Geologists have dismissed social media posts that falsely claimed Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur was built upon a “large, empty cave”, saying the idea was impossible. The misinformation spread across Facebook, TikTok and Instagram after an Indian tourist fell into a sinkhole in the city in August 2024, but the claim circulated in a TikTok post that was tagged “entertainment news created with AI”.
“Kuala Lumpur, August 25, 2024 — In a shocking discovery, a leading geologist from University Malaya (UM) has revealed that an empty giant cave formed millions of years ago beneath Kuala Lumpur,” read a Malay-language Facebook post from August 26.
“An in-depth study by one Dr Sarah Jamal and her team from UM claimed that the geological structure was formed millions of years ago, hence making the city look like it was built on the ‘roof’ of a giant cave.”
The post claimed the cave network was formed from the erosion of limestone due to groundwater and raised concerns about the stability of the Malaysian capital.
The accompanying image shows Kuala Lumpur’s iconic skyscrapers, the Petronas Twin Towers and the KL Tower, with the city apparently sitting atop a large cave.
The claim surfaced days after an Indian tourist went missing when she was swallowed by an eight-metre (26-foot) deep sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Masjid India — a popular tourist destination — on August 23 (archived link).
A second sinkhole opened up on the same street five days later, prompting authorities to close the road and order an integrity audit of the sewage system in the area (archived link).
The search for the missing woman was called off following a nine-day rescue operation due to safety considerations (archived link).
The same claim also surfaced on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
However, the “news” about a large cave system under the Malaysian capital was also shared on TikTok, where it was labelled “AI generated news for entertainment”.
Keyword searches on Google followed by a reverse image search of the graphic found a Facebook post from the Universiti Malaya’s Geology Department which said it did not employ a “Dr Sarah Jamal” and that no such person was registered with the Board of Geologists Malaysia (archived here and here).
“The content of the post is not fact-based and it is false,” read the Malay-language post from August 26.
‘Impossible’
“It is rather impossible for Kuala Lumpur to sit on top of a hollow foundation, if a cavern system that big exists,” said Nor Shahidah Mohd Nazer a geologist at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s department of earth sciences and environment on September 18 (archived link).
She urged the public to remain calm, saying that sinkholes that are not limestone-induced are usually localised and small in scale.
Meanwhile, Goh Thian Lai of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s department of earth sciences and environment said that the sinkhole in Jalan Masjid India was caused by human activities, rather than natural forces (archived link).
The sinkhole was likely caused by a burst sewer pipe which caused backfill material below the walkway to be carried away by the flowing water in the sewage pipes, he told AFP on September 23.
“This phenomenon created a hollow space below the walkway,” he said.
In a September 7 statement, Malaysia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability also refuted claims Kuala Lumpur was unstable (archived link).
From a geological perspective, the ground under the city was made up of 30 percent limestone and 70 percent granite, while the area where the sinkhole occurred was composed of shale, quartzite and phyllite rocks, the statement said.
“We urge the public to not buy into speculations by unscrupulous parties regarding the safety of Kuala Lumpur, and to get their information from the right authorities,” it said.
