from the repurposing of land for tourism

In an upscale neighborhood on a hill overlooking downtown Kuala Lumpur, there’s an apartment building that sits empty. And yet a guard is always on duty and groundskeepers tend the vegetation that hangs off of balconies. Shortly after it was completed, the penthouse went on sale for roughly $3 million. Then the building was deemed structurally unsound. Nobody was allowed to move in. In the evening, it’s eerily dark. But late at night, when the neighborhood sleeps, vans pull past the guard house and stop at the lobby. Groups of men in worn clothing pour out and disappear into the building. They are laborers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal—part of a workforce that carries Malaysia’s economy on its back in exchange for low wages, few protections, and little appreciation. They are forced to exist in the crevices of the city, including a building deemed unsafe for rich residents.

Anders Melin in Kuala Lumpur