Write an article about KL: moving fast, but going nowhere .Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6), Retain any existing tags from
From Boo Jia Cher
The other day, I was nearly hit by a car.
I was crossing the street in Kuala Lumpur with the pedestrian light green when a driver sped through the red, eyes glued to his phone. He missed me by centimetres.
It was a small moment in the city’s daily chaos, but it exposed something bigger: KL is obsessed with speed and infrastructure, but starved of civic maturity, political will, and coordinated planning. It builds the shell of a modern city, yet fails to make it safe, humane, or liveable.
The illusion of progress
KL appears to be on the move: skyscrapers rise, MRT lines expand, malls multiply, and even a former United Nations-Habitat official now serves as mayor. But beneath the surface, the city is fractured and incoherent.
In the 2023 Global Liveability Index, KL ranked 94th, behind Bangkok and Jakarta, and far below Singapore which took first spot and Hong Kong at 10th. Despite big-budget projects, everyday civic infrastructure remains neglected.
Pedestrian walkways vanish into traffic. Flyovers slice through communities. Sidewalks and bus stops double as parking lots and garbage dumps. Crosswalks fade into oblivion. Roads keep expanding, despite evidence this only worsens congestion.
Here, the car doesn’t just dominate mobility. It dominates the imagination. Public space isn’t designed to be enjoyed, but endured.
A city for machines
Walking in KL is a chore. Cycling is an act of defiance. For wheelchair users or parents with strollers, the city is hostile by design. The message is clear – if you don’t drive, you don’t belong.
KL’s challenges aren’t entirely self-inflicted. The city sits within Selangor, where most KL workers live. Selangor’s sprawling, low-density suburbs often lack transit access, locking families into long car commutes.
Even where KL builds rail lines, Selangor fails to deliver last-mile infrastructure – no sidewalks or crossings, and infrequent buses. So people drive. Those who can’t are second-class citizens.
The two jurisdictions are poorly coordinated. Projects like Empire City Damansara, a dense, high-rise complex approved without mass transit, show how little planning synergy exists.
Even “transit-oriented” developments follow the same flawed formula – gated condos atop multi-storey parking, linked to MRT stations by walkways but surrounded by highways.
Instead of investing in proven, low-cost fixes, like sidewalks, bike lanes, and frequent buses, the government chases flashy tech like Demand-Responsive Transit services, which already struggle under demand. Why? Because the idea of the city as a shared, democratic space still hasn’t taken root.
Civic decay
The driver who nearly hit me wasn’t an outlier. In KL, there’s a daily disregard for rules – littering, red-light running, illegal parking, and smoking in no-smoking zones. Call it out, and you’re more likely to be met with hostility than reflection.
So we retreat into cars, gated homes, and long commutes, fuelling the very dysfunction we lament.
A city without leverage
The current mayor may be sincere and well-credentialed. But the system around her isn’t built for reform.
Planning is opaque. Public consultations are held at times few can attend. Enforcement is inconsistent. And no matter how visionary she is, progress will stall if Selangor keeps sprawling, federal agencies keep building highways, and institutions remain weak.
What KL needs isn’t speed—it’s imagination
I recently watched a documentary on Houten, a Dutch town where children cycle to school and cars are routed around, not through, the city. It’s a “smart city” not because of tech, but because of thoughtful, human-centred design.
By contrast, KL offers a familiar scene—families of four clinging to motorbikes, weaving through dangerous traffic.
This isn’t just about transport. It reflects our values as Malaysians.
KL doesn’t need to become Houten. But it must stop settling for so much less.
We need to stop treating public space as an afterthought. We must ask—who is this city built for, and who is excluded? Selangor must stop undermining KL with car-first projects. And KL and Selangor need real coordination, perhaps even a Klang Valley planning committee, to ensure well-coordinated people-first governance.
Until then, we’ll keep laying asphalt, inviting more cars, and watching KL speed past itself. More near misses. More families clinging to motorcycles on the MRR2. Fast. Distracted. Going nowhere.
Boo Jia Cher is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.
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