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From a Capital City to a World City: Vision 2020, Multimedia Super Corridor and Kuala Lumpur A thesis presented to the faculty of the Center for International Studies of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Jen Yih Yap August 2004 This thesis entitled From A Capital City to A World City: Vision 2020, Multimedia Super Corridor and Kuala Lumpur BY JEN YIH YAP has been approved for the Program of Southeast Asian Studies and the Center for International Studies by __________________________________________________ Yeong-Hyun Kim Assistant Professor of Geography __________________________________________________ Josep Rota Associate Provost, Center for International Studies YAP, JEN YIH. M. A. August 2004. Southeast Asian Studies From A Capital City to A World City: Vision 2020, Multimedia Super Corridor and Kuala Lumpur (121pp.) Advisor of Thesis: Yeong-Hyun Kim In 1991, the former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad introduced an initiative called Vision 2020, designed to bring Malaysia to a developed country status, and this initiative will eventually support Kuala Lumpur’s position to become a world city. This thesis examines the recent urban restructuring of Kuala Lumpur in terms of the Malaysian government’s current aspiration for world city status. Many capital cities in the developing world have been undergoing various world city projects that aim at, among other things, improving their international visibility, advancing urban infrastructures and promoting economic competitiveness in a global world economy. This thesis focuses on four large-scale constructions in the Multimedia Super Corridor, namely, the Kuala Lumpur City Center, Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Putrajaya and Cyberjaya. In addition, this thesis will provide a comparison of Kuala Lumpur’s status in Southeast Asia. Approved: ___________________________________________________ Yeong-Hyun Kim Assistant Professor of Geography Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Yeong-Hyun Kim, for her continued encouragement, patience and excellent guidance through the completion of my thesis. I am also deeply indebted to my thesis committee, Dr. Kadir Din and Dr. Christopher Boone, for their insightful advice and comments. I am grateful that I received a travel grant from the Southeast Asian Program, which allowed me travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and collect data for this thesis. I also would like to thank all my friends in Ohio University for their informative discussions and sharing of their knowledge. I thank Marianne and the tutors in the Academic Advancement Center (especially Rachel and Micah) for proofreading my thesis. I am also thankful to the Southeast Asian Collection, Ohio University library for its resourceful academic collections on Malaysia. I sincerely thank my parents, Yap Yew Tack and Law Seang Foong, my brother, Kim Bee, and my sisters, Siew Pheng, Shiow Wen, and Siew Ruenn for their love and support over all these years. Last but not least, I would like to thank my close friends, Sean Hsieh, Yang Pei, and Vichea Tieng for their encouragement 5 Table of Contents Page Abstract................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................4 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................6 List of Figures......................................................................................................................7 List of Abbreviations ...........................................................................................................9 Chapter 1 1.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................10 1.2 Study Area ...............................................................................................................14 1.3 Research Methods....................................................................................................16 1.4 Literature Review.....................................................................................................18 Chapter 2 – The Malaysia Economy and Vision 2020 2.1 The Growth of the Malaysian Economy..................................................................24 2.2 The Malaysian Government’s Economic Plans.......................................................33 2.3 Vision 2020..............................................................................................................37 Chapter 3 – Kuala Lumpur as the Center of the Malaysian Economy 3.1 The Old Kuala Lumpur............................................................................................41 3.2 The Modern Kuala Lumpur .....................................................................................45 3.3 Kuala Lumpur and Vision 2020...............................................................................50 3.3.1 Regional Information and Communication Technology and Multimedia hub...........................................................................................51 3.3.2 Regional Hub (Air Transportation Connections)........................................54 3.3.3 Regional Islamic Financial Center..............................................................56 3.3.4 Regional Education Center .........................................................................59 3.4 Kuala Lumpur as a World Class City ......................................................................60 Chapter 4 – Grounding Works for World City Status 4.1 The Kuala Lumpur City Center ...............................................................................62 4.2 Kuala Lumpur International Airport........................................................................68 4.3 Putrajaya ..................................................................................................................76 4.4 Cyberjaya .................................................................................................................81 Chapter 5 – Kuala Lumpur as a Regional Center of Southeast Asia 5.1 Urban Restructuring in World Cities in Southeast Asia ..........................................93 5.2 Kuala Lumpur and Southeast Asian Cities ..............................................................97 Chapter 6 6.1 Conclusions............................................................................................................111 References........................................................................................................................114 6 List of Tables Table Page 3.1 Malaysia Plans’ Budget Allocation for Kuala Lumpur ...........................................47 3.2 Kuala Lumpur as the Regional Center.....................................................................51 3.3 Southeast Asian Stock Markets: Composite Index..................................................57 4.1 Proportion of Land use in the Putrajaya ..................................................................77 4.2 Number of Students Graduated from Multimedia University at Cyberjaya, 1999-2003..........................................................................................86 4.3 Malaysian Companies in the Deloitte Tohmatsu Technology Fast 500 in 2002.......................................................................................................89 5.1 The Ranking of World’s Tallest Building and Planned Constructions of the Next World Tallest Building....................................................................................98 5.2 World Airport Ranking for the Number of Passengers in 2002 ............................100 5.3 World Airport Ranking for the Total of Cargo in 2002.........................................101 5.4 New Airport Projects in Asia Pacific.....................................................................102 5.5 Top Five Digital Access Countries in the Developing Asia-Pacific......................104 5.6 Asian Urban Hierarchy in Selected World Cities Studies .....................................109 7 List of Figures Figure Page 1.1 Vision 2020, Multimedia Super Corridor and Kuala Lumpur.................................13 1.2 Map of Malaysia ......................................................................................................14 1.3 Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area and the Multimedia Super Corridor..................15 2.1 Gross National Income (Atlas Method) of Malaysia, 1962-2002............................25 2.2 Gross Domestic Product Per Capita of Malaysia, 1960-2002 .................................26 2.3 Changes in the Economic Structure of Malaysia, 1960-2002..................................27 2.4 Malaysian Export and Import of Goods and Services, 1960-2002..........................28 2.5 Malaysian Foreign Direct Investment, 1974-2001 ..................................................30 2.6 Gross Domestic Product Growth of Malaysia, 1961-2001......................................31 3.1 Urban Growth in the Klang Valley for Selected Years, 1990-2005........................44 3.2 General View of Kuala Lumpur in the 1980s..........................................................45 3.3 Population of Kuala Lumpur ...................................................................................46