<img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-2985380 size-full" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fcaea3d4-highway-jammed-traffic-trafik-sesak-130225.webp" alt="traffic jammed" width="1600" height="1000" />
From Boo Jia Cher
Kuala Lumpur wants to be a “world-class city”. But walk down Jalan Tun Razak at noon and the truth is inescapable: this is a city designed for cars, not people.
Pedestrians bake in the sun, dodging cracked pavements that double up as obstacle courses. Cyclists gamble with their lives at every intersection. Commuters wait endlessly for buses trapped in the same gridlock they are meant to relieve.
Meanwhile, our skyline climbs ever higher — TRX, Merdeka 118, and other vanity projects that benefit no one but politicians, developers, and their cronies.
These towering monuments to elite ego do nothing to improve the lives of ordinary Malaysians. Instead, they divert resources from what truly matters: well-connected, high-quality affordable housing, accessible green spaces, reliable public transit, and streets designed for people.
The car-centric death spiral
For decades, KL’s solution to traffic congestion has been the same: more roads, more flyovers, more lanes. The result? More cars, more congestion, more pollution.
You can’t build your way out of car dependence: every new lane just invites more vehicles. Just look at Jalan Sultan Ismail or Jalan Maharajalela: pavements swallowed by illegal parking, pedestrian crossings spaced too far apart, drivers speeding through as if pedestrians were invisible.
This is not urban planning. It’s surrender. Some city roads now resemble highways more than streets.
We already have the solutions
KL’s public transport backbone — MRT, LRT, monorail — is not bad. The problem? We refuse to prioritise it.
<ul>
<li>Buses crawl in traffic because they share lanes with cars.</li>
<li>Trains run fairly efficiently, but last-mile connectivity is a disaster.</li>
<li>Even crossing the road from a monorail station feels like an extreme sport — roads are built for speed, not safety, with no pedestrian crossings nearby.</li>
</ul>
We know what works:
<ul>
<li>Dedicated bus lanes: Jakarta did it — why can’t we?</li>
<li>Shaded, continuous walkways: Medellín managed it with fewer resources.</li>
<li>Car-free zones in Bukit Bintang: like NYC’s Times Square or Seoul’s pedestrian havens.</li>
</ul>
Instead, we subsidise car dependency — through cheap parking, lax enforcement, and even Madani discounts for illegal parkers. It’s madness.
The great KL land heist
While the city chokes on traffic and lacks green space, a grotesque injustice sits in its heart: the Royal Selangor Golf Club — 120 acres of elite playground, gated off while ordinary Malaysians swelter in gridlock.
Cities like New York with its Central Park, London with its Hyde Park, and even Jakarta with its Taman Menteng, understand that prime land must serve the public, not private clubs. Yet in KL, a city starved of parks, this colonial relic hoards space that could:
<ul>
<li>Cool the city: Golf courses are ecological deserts; parks reduce heat.</li>
<li>Serve millions: Not just a few hundred members.</li>
<li>Connect green corridors: Imagine a KL Central Park linking the city by walkways and cycle lanes.</li>
</ul>
Seoul tore up highways to restore Cheonggyecheon Stream. Why can’t we?
Make driving harder, give power back to the people
To save this city, we must stop empowering cars over human beings. Here’s how:
<ul>
<li>Eliminate free parking: Impose heavy taxes on users of parking spaces; convert lots into parks or for housing.</li>
<li>Ban cars from key zones: Start with Bukit Bintang, then expand to Petaling Street, Masjid India, and beyond.</li>
<li>Enforce traffic laws: No more “Madani discounts” for illegal parking. Tow vehicles of repeat offenders; revoke licences for reckless driving.</li>
<li>Reconfigure excessively wide roads: Convert car lanes into dedicated bus lanes, bicycle paths, and shaded pedestrian walkways. City streets should serve people, not just cars.</li>
<li>Reinstate local elections: Let KLites vote for their mayor and councillors. Planning should serve the public, not politicians and developers.</li>
</ul>
Who is this city for?
Vibrant cities thrive when people move freely, not when they are trapped in steel cages.
We don’t need more highways or trophy towers. We need political courage and local democracy. The blueprint exists; just look at cities that have transformed themselves.
The question is: Will KL finally wake up?
We have a mayor, Maimunah Sharif, with an impressive international track record in sustainable urban planning — yet progress on the ground remains painfully slow.
The City Hall is mired in outdated methods and bureaucracy, clinging on to a “why fix what isn’t broken?” mindset, even as the cracks widen around them.
But here’s the truth: Until we stop catering to cars and elite egos, and start designing for people, our city will never live up to its potential.
&nbsp;
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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