Residents in Gelang Patah, Johor have become the first to protest against the construction of a data center near their homes. According to Bloomberg, the demonstration was carried out by 50 individuals representing 1,000 residents living 1 kilometer from the construction site of a data center owned by China-based Zdata Technologies.
The demonstration was carried out because since construction began, air quality has been affected to the point that residents said air filters showed dangerous readings and washed clothes could not be dried outside due to the dusty air. The construction site was previously given a two-week work stoppage notice at the end of 2025 due to poor construction standards.
This is the first incident of residents protesting against a data center in Malaysia. Johor is the Data Center Capital of Malaysia with the highest number of data centers in the country, followed by Selangor.
Concerns about high water consumption last year led the Johor state government to not approve the construction of several Tier 1 and Tier 2 data centers that use up to 50 million liters of water per day (MLD). This is equivalent to the daily needs of 25 million people. From now on, only Tier 3 and Tier 4 data centers using up to 0.2 MLD will be approved.
