I can’t imagine youths being deprived of the Internet. This will also help improve the overall happiness level of the youths, escaping urban poverty centres to better and more decent housing,” Wong said.
Finding other alternatives
Meanwhile, youth movement Demi Malaysia said the migration of youth from urban to rural areas could be a good sign of a country’s overall development.
Its spokesperson, Adam Adli, said youth would be better off exploring other opportunities in rural areas rather than focusing on big cities.
He said the youth must think outside the box by not limiting their opportunities to the confines of city areas only.
“Explore new opportunities like tourism or agriculture. Look at major cities now that used to be small town areas, like Ipoh or Taiping. They are thriving now,” he said.
Adam said young Malaysians today were feeling the pinch of the economic crisis, and realised the necessity of finding other ways to sustain their livelihoods.
“These are the times when youths don’t have any other option but to continue finding ways to sustain themselves. If they need to move to the rural areas, make the most out of that area,” he said.