Malaysia’s resource anxiety tests Asia’s fastest data centre build-out

HONG KONG/JOHOR, Malaysia: After leapfrogging Singapore to become the region’s fastest-growing data centre hub, Malaysia is facing intensifying scrutiny as the resources debate that has complicated the industry’s growth spreads to emerging Asia.

Protests over a data centre complex in Johor state’s southern tip – the epicentre of the boom – were the first of their kind in the country. In Selangor, the richest and most populous state, debate about the burden on communities has become politicised.