Kuala Lumpur Grows Up (and Up)  
International Herald Tribune
September 19, 1998
Thomas Fuller

Amid political dogfights and the chaos of economic crisis, something in Malaysia has slipped by virtually unnoticed: This city, once a small, nondescript capital, has come of age.

As global markets shuddered and currencies plunged, Kuala Lumpur started up a symphony orchestra, inaugurated a concert hall as well as Southeast Asia's largest airport, and opened stadiums, art galleries, a mass-transit system, a 50-acre park in the middle of the city and a raft of skyscrapers — notably the world's tallest buildings, the Petronas Towers — all within the last three months.

"We drive through this city and we don't know where we are going," said Eddie, 47, a Kuala Lumpur resident who spent an evening at the new park recently, gazing at the towers as his children played nearby. "Everything has changed so fast."

More than a year after the economic crisis hit, many Malaysians say that turmoil has remained largely in the headlines, such as those earlier this month about Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad's banning the use of Malaysia's currency outside of the country and the dismissal of his deputy and anointed successor, Anwar Ibrahim.

Their lives are much more likely to be touched by one particular fact of the crisis: Before foreign investors stampeded out of Asia last year, the concrete had already been poured for projects that have changed the face of Kuala Lumpur.

A city that three decades ago looked like a large botanical garden dotted with a few colonial-era buildings now has a distinct skyline. And a city once known only for its underground night life now has neighborhoods filled with bars and restaurants, places that despite the crisis are still hives of activity.

Cities across Southeast Asia mushroomed during the boom years as investors piled into what they saw as new and promising markets.

The difference, perhaps, is where the money went.

Some cities, like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, built mass-transit systems and parks. Others, like Bangkok and Jakarta, seemed simply to expand horizontally.

At the center of the new Kuala Lumpur are the 451.9-meter (1,483-foot) Petronas Towers, which Mr. Mahathir has said he built to put this town on the world map.

"I was asked the other day, 'Why did you build such tall towers,"' Mr. Mahathir said this summer. "You see, when you are short, you take a soap box and you stand on it in order to reach over the heads of people."

Mr. Mahathir made sure the Petronas Towers were constructed quickly by choosing two contractors for the project. A South Korean company had charge of one tower and a Japanese company the other. National pride was at stake.

Khoo Kay Kim, a history professor at the University of Malaya, said he saw proof, during a visit to New York, of how having the world's tallest buildings has raised the city's profile.

"I jumped onto tour buses on several occasions, and each time the bus passed the Empire State Building the tourist guide would say: 'This used to be the tallest building in the world. Now the tallest is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia."'

The city's growth has been so quick, in fact, that it has created somewhat skewed ideas about what is old and what is new.

Lai, 31, a businessman accompanying his wife and 2-year-old son to the new park, reflected on the capital's coming of age: "K.L. is a very old city," he said. "Many of the buildings are from the 1950s. We needed new ones."

But there is more to the new Kuala Lumpur than just concrete and steel. A mix of ethnically Malay, Chinese and Indian people made the city diverse, but recently the capital, with a population of 3 million, has become even more cosmopolitan.

Thousands of Europeans and Americans moved to Malaysia during the boom years, and judging by the faces on Kuala Lumpur's streets today, not that many have gone home. International schools have opened to cater to the influx of foreigners, and neighborhoods like Bangsar, with dozens of restaurants and bars, sprouted in less than two years.

"A lot of it has simply come above ground," Karim Raslan, a lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, said of the growing vibrancy of cultural life.

He recently bought season tickets to see the new philharmonic. "It's not just about buildings," Mr. Karim said. "There are people writing and painting."

"It actually takes my breath away," he said.

Copyright © 2006 the International Herald Tribune