CNA Insider Report On Foreigners In Malaysia Draws Nearly 2 Million Views In 3 Days. Here’s What It Found

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A CNA video report examining the growing presence of foreign businesses, professionals, workers, and refugees in Malaysia has attracted nearly two million views just days after it was published

Titled Why Are So Many Foreigners Moving To Malaysia? What Does It Mean For Malaysians?, the 22-minute report by CNA Correspondent was uploaded to the CNA Insider YouTube channel on 10 September.

As of today, 14 September, it has recorded about 1.7 million views, making it one of the channel's most-watched recent reports.

Rather than treating the increase in foreigners as a single phenomenon, the report looks at several very different groups, from Chinese and South Korean business owners setting up in Malaysian commercial areas to refugees living and working without formal legal status.

Foreign businesses are changing parts of Kuala Lumpur

One of the report's main focuses is the growing number of Chinese businesses entering Malaysia.

CNA visited areas such as Sunway Velocity in Cheras, where a stretch known as "Nanjing Street" has become a hub for Chinese restaurants, alongside Chinese hair salons, beauty businesses, and other services.

The report found that some of these businesses are competing aggressively on price and operating hours, with business models developed in China's highly competitive domestic market.

Malaysian Hairdressing Association (MHA) president Ann Wang told CNA that some Chinese businesses were willing to work exceptionally long hours and charge prices that local operators struggle to match.

The concern, according to local business representatives interviewed by CNA, is not simply that foreign companies are competing with Malaysian businesses, but that some arrive with their own capital, workers, equipment, and supply chains.

William Ng, president of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (SAMENTA), said this could limit the amount of money circulating among local businesses while putting smaller Malaysian companies under pressure.

But the report also showed why some Malaysians are choosing these businesses: lower prices, longer operating hours, and additional services are attracting customers.

The same tension is playing out in the automotive sector, where China's Tuhu Car Care has entered Malaysia with an app-based model offering online bookings, transparent pricing, and faster service.

Foreign investment is also changing where Malaysians do business

South Korean businesses provide another example.

CNA visited Solaris Mont Kiara, which it described as a "Little Korea", where Korean supermarkets, restaurants, salons, and beauty businesses have become part of an established commercial ecosystem.

The report noted that Korean businesses are increasingly expanding beyond traditional expatriate enclaves, helped by Malaysia's trade, tourism, education, and cultural ties with South Korea.

But foreign demand can also make it harder for Malaysian businesses to afford commercial space.

A Malaysian salon owner told CNA that he had seen landlords raise rents dramatically when foreign businesses were willing to pay more for prime locations.

Ng said increased demand for commercial property could push rents higher, leaving local small businesses struggling to absorb rising overheads.

So the question raised by the report is not whether foreign investment is good or bad for Malaysia, but who benefits from it and whether Malaysian businesses can continue to participate in the economy it helps create.

This comes as Malaysian SMEs are already dealing with a difficult business environment. In June, SAYS reported that SMEs had linked a record number of retrenchments to weak consumer demand, rising costs, and growing foreign competition.

Then there is a very different group of foreigners

The second half of the CNA Insider's report shifts from foreign investment to refugees, particularly Rohingya refugees.

More than 180,000 refugees are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, with the majority coming from Myanmar.

Because Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees do not have formal legal status or the legal right to work.

One refugee interviewed by CNA said he had to rely on temporary jobs in construction, cleaning, and moving homes, earning between RM50 and RM80 a day.

"It has not been easy, actually… Whatever the government wants to give us as regular work in any sector, I'm willing to do it," Aman Hossein, a UNHCR-registered refugee, said.

UNHCR representative Louise Aubin argued that giving refugees legal access to work would allow them to contribute to the Malaysian economy, pay taxes, and help fill labour shortages.

The government position, as presented in the report, is more focused on immigration enforcement, with detention centres holding undocumented migrants and refugees caught during routine nationwide crackdowns.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said national security and enforcement against illegal stays remained priorities, while the government was also looking at broader policies concerning foreign labour and humanitarian issues.

Malaysia's foreign population is not one story

The foreign presence in Malaysia encompasses people arriving with investment capital, entrepreneurs competing with Malaysian businesses, expatriate communities creating demand for new services, migrant workers filling labour shortages, and refugees living without the legal right to work.

They can have completely different effects on Malaysians.

A foreign business willing to pay more for a shoplot can be good news for a landlord but bad news for a local business that can no longer afford the rent.

A foreign company can bring investment and competition while simultaneously putting pressure on established Malaysian businesses.

And a refugee who is legally barred from working can end up doing informal work precisely because there is no legal route for them to earn a living.

The CNA Insider report ultimately raises a broader question than simply why more foreigners are coming to Malaysia.

It asks what kind of foreign presence Malaysia wants, and how the country intends to balance foreign investment, local businesses, labour shortages, immigration enforcement, and the treatment of refugees.

The fact that the report has attracted nearly two million views in just three days also suggests that the question is resonating well beyond the foreign communities featured in it.