Скачать или смотреть Putrajaya 30 years on: The capital that never quite replaced Kuala Lumpur

Find out why it has become a paradox decades after its founding.

Putrajaya, founded in 1995, turned 30 in 2025. As Malaysia’s administrative capital and inspired by Paris, it was supposed to replace the former tin-mining colony that is Kuala Lumpur.

Failure of urban planning that prioritised government offices and grandiosity over organic city life are some of the perceptions cited as to why the city has not lived up to its original promise.

The Straits Times’ Malaysia correspondent Hadi Azmi, who recently moved next door to Putrajaya, tells host and foreign editor Li Xueying, about the disconnect between the ambitious vision for Putrajaya and the ground reality.

Highlights (click/tap above):
0:00 Intro
1:47 The vision and reality of Putrajaya
8:13 The “unfinished bridge” and Putrajaya’s shelved monorail system
10:31 Lack of political will leads to urban planning issues
13:28 Lessons from Putrajaya’s township designs
19:22 Hadi’s personal insights and experience in Putrajaya

Read Hadi Azmi’s article here: https://str.sg/CF3t 
Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR 
Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x  
Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Li Xueying (xueying@sph.com.sg)
Edited by: Fa’izah Sani
Executive producer: Ernest Luis

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