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Putrajaya: a Capital for the Future by Stafford D

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Putrajaya: a Capital for the Future by Stafford D ESSAYS MASJID PUTRA (PUTRA MOSQUE) PUTRAJAYA: A CAPITAL FOR THE FUTURE BY STAFFORD D. OLIVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARAH MOSER This essay considers capital beyond its usual economic context and explores its meaning in two different but related senses of the word: the seat of government and an entity that is rec- ognized as valuable. I refer to a transformation of capital by discussing the city of Putrajaya in Malaysia. The city was built as a part of the government’s plans for the future, specifically the Vision 2020 national development initiative, so as to implement the ultimate objective of a ‘fully developed’ Malaysia. It is also the location of the Prime Minister and federal bureau- cracy. Despite all of the plans, visions, and construction, the future remains unknown and Putrajaya as a capital is not yet finished. ‘IT IS THE FUTURE THAT HAUNTS US WITH ITS ORAC- utrajaya is a recently built planned-city in ULAR DOOM’ (BAXSTROM 2008: 84). PMalaysia, south of Kuala Lumpur (KL) in a region called the Multimedia Super Corri- ‘HOPEFULLY THE MALAYSIAN WHO IS BORN TODAY AND IN THE YEARS TO COME WILL BE THE LAST GEN- dor (MSC). I contend that the city refers to the ERATION OF OUR CITIZENS WHO WILL BE LIVING IN A transformation of capital in a double sense of the COUNTRY THAT IS CALLED “DEVELOPING”. THE UL- word. Successive Malaysian governments have TIMATE OBJECTIVE THAT WE SHOULD AIM FOR IS A had plans for such a city since the 1970s (King MALAYSIA THAT IS A FULLY DEVELPED COUNTRY BY 2008: 112-113), but the building of Putrajaya THE YEAR 2020’. - TUN DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD, MALAYSIA:THE WAY began in the mid-1990s by the administration FORWARD, 28 FEBRUARY 1991(1997 [1991]b: 403) of Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad during his 44 The Unfamiliar STAFFORD D. OLIVER STAFFORD 30-year national development initiative called worthy. The near future is ‘a process of implicat- Wawasan 2020 or Vision 2020. Using the city ing oneself in the ongoing life of the social and to discuss capital in its common connotation as material world’ (Guyer 2007: 409). The distant it relates to capitalism would be very easy, since future of a plan like Vision 2020, set to take 30 Vision 2020 sets out to achieve certain econom- years to implement, relies more on ‘emergent ic targets and make Malaysia a powerful actor horizons of imagination’ (Guyer 2007: 413). The in the world economy (Mahathir 1997 [1991]b: distant future is not necessarily connected to the 403; see Greider 1997 [2004]). However, capital present and thus involves uncertainty. As much is not only economic. Putrajaya is explored as a as there is hope, the future can also be risky. Po- capital of a different kind in two related contexts. tential outcomes can be dangerous and frighten- Capital should not only be considered as ing as it is possible to imagine many possibilities, wealth, profit, and investments. More than that, from triumph to doom, which cannot be com- capital is also something that is recognized as pletely known in the present. Even though the valuable. Addressing capital as a valuable based future is uncertain, its presence can still be felt. on recognition shows how it can have various The two quotes from Mahathir and Richard meanings and levels of significance in different Baxstrom which began this essay illustrate contexts, for recognition is based on familiarity. concepts about the future plus the recognized Additionally, capital may also refer to a city or value of capital. Together these statements town that is the seat of government. KL remains may seem contradictory, since I mostly dis- Malaysia’s official capital and home of the Sul- cuss an optimistic period in Malaysia from tan and Parliament. Meanwhile, Putrajaya is 1991 through 1997. These years, at the begin- the location of the Office of the Prime Minis- ning of the boom of the 1990s and just before ter, the most powerful politician, in the Perdana the Asian Financial Crisis, brought large-scale Putra building, along with most of the federal economic growth and optimism (Greider 1997 bureaucratic agencies which bear the authority [2004]: 163). Mahathir made his hopeful state- to act on the government’s behalf (King 2008: ment during the February 1991 ‘The Way For- 153). These two definitions of capital are used ward’ speech in which he announced a vision to show that capital is not so much a fixed entity for Malaysia’s future (Mahathir 1997 [1991]b: but is more involved in processes of becoming. 403). Before exploring the vision, it’s insight- In other words, capital is still being formed and ful to address the ominous, scary, pessimistic, is not yet finished. Capital probably will always but accurate words from a moving chapter by be transforming. The word probably is used in Baxstrom (2008). His concept of a haunting order to highlight the uncertainty of what capital future can finely describe the Malaysian gov- means in a given context and how it can and might ernment’s perceptions of the future during the change. This leads to a third concern: the future. Mahathir era. I’m not suggesting that the future The future is a difficult subject to cover as is a ghost, but I will show that Mahathir and I am not an oracle. Nevertheless, the future is his UMNO (United Malays National Organiza- emphasized in works about Malaysia, including tion) party colleagues addressed the future as families and relatedness (Carsten 1997: 257), an ambiguous, unknown and physical presence. urban life (Baxstrom 2012; Baxstrom 2011: Hope was very much about making the future 62-63), and of course politics (Robertson 1984; the now. Yet, the future has and continues to Mahathir 1997 [1991]b: 403; Ibrahim 1996). A remain unknown. Consider the 1996 book The point needs to be made, though, in order to ad- Asian Renaissance by Anwar Ibrahim, writ- dress the future. Jane Guyer (2007: 409-410) ten when he was the Deputy Prime Minister of distinguished between the ‘near future’ and the Malaysia under Mahathir. ‘The future is em- ‘distant future’ and noted that, as opposed to the bedded in time present. Yet, its shape and char- ‘near future’, the ‘distant future’ is not about acter is a matter of conjecture’ (Ibrahim 1996: maintaining a continuity with the present. The 127). He admitted that the future is strange interplay between these two proximities of the despite its looming presence and closeness to future and their distance to the present is note- the present. The future is that which has not yet ISSN: 2050-778X The Unfamiliar 45 happened, in spite of all of the speculations, other aspects of Vision 2020’s capital can be dreams, guesses, hypotheses, plans, and feel- addressed in subsequent research, though. My ESSAYS ings of imminence. Thus, uncertainty is a fea- focus here is the question: ‘How is it possible ture of the future. As A.F. Robertson (1984:1) to plan without a concrete sense of the future’ wrote, ‘insofar as we are dealing with a future (Baxstrom 2012: 136)? With such comprehen- which is always uncertain, planning is a hazard- sive visions and swift efforts, the government ous activity’. Like Baxstrom (2008) claimed, tried to remove the uncertainty of the future the uncertainty and probability of what will and attempted to literally construct it. From the and may happen can be very disturbing and start, it seems that the goals were supposed to unsettling. Plans emerge as attempts to grapple not eventually lead to but become the future. with the unknown (un)certainty of the not yet. Ahmad Sarji, the editor of Malaysia’s Vision 2020: Understanding the Concept, Implications BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE & Challenges, a lengthy book with chapters from academics, politicians and business lead- Malaysia in the 1990s, similar to many other ers which outlines Vision 2020, explained that, countries, was determined to make the ultimate ‘a vision is a mental image of a future state of objective of a ‘fully developed’ future a reality. being which can be clearly perceived to be bet- Through library-based research, I have analysed ter or more attractive than the present state’ publications, policies and sentiments from the (Ahmad 1997: xiii). Such mental images were era. The most prominent person during this time quickly conveyed and gained a physical pres- was Mahathir. Malaysia’s longest serving Prime ence through large-scale projects. There are sev- Minister from 1981-2003, Mahathir dominated eral examples including the Petronas Towers in political life during his years in office (see Hilley Kuala Lumpur City Centre, built as the world’s 2001). At the inaugural address before the first tallest building, and the Kuala Lumpur Inter- meeting of the Malaysia Business Council, an national Airport (see Bunnell 2004). Literally organisation of which he was the first chair- between those two, emerged a capital building man, Mahathir delivered ‘The Way Forward’ in initiative that served as an example of what the which he outlined a vision for Malaysia’s future future will be like and a method to make Ma- (Mahathir 1997 [1991]a; Mahathir 1997 [1991] hathir’s imagination a physical reality, objecti- b). The speech identified nine goals/challenges fying the ultimate objective. The vision became which he thought that Malaysia should imple- tangible, and it seems that this was the intention ment and/or overcome in order to become a from the beginning. Planning in Malaysia has ‘fully developed’ country by the year 2020 (Ma- such a long history (Robertson 1984) that Vision hathir 1997 [1991]b).
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