An Overview of Urbanism and Urban Planning in Malaysia- my personal observations, experience and commentary

I have just returned from a 10-day visit to Malaysia after a 5-year absence, this time with the eyes of an early-career Urban Planning professional. With the professional experiences and education I've gained so far in both the US and Singapore, Malaysia's urban planning in which I (or anyone) would take for granted in the past now intrigues me, especially with rapid developments in Malaysia even during the 5 years when I hadn't had the chance to return.

Why is this significant? Malaysia is not traditionally thought of a country with the best urban planning. However this is an often-overlooked country with plenty of innovative urbanism ideas and issues to learn from. I am by no means officially a Malaysian, and I have never lived in Malaysia for long periods of time, but I was born to a mother from Malaysia (specifically, its capital city Kuala Lumpur, or "KL" for short), and while growing up in Singapore, used to visit Malaysia (mostly KL) about 3 to 5 times a year. A little more than half of my extended families on both sides are Malaysian, and today I have many Malaysian friends. So naturally this is a country that has grown to be a part of me, and today as an Urban Planner, its urban planning is something I am beginning, and am interested, to learn. And therefore I am by no means an expert, so I am not attempting a journal/research article here, just personal observations of what I've learned during my trip (so I am open to debate, discussion and feedback on my words if you happen to know something I don't). If you are interested in more in-depth written research work on Malaysian urban planning, though, I would suggest looking up Planning Malaysia- that is the research journal (published in English) of the Malaysian Institute of Planners- Malaysia's professional association for urban planners (its equivalent of Singapore Institute of Planners, American Planning Association, Canadian Institute of Planners, Royal Town Planning Institute, Planning Institute of Australia, etc.).

So to start from the very beginning for those who are unfamiliar with Malaysia in general, Malaysia is a country of 13 states and 3 federal territories. 9 of those states are Malay Sultanates (kingdoms), and every few years the monarch of each state takes turns to become the King of Malaysia. But Malaysia, as a parliamentary democracy (i.e. British-style) and constitutional monarchy, is led by a Prime Minister, and all political jurisdictions are subject to regular elections at the federal, state and city level. Administratively, urban areas are divided into official cities, municipalities and districts; cities and municipalities are further divided into more districts; districts are then divided into townships, villages and/or suburbs. The equivalent of a county in the US is a municipality in Malaysia.

2 of the 3 federal territories, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, were carved out of the state of Selangor, and both have equivalent status as Washington DC in the US and Canberra, Australian Capital Territory in Australia (the only difference from DC is that KL and Putrajaya has political representation in Malaysia's federal government). Even though politically KL and Putrajaya are considered separate cities politically, in reality they are part of the Greater Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area/urban conglomeration. This area, with a population of 6.9 million people (KL itself is 1.8 million and Putrajaya is about 300 000), is also widely known as Klang Valley (though some have different definitions of which area this name encompasses), because it is located in a valley with mountains to the east and the river Klang flowing through it. Klang Valley also includes the cities of Petaling Jaya (essentially a mega suburb of KL), Shah Alam (the official state capital of Selangor) and Klang (the port city to the west). While KL is officially the country's capital city, Putrajaya is a master-planned city designed and built from scratch at the beginning of the 21st century as the administrative center of Malaysia's federal government offices and national civic centers (though the national palace remains in KL). In the map below, the area defined by the red line is the state of Selangor. The areas defined by the 2 black lines are KL (the bigger one above) and Putrajaya (the smaller one below). The area covered in dark pink is the traditional definition of Klang Valley, however that has expanded to include the areas in orange.

The map above is by Derkommander0916 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60232558

Klang Valley is a huge, sprawling area that has all the trappings of a large city planned for cars and single-family suburban development, not unlike urban areas in the US. I have heard many comments that Klang Valley was not even planned at all; it just grew a little too organically in favor of cars and suburbs. In fact when I was growing up (and may still be true to an extent today), my family, relatives and I had to get everywhere by car, and sidewalks were either pedestrian-unfriendly (especially with its potholes and lack of drain covers) or nonexistent. This unsurprisingly gives rise to infamous traffic congestion in Malaysia's cities. Speaking of cars, because of its historic emphasis on automobiles, Malaysia has a strong network of highways, especially in Klang Valley, and many of them are tollways where paying tolls at "Plaza Tol" (toll plazas) are a way of life, as shown below. Malaysia has also developed a few sophisticated toll payment systems, namely Touch N Go (tapping a card on the toll's readers), which now can be used on transit systems and even at some retail/convenience stores as stored valued cards, SmartTAG (a card reader in your car transmits toll payment to the card reader at the toll plaza electronically) and MyRFiD (uses satellites for toll payment).

Above photo from https://headtopics.com/my/plus-social-media-post-claiming-there-s-no-smarttag-lane-at-skudai-toll-plaza-is-not-true-malay-m-25292800

PLUS stands for Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan, which in the Malay language means the North-South Highway Project. This major tollway and dual carriageway/divided highway is the main artery of western Malaysia, stretching from Malaysia's southern border with Singapore to Malaysia's northern border with Thailand, and connects many of Malaysia's most important cities to Klang Valley, making it a vital transportation corridor and economic lifeline of Malaysia.

Another Malaysian innovation in transportation planning is the SMART tunnel, short for "Stormwater Management And Road Tunnel". It is a tunnel in KL, linking southern KL with downtown KL, that doubles up as both an underground highway and a storm drainage system (more on water in Malaysia later). On normal days, the tunnel carries vehicle traffic on two levels, and on the rainiest of days, the tunnel floods with stormwater and it is closed to carry the stormwater into reservoirs, though in reality it operates in 4 modes:

Above photo taken from The Star, Malaysia's main English-language newspaper

My family has driven through the SMART tunnel before and it works wonders in not only stormwater management, but also bypassing traffic congestion to get to and from downtown KL from the south.

In the early days before PLUS and other highways in Malaysia, the intercity railway built by the British in 1885 (when Malaysia was a region of fragmented territories, some of which as Malay sultanates under British protectorate status, and others as part of a British colony called the Straits Settlements) was the most important form of land transportation for both passengers and cargo between these different territories, which then included Singapore (Singapore was also part of the British Straits Settlements). The government-owned railway administration was known as the Federated Malay States Railways when the tracks were first laid, but is called Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) today, and KTMB is responsible for most of Malaysia's intercity and commuter railway network today. These tracks also serve the luxurious Eastern & Oriental Express (also known as the "Jungle Railway"), a renowned 3 to 6-night first-class service (complete with sleeping cars, fine dining, library, gift shop, observation decks, bars and even a piano) from Singapore to Bangkok that costs at least US$2690, operated by a private company. As a historic system where stations and tracks date back to the British colonial era, some elements are charming (such as KTMB's headquarters itself and KL's historic railway station, both built in Moorish architecture and preserved), others were in desperate need of remodeling. And that's what KTMB has been doing in the 21st century. They built entire new railway stations for KL (called KL Sentral) and Johor Bahru (a city in the south that borders Singapore) called JB Sentral though they preserved the older historic stations, built a modern extension to a historic railway station for Ipoh (a major city north of KL), and completely rebuilt most of the other smaller railway stations (i.e. they tore down the older stations with lesser historical value). They are double tracking (the British-built tracks historically are only just 1 track going both directions) and electrifying the entire railway system, in an effort to replace the traditional diesel-pulled intercity services (some overnight) with Electric Train Services (ETS), which is considered a higher-speed railway. Most of this project is completed, but once the final section in the southern state of Johor is complete, a trip from Johor Bahru to KL which once took over 7-8 hours (not counting frequent delays) would be cut by about half, and many more trains could ply the route everyday, now that there would be no more constraints of a single track. Other than KTMB, there is another state-owned railway in the eastern state of Sabah that also dates back to the British colonial era. Another electrified railway service (East Coast Rail Link) is planned to link KL with the states of Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan in an effort to bring economic development to those states. A true high-speed railway project was conceived by the governments of both Malaysia and Singapore to link both countries in the past decade, and would cut travel time between KL and Singapore to just 90 minutes (instead of the 4-5 hours by car and bus), but because of politics, it is currently canceled, though it could be revived in the future.

KTMB also operates two commuter railway lines in Klang Valley called KTM Komuter, connecting downtown KL with Klang, northern Selangor and all the way to the state south of Selangor, Negeri Sembilan. These electrified commuter trains in recent years interestingly also have dedicated women-only carriages (see image below). In more recent years, KTM Komuter started a new airport service to Subang Skypark, KL's older and secondary airport.

Photo taken from flickr

KTM Komuter is merely a small part of a much-larger Klang Valley Integrated Transit System, a network of different railway systems operated by different transit agencies that serve Klang Valley. The LRT (light rail), MRT (subway, metro), BRT (bus rapid transit) and monorail lines operate under government-owned company Prasarana as RapidKL (Rangkaian?Pengangkutan?Integrasi?Deras?Kuala?Lumpur?(English: Kuala Lumpur Rapid Integrated Transport Network). In addition to KTMB and RapidKL, yet another transit agency, Express Rail Link, runs two rail lines that connect KL Sentral with KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport).

While the tracks of KTMB and Express Rail Link tracks are at-grade, a majority of RapidKL tracks of all of these lines are elevated above ground on dedicated overpasses/flyovers, with only small sections underground. Even Malaysia's first BRT line, built in the college town/university neighborhood of Subang Jaya, is elevated, the first I have ever seen in the world where dedicated bus lanes are built above ground:

The Klang Valley Integrated Transit System is rapidly expanding with more lines under construction and planned, in Malaysia's efforts to reduce infamous traffic congestion throughout Klang Valley, get more people off cars (only 22% of Klang Valley residents use public transportation in 2017), and connect residential suburbs to economic and commercial centers. These efforts are laudable, considering its progress relative to other cities around the world that struggle to get even a single transit line complete, and on time. However, Klang Valley may not be able to become another Tokyo where cars are no longer required for day-to-day travel, because of how sprawled the metropolitan area is and its traditional emphasis in single-family residential and highways. It can only do its best today to expand its public transportation and encourage transit-oriented developments, which is already happening in many suburbs of Klang Valley, such as this around an existing light rail station (this is my own photo):

TODs in Malaysia often mean large mixed-used developments, with skyscrapers of residential, sometimes hotels, and office towers built on top of/next to shopping malls and rail transit lines, built by the private sector. They are also not confined to downtown KL; many are in the suburbs that are currently served by public transit. TODs are an "in-thing" now in Malaysia's real-estate industry, which is a good thing for urban planning, though this "noble" cause is not necessarily a consideration of property developers. So many of these projects, such as Tun Razak Exchange which I discuss further in another paragraph below, have appeared across the country since my last visit to Malaysia in 2017, which is more of a reflection of Malaysia's rising affluence as an upper middle-income country and Klang Valley's hot property market and rising cost of living.

Besides Klang Valley, Malaysia is building rail-based transit and BRTs in other major cities around the country. KTMB built a new integrated transportation hub in the state of Penang called Penang Sentral to serve KTMB's intercity railway, intercity buses, ferry services that link mainland Penang (called Seberang Perai) to Penang Island (traditionally the only way to reach the island), city/statewide bus services run by Prasarana's RapidPenang, and future light rail and BRT lines. JB Sentral in Johor Bahru too has similar integrated functions, except that it includes the huge Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex that serves as a port-of-entry to/from Malaysia on its international border with Singapore. Now Johor Bahru's and Kuching's (another city in the state of Sarawak) proposed light rail systems are not traditional rail systems- it has features of a streetcar, but without tracks. Called the Automated Rapid Transit, the "train" follows lane markings on the road with LiDAR technology instead of railway tracks, cutting costs by two-thirds:

While I have talked a lot about trains, buses are also an equally important transportation lifeline in Malaysia. Gone are the days when a once-per-hour public bus would take my mother from her home in the suburbs to her school close to downtown KL in the 1970s, when several private bus companies operate several disorganized and competing bus routes. Today most cities and towns each have one or two public transit agencies that operates local buses throughout the entire urban area, for example Klang Valley is served by RapidKL buses, Penang is served by RapidPenang, Ipoh is served by Perak Transit and Johor Bahru is served by TransIskandar. They are especially important for last-mile connections that rail transit cannot reach. Intercity buses that connect the different towns and cities, however, are very different- they are almost exclusively dominated by private bus companies competing for passengers, and they have very frequent and wide variety of services. Transporting passengers between towns and cities by bus in Malaysia is very lucrative business. With that, Malaysia in the past decade built new large railway station-style bus terminals for KL and Ipoh, and integrate their bus ticketing system to a single platform on which passengers can choose their preferred bus companies as they buy their tickets (meaning there is no longer different ticket counters for different bus companies). Most of Malaysia's intercity bus terminals, especially newer ones, are located outside of the cities and towns they serve to avoid bringing further congestion into their respective downtowns.

My own photo of KL's new intercity bus terminal primarily for buses heading south of the country- this design that looks like a railway station, where each bus lane is given a platform, as if a railway track, is one I have never seen before anywhere else in the world

These advanced investments and developments in Malaysia's transportation planning are a reflection of not just to decongest its streets, but also part of Malaysia's aspirations to becoming a developed country in the next decade or so. Having said that, there is still much work to be done, including fixing roads in disinvested towns and neighborhoods (for its potholes, pedestrian sidewalks and drain covers to start, before we even talk about handicap accessibility and bicycle lanes).

Speaking of Malaysia's aspirations, in 1998 Malaysia opened what was then the world's tallest buildings in KL, the Petronas Twin Towers, at 88 floors high (451.9 m/1483 ft)- these towers are still today a world-famous symbol of KL and Malaysia as a whole, as it dramatically transforms the city's and the country's image as a modern, emerging, rapidly-developing economy. The towers are also part of a TOD called KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center), that includes a large shopping mall, a large city park, a convention center and an LRT station below it. Because of its success, newer skyscrapers built in the neighborhood take advantage of the prime property values, and physically seem to "bow" to the towers, as if respecting its significance, according to urban design principles.

Photo from theculturetrip.com

The Petronas Twin Towers were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2005. Today Malaysia has seemed to move on with even bigger (or taller) ambitions. Tun Razak Exchange is not only another random master-planned mixed-use transit-oriented neighborhood (it sits on top of a new MRT station), but it is designed to be KL's and Malaysia's new financial/central business district. It also features Malaysia's 2nd tallest building, Exchange 106. The urban design for this new neighborhood built from scratch emphasizes the public realm, good streetscapes and walkability, as well as pedestrian connections to the popular commercial district of Bukit Bintang (to the upper-left of this plan below), making this ongoing project one of Malaysia's best examples of good urban design and planning:

Photos taken from trx.my

Even more ambitious than the height of Exchange 106, already taller than the Petronas Twin Towers, is the construction of Merdeka 118, which topped out in March 2022 and at 118 floors high (679 meters, 2227 ft), is now the tallest building in Malaysia and Southeast Asia, and the 2nd tallest in the world. It is built next to the site where Malaysia declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1957. However, because of this historical significance, this site is in a historic neighborhood with many historically-significant sites, and therefore there are concerns, at least in terms of urban planning, of the impact of this modern development that is clearly out of place in a historic neighborhood, including significant traffic congestion, gentrification, loss of historic character, etc. This has happened before when another mixed-use TOD project, called KL Eco City, has resulted in the wipeout of a 200 year-old traditional village.

(my own photo of Merdeka 118)

That is not to say that Malaysia is not good at historic preservation, in fact Malaysia has done a pretty decent job at preserving the heritage and traditional cultures of many of its historic neighborhoods, towns and cities. A drive through many Malaysian towns and cities will reveal that most "old" places are left untouched to begin with- while some are abandoned, most others still pulsate with life and preserving traditional ways of life, as they have throughout Malaysia's history. So much so that the historic cities of Melaka (Malacca in English)- both a city and a state, and Georgetown (the state capital of Penang) have been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Cities, by no means a small feat. Melaka is especially notable, as Malaysia's oldest city that has been continuously inhabited since the 1400s when it was a Malay sultanate and then colonized 4 times by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese before becoming a Malaysian state. As an international commercial, trading and maritime hub back in the day (before the rise of Singapore and KL), this is a city with a rich multi-layered and multicultural history, evidenced in its historic streets, architecture, plazas, forts, ruins, etc., as well as locals and their varied cultures and cuisines. Melaka (and Georgetown) is able to preserve all this because of the establishment of KL as the capital city of the British protectorates and Singapore as the capital city of the Straits Settlements, and therefore modern development moved to those cities, and Melaka and Georgetown avoided gentrification and the kind of modernization that Singapore experienced. Malaysia's development patterns have also been about building the new away from the old- while that caused the flight of the more affluent to the suburbs, it helped to let the old remain untouched. Malaysia was able to see Melaka's and Georgetown's historic and cultural assets early enough, that most redevelopment work in Melaka and Georgetown has been in historic preservation, adaptive reuse, making them more visitor-friendly and promoting them as authentic cultural experiences. Today Melaka and Georgetown are among the top tourist destinations in Malaysia. (The photo below is taken from my recent trip)

In more recent years, Malaysia attempted placemaking and tactical urbanism efforts in old neighborhoods of Melaka, Georgetown and Ipoh by commissioning street artists to create street art depicting everyday Malaysian life, as well as (re)activating once-empty streets and alleyways into authentic retail experiences for visitors. This resulted in an additional boost of tourism for these cities, as well as the revival of these streets and alleyways into life.

My own photos of my latest visit to Ipoh, where I get to see an alleyway revived into a popular street market and another painted with street art, both of which did not exist in my last visit in 2013.

Another historic element in most major Malaysian towns and cities, and also Singapore, is a rectangular "Padang" (field) in the middle of downtown. These Padangs are grass fields surrounded by British-built government buildings, and historically serve as town squares or plazas in each of these towns and cities, hosting civic events throughout each town/city's history. Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian revolutionary leader, visited Ipoh on October 1st, 1943, and spoke to a large gathering at Ipoh's Padang and recruited hundreds of volunteers for his Army of Free India. These Padangs also double up as grounds for the British sport of cricket, and each Padang also has a Cricket Club building at its periphery- upscale clubs once exclusively for the British, but country clubs open to all (who are affluent) today. Today the Padangs continue their historical use- as public and civic spaces for their respective cities. KL's Padang, called Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square; so named because this was the spot where the British flag was lowered and the new flag of the newly-independent country was raised for the first time in 1957), is used once every few years to host Malaysia's independence day parades and celebrations, as it is the case in Singapore. Sports such as soccer are still played on these fields. Even public protests are held here.

Dataran Merdeka underneath the skyline of KL, photo from Wikipedia taken by Vyacheslav Argenberg

These Padangs, as well as KLCC's city park, are also examples of green spaces within Malaysia's urban areas. Most Malaysian towns and cities have some green spaces created within them, however most Malaysians would leave the city altogether if they want a breath of fresh air from nature, because Malaysia has strong natural assets, from its tropical rainforests (many preserved as Malaysia's national parks), to its mountains and beaches. Historically Malaysia has not taken good care of its rivers that run through its cities, often littered with pollution and turned into stormwater drainage canals with concrete surfaces. However there has been attempts to change, now that the confluence of Klang and Gombak Rivers (the spot where KL was born) and the Melaka River underwent some cleanup and their riverbanks have undergone waterfront development. Today Melaka River is a lively and touristy nightlife spot, where bars, restaurants, and cafes in historic shophouses (traditional townhouses with retail on the first floor), colorful lights on the riverbanks and bridges, and river cruises bring the historic river to life at night.

My own photo of the Melaka River at night

Outdoor dining doesn't just happen along the banks of the Melaka River. It is everywhere in Malaysia, where many restaurants or street food stalls take their tables and chairs out onto the streets whenever they can, creating a lively atmosphere (especially at night) that spills out onto the streets. Though informal at first, some of these invariably become permanent, transforming the street into a lively pedestrian food street (though unplanned to be one at first). A famous example is Jalan Alor in KL (photo taken from TripAdvisor):

Another major part of Malaysian life and culture, as well as urbanism, that comes alive at night, is its pasar malams (night markets). While they can be anywhere in the neighborhood, town and city year-round, formally or informally organized, they are especially huge during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan (Malaysia is about 60% Muslim), when they open immediately after the sun sets and Muslims break their fast for the day. These night markets, like the food streets, inject life and authentic urban experiences into Malaysian urban area at night. This is unique because these streets are more alive at night than in the day.

My own photo of a night market in Melaka

Most urban areas in Malaysia traditionally began with shophouses, townhouses with retail/commercial on the first floor and sometimes second, and the upper floors as residential. Malaysians historically live in those upper floors of shophouses, in traditional villages, or single-family houses. However as Malaysia developed rapidly over the decades, towers of private apartments and condominiums become more common, and it was only in the past 2 decades or so that the Malaysian government built public housing. Public housing in Malaysia is not the trend, however, as most Malaysians still live, and prefer to live in, market-rate private housing, which has not been too unaffordable for the average middle-class Malaysian unless you live in Klang Valley. Klang Valley has seen a property boom, and property is also sometimes treated as real estate investments rather than a place to live in. In addition, affluent Malaysians have built mansions on large plots of land they own, not unlike those seen in Crazy Rich Asians.

I am not too familiar with community development in Malaysia, however I do get the impression that it is often tied with economic development, as well as some education and social welfare programs. And Malaysians depend on their elected political representatives to convey their interests to the government (and public sector urban planners) on their behalf, so that's why the public participation process does not necessarily involve urban planners talking directly to the local residents, even though this is a democracy. Malaysia is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, multilingual and multi-religious country, and therefore has and is occasionally still struggling with race-based issues politically and culturally like any other diverse country. This sometimes had implications such as natural racial segregation between neighborhoods, but now seems to be improving a little as Malaysian society progresses.

I may have missed out on a few other important urbanism and urban planning topics about Malaysia, but this is almost everything I have observed, learned and understood about Malaysia's urbanism and urban planning that I want to share. I welcome comments, especially from Malaysians and urban planners with more experience in Malaysia than I do, for an intellectual discussion on the points I have discussed. I also welcome others who can share what they think, drawing comparisons from their own countries with Malaysia.