Imperatives of care and control in the regulation of homelessness in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: 1880s to present
研究马来西亚吉隆坡无家可归者监管政策的历史演变，发现当前惩罚性措施并非简单模仿西方，而是全球历史进程与本地逻辑交织的结果，对比较政策研究者和城市治理学者有参考价值。
Recent shifts in Malaysian homelessness policy towards the intensification of criminalising measures and exclusionary rhetoric seem indicative of a ‘punitive turn’, as often theorised for advanced capitalist contexts. I argue that local adoption of globally circulating policy trends cannot be understood apart from linkages to the global history of vagrancy legislation. Drawing from data collected through archival research, I examine how global historical processes have shaped homelessness regulation in Kuala Lumpur, inclusive of neoliberal era developments. I find that, while the overall historical arc of relevant codes and institutions reflects broad trends that suggest conformity to the ‘punitive turn’ model, local contingencies starkly contrast those found in Global North countries. These findings suggest that common rhythms, and divergent materialisations, have persisted in the global and historical constellations of homelessness regulation. Thus, punitive trends presently emerging in part through unique social welfare initiatives in Kuala Lumpur are built from a neoliberal reinforcement of previously established, locally situated logics and institutions of care and control.