Over 50 residents in Johor, Malaysia protested on Saturday against a new data centre built close to their homes by Zdata Technologies. The site is less than a kilometre away from nearby housing estates. Protesters demanded an end to dust pollution and compensation for health impacts. They are worried the data centre could affect their water supply. The group represents about 1,000 people living in four nearby housing areas. The protest lasted 90 minutes and ended under police watch. This is the first public protest against Malaysia's fast-growing data centre sector, which attracts companies like Oracle, Amazon, Alibaba, and ByteDance. Johor leads Malaysia's data centre boom, approving US$41.7 billion in investments by mid-2025. Zdata started construction in early 2025 but faced a two-week stop work order for poor building standards. Residents say dust has worsened daily life. Venu Kannan Samraj, a local protester, said, "Every day I have to wash my car, every day I have to wash my porch and balcony, and I can’t get fresh air any more in my own home." People report they cannot dry laundry outside due to poor air quality. There are also worries about the data centre's water use since Johor halted approvals for water-heavy data centres last year. The Zdata project was approved before this ban. Zdata is building on 15 hectares purchased from Tropicana, next to another large data centre site sold to Japan's NTT Data Group, which has yet to start building. Globally, data centres face protests over pollution, noise, water use, and rising power costs. Equinix, a leading data centre company in Malaysia, says it works with communities early to ease concerns and uses water-saving cooling technology. Zdata promotes its data centres as green and energy-efficient on its website. However, local residents in Johor remain anxious as construction continues.