MAPPING MIGRANTS’ BUSINESSES IN THE KLANG VALLEY FROM FACEBOOK COMMENTS

This paper focuses on public opinion towards migrant businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opening a business in Malaysia involves fulfilling various requirements, including high capital for foreign-owned companies’ registration. However, it was observed that several migrant workers who transformed into entrepreneurs were operating small to medium-sized businesses openly nationwide despite various restrictions; some are informal businesses, and some are legitimate businesses run under local owner’s registration. Comments posted on the Facebook pages of two (2) enforcement agencies and six (6) city councils related to the governance of migrants or businesses in Malaysia were observed, collected and analysed to create a mapping of migrants’ entrepreneurship through netnography. An observational study was conducted to thematically analyse Facebook comments which mentioned locations of migrants’ businesses in the attempts to answer the research question of `Where are the main locations of migrant businesses in the Klang Valley?’. Business premises in the Klang Valley were mainly observed in the outskirt areas of the city centre, particularly in Klang, Shah Alam, and Sungai Buloh. Other states such as Johor, Penang, and Sabah were observed to have many migrants’ businesses due to the high number of economic activities. Popular ethnic enclaves in the Klang Valley, such as Chow Kit and Petaling Street, were not mentioned as much as Klang District. This pattern showed the emergence of new ethnic enclaves in suburban areas. Active participation between authorities should be prioritised to solve the root cause of the issues, such as the demarcation and governance issues between city councils and other enforcement agencies.