Kuala Lumpur ( in English;
Malay , locally or even , and often
abbreviated as K.L.), is the capital and largest
city of Malaysia
. The
city proper, making up an area of , has an estimated population of
1.6 million in 2006. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the
Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration
of 7.2 million. It is the fastest growing metropolitan region in
the country, in terms of population as well as economy.
Kuala Lumpur is the seat of the
Parliament of Malaysia.
The city was once home
to the executive and judicial branches of the federal government,
but they have since moved to Putrajaya
starting in 1999. Some sections of the
judiciary remain in the capital.
The official residence of the Malaysian King, the Istana
Negara
, is also situated in Kuala Lumpur. The city
is also the cultural and economic centre of Malaysia due to its
position as the capital as well as being a
primate city. Kuala Lumpur is rated as an
alpha world city, and is the only global
city in Malaysia, according to the Globalization and World Cities
Study Group and Network (GaWC).
Kuala Lumpur is defined within the borders of the Federal Territory
of Kuala Lumpur and is one of three
Malaysian Federal Territories.
It is an
enclave within the state of Selangor
, on the
central west coast of Peninsular Malaysia
. Residents of the city are known as
KLites.
Beginning in the 1990s, the city has played host to many
international sporting, political and cultural events including the
1998 Commonwealth Games and
the
Formula One World Championship.
In
addition, Kuala Lumpur is home to the tallest twin buildings in the
world, the Petronas Twin
Towers
.
History
Kuala
Lumpur has its origins in the 1850s, when the Malay Chief of
Klang
, Raja Abdullah, hired
some Chinese labourers to open new and larger tin mines. They landed at the confluence of Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang (Klang River
) to open mines at Ampang. Sungai Gombak was
previously known as Sungai Lumpur, which means muddy river. The
Original name for this city was "Pengkalan Lumpur", which means
bundle of mud. As time passes by the name changed to Kuala Lumpur
which literally means “muddy confluence” in Bahasa Melayu. Later,
tin mines were opened at Pudu and Batu. Among the early notable
pioneers are
Hiu Siew and
Liu Ngim Kong.
These mines developed into a trading post which became to be
considered a
frontier town. Early Kuala
Lumpur had many problems, including the
Selangor Civil War; it was also plagued
by diseases and constant fires and floods. Around the 1870s, the
Chinese Kapitan of Kuala Lumpur,
Yap Ah Loy, emerged as leader, and became
responsible for the survival and subsequent systematic growth of
this town. He began to develop Kuala Lumpur from a small unknown
place into a mining town with economic boom. In 1880, the state
capital of Selangor was moved from Klang to the more strategically
advantageous Kuala Lumpur.
In 1881, a flood swept through the town following a fire which
engulfed it earlier. These successive problems destroyed the town's
structures of wood and
atap (
thatching). As a response,
Frank Swettenham, the British Resident of
Selangor, required that buildings be constructed of brick and tile.
Many of the new brick buildings mirrored that of shop houses in
southern China, with "
five foot ways"
as well as skilled Chinese carpentry. This resulted in a distinct
eclectic
shop house architecture typical
to this region. A railway line increased accessibility into this
town. Development intensified in the 1890s, leading to the creation
of a Sanitary Board.
In 1896, Kuala Lumpur was chosen as the
capital of the newly formed Federated Malay States
.
A mixture of different communities settled in various sections of
Kuala Lumpur. The Chinese mainly settled around the commercial
centre of Market Square, east of Klang River, and towards
Chinatown. The Malays, Indian Chettiars, and Indian Muslims resided
along Java Street (now Jalan Tun Perak). The Padang, now known as
Merdeka Square, was the center of
the British administrative offices.
During
World War II, Kuala Lumpur was
captured by the
Japanese army
on January 11, 1942. They remained in occupation until August 15,
1945, when the commander in chief of the
Japanese Seventh Area Army in
Singapore and Malaya,
Seishirō
Itagaki, surrendered to the British administration following
the
Atomic
bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kuala Lumpur grew through
the war, the
rubber and
tin commodity crashes and the
Malayan Emergency, during which Malaya was
preoccupied with the
communist insurgency.
In 1957, the Federation of Malaya gained its independence from
British rule. Kuala Lumpur remained the capital through the
formation of Malaysia on September 16,
1963.
On May 13, 1969, one of the worst race riots in Malaysia took place
in Kuala Lumpur. The
May 13 Incident
was a riot between the
Malays and
the
Chinese. The former being
dissatisfied with their socio-political situation at the time. The
riot resulted in the deaths of 196 people, and led to a major
reform in the country's economic policy favouring the Malays.
Kuala Lumpur later achieved
city
status in 1972, becoming the first settlement in Malaysia to be
granted the status after independence. Later, on February 1, 1974,
Kuala Lumpur became a
Federal Territory.
Kuala Lumpur ceased to
be the capital of Selangor
in 1978
after the city of Shah
Alam
was declared as the new state capital.
On 14 May 1990, Kuala Lumpur was celebrated 100 years of local
authority. The new federal territory of
Kuala Lumpur flag and anthem were
introduced.
In 1998, another political movement known as
Reformasi took place mainly in
this city. The movement was a result of the sacking of former
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister,
Anwar
Ibrahim, and resulted in a chain of protests until 1999, where
supporters of Anwar Ibrahim took to the streets to demand reforms
in the government's administration, among others.
On February 1, 2001, Putrajaya was declared a Federal Territory, as
well as the seat of the federal government. The administrative and
judicial functions of the government were shifted from Kuala Lumpur
to Putrajaya. Kuala Lumpur however still retained its legislative
function, and remained the home of the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King).
Geography
A pedestrian mall by KL's central market.
The geography of Kuala Lumpur is characterized by a huge valley
known as
Klang Valley.
The valley is
bordered by the Titiwangsa
Mountains in the east, several minor ranges in the north and
the south and the Strait of Malacca
in the west. Kuala Lumpur is a Malay term which translates to "muddy
confluence" as it is located at the confluence of the Klang
and Gombak
rivers.
Located
in the center of Selangor
state, Kuala Lumpur was previously under the rule
of Selangor State Government. In 1974, Kuala Lumpur was
separated from Selangor to form the first
Federal Territory governed
directly by the Malaysian Federal Government.
Its location on the
west coast of Peninsular
Malaysia
, which has wider flat land than the east coast, has
contributed to its faster development relative to other cities in
Malaysia.
The municipality of the city covers an area of , with an average
elevation of .
Climate and weather
Protected
by the Titiwangsa Mountains in
the east and Indonesia's Sumatra
Island in the west, Kuala Lumpur has a year-round
equatorial Tropical rain forest climate
(Köppen climate
classification Af) which is warm and sunny, along with
abundant rainfall, especially during the northeast monsoon season from October to
March. Temperatures tend to remain constant. Maximums hover
between and have never exceeded , while minimums hover between and
have never fallen below . Kuala Lumpur typically receives of rain
annually; June and July are relatively dry, but even then rainfall
typically exceeds per month.
Flooding is a frequent occurrence in Kuala
Lumpur whenever there is a heavy downpour, especially in the city
centre and downstream areas.
Dust particles from forest fires from nearby
Sumatra
sometimes cast a haze over the
region. It is a major source of pollution in the city
together with open burning, emission from motor vehicles and
construction work.
Demographics
Bahasa Melayu—the national language,
is the principal language of Kuala Lumpur. Other major languages
spoken in the city are
Cantonese,
Mandarin, and
Tamil.
English has a strong presence, especially
in business and is a compulsory language taught in schools.

Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park
Kuala
Lumpur also has a mix of different cultures which include Malays, Chinese,
Indians, Eurasians, as well as Kadazans, Ibans and other
indigenous races from East Malaysia
and Peninsula
Malaysia
.
Kuala
Lumpur's rapid development triggered a huge influx of foreign
workers from Indonesia
, Nepal
, Burma
, Thailand
, Bangladesh
, Pakistan
, India
, Sri Lanka
, and Vietnam
into Malaysia
.
In the
late-18th century, when Europe underwent Industrial Revolution, large groups of
Chinese from Fujian
and Guangdong
in China were brought in to Malaya to work in the booming tin mining
industry. The Chinese in Kuala Lumpur speak different
dialects but the majority in Kuala Lumpur are of
Cantonese descent, and the
Hakka.
Indians form 10% of the
population in Kuala Lumpur (as in 2000), mostly practise
Hinduism and speak
Tamil and other Indian and Pakistani
languages such as
Hindi,
Malayalam,
Punjabi,
Telugu and
Pashtu. Historically, most of the Indians
were brought in during the British colonisation of the Malaysia.
Their popular festivals are
Thaipusam,
Deepavali and
Pongal.
Islam is practised primarily by the Malays and
the Indian Muslim communities. Other major religions are
Hinduism (mainly among Indians),
Buddhism,
Confucianism and
Taoism
(mainly among Chinese) and
Christianity. The city has many places of
worship catering to the multi-religious population.
Population statistics
The connecting bridge between Mid Valley Megamall and The Gardens,
spanning above the central boulevard.
The estimated population of Kuala Lumpur in the
city proper for 2006 was 1.58 million. It has a
population density of , and is the most densely populated
administrative district in Malaysia. With an estimated metropolitan
population of 6.9 million in 2007, it can be considered a primate
city. The continuing decline in the birth rate for Kuala Lumpur has
resulted in the decline in the proportion of young people below 15
years old from 33% in 1980 to slightly less than 27% in 2000. On
the other hand, the working age group of 15–59 increased from 63%
in 1980 to 67% in 2000. The elderly age group, 60 years old and
above has increased from 4% in 1980 and 1991 to 6% in 2000.
Based on the census of the Department of Statistics (see
http://www.statistics.gov.my/eng/), the percentage of
Bumiputera population in Kuala Lumpur
alone was around 38% in 2000 (next census is in 2010) while the
Chinese population comprised 43% and Indians 10%. A notable
phenomenon has been the increase in the presence of foreign
residents in Kuala Lumpur, who now constitute about 9% of the
city’s population.
Crime in Kuala Lumpur has been a concern of residents in recent
years. Among the crimes showing increasing rates were snatch theft,
drug addiction, gambling and vice.
Government
Local government
The local administration is carried out by the
Kuala Lumpur City Hall, an agency
under the
Federal
Territories Ministry of Malaysia. They are responsible for
public health and sanitation, waste removal and management, town
planning, environmental protection and building control, social and
economic development and general maintenance functions of urban
infrastructure. Executive power lies with the mayor in the city
hall, who is appointed for three years by the Federal Territories
Minister. This system of appointing the mayor has been in place
ever since the local government elections were suspended in
1970.
Since Kuala Lumpur became a
Federal Territory of Malaysia
on February 1, 1974, the city has been led by nine mayors. The
current mayor of Kuala Lumpur is Dato'
Ahmad Fuad Ismail, who is in his first
term of office. He was appointed in 2008.
Politics
Kuala
Lumpur is home to the Parliament of Malaysia
. The parliament is composed of a lower House
of Representatives (
Dewan Rakyat) and an upper House of
Senate (
Dewan Negara). The city is represented in the
lower House of Representatives by eleven Members of Parliament
(MPs), who are
elected to
five-year terms. Traditionally, political leanings in Kuala Lumpur
have been dominated by
Barisan
Nasional (BN), with seven representatives from BN and the other
four from the
Democratic Action
Party (DAP) prior to the
2008 General Elections.
After the 2008 elections BN was left with just one representative,
Zulhasnan Rafique, in the
Setiawangsa seat. DAP took control of five
seats,
Parti Keadilan Rakyat
taking four seats, and
PAS one
seat, marking the first time in which the majority of the Federal
Territory's constituencies was dominated by
opposition parties.
Economy
A street view of the Old Market Square (Medan Pasar)
Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding urban areas form the most
industrialized and economically, the fastest growing region in
Malaysia. Despite the relocation of federal government
administration to Putrajaya, certain government’s important
machineries such as
Bank Negara
Malaysia (
Central Bank of Malaysia), Companies
Commission of Malaysia and Securities Commission as well as most
embassies and diplomatic missions have remained in the city.
The city remains as the economic and business center of the
country. In fact, the city is a center for finance, insurance, real
estate, media and the arts of Malaysia.
The infrastructure
development in the surrounding areas such as the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport
at Sepang
, the
creation of the Multimedia
Super Corridor and the expansion of Port Klang
further reinforce the economic significance of the
city.
Bursa Malaysia or the Malaysia
Exchange is based in the city and forms one of its core economic
activities. As of 20 November 2007, the market capitalisation stood
at US$318.65 billion.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Kuala Lumpur is estimated at
RM25,968 million in 2000 with an average annual growth rate of 4.2
percent. The per capita GDP for Kuala Lumpur in year 2000 is
RM30,727, an average annual growth rate of 6.1 percent. The total
employment in Kuala Lumpur is estimated at around 838,400. The
service sector comprising finance, insurance, real estate, business
services, wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels,
transport, storage and communication, utilities, personal services
and government services form the largest component of employment
representing about 83.0 percent of the total. The remaining 17
percent comes from manufacturing and construction.

Pre-war shoplots refurbished into
restaurants and bars along Tengkat Tong Shin.
The large service sector is evident in the number of local and
foreign banks and insurance companies operating in the city. Kuala
Lumpur is poised to become the global Islamic Financing hub with an
increasing number of financial institutions providing Islamic
Financing and the strong presence of Gulf's financial institutions
such as the world's largest Islamic bank,
Al-Rajhi Bank and
Kuwait Finance House. Apart from that,
the
Dow Jones & Company
is keen to work with Bursa Malaysia to set up Islamic Exchange
Trade Funds (ETFs), which would help raise Malaysia's profile in
the Gulf. The city has a large number of foreign corporations and
is also host to many multi national companies’ regional offices or
support centres, particularly for finance and accounting, and
information technology functions. Most of the countries’ largest
companies have their headquarters based here and as of December
2007 and excluding
Petronas, there are 14
companies that are listed in
Forbes 2000
based in Kuala Lumpur.
Other important economic activities in the city are education and
health services. Kuala Lumpur also has advantages stemming from the
high concentration of educational institutions located within its
boundaries, providing a wide range of courses.
Such public
institutions include the International Islamic
University Malaysia, University of Malaya
, the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,
International Medical
University and the Medical Faculty of the Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia. There are also a large number of private
colleges, including the
Universiti Tun Abdul Razak and
Tunku Abdul Rahman
College, in and around Kuala Lumpur providing a wide range of
courses which attract students from all over Malaysia as well as
from other countries. There are numerous public and private medical
specialist centres and hospitals in the city which offer general
health services and a wide range of specialist surgery and
treatment catering to locals and tourists.
There has been growing emphasis to expand the economic scope of the
city into other service activities such as research and development
which supports the rest of the economy of Malaysia.
Kuala Lumpur has been
home for years to important research centers such as the Rubber
Research Institute of Malaysia, the Forest
Research Institute Malaysia
and the Institute of Medical Research and more
research centers are expected to be established in the coming
years.
Tourism
The
tourism sector also plays an important
part in the city’s economy, providing income, employment and
expanding business opportunities. As an extension of this, many
large worldwide
hotel chains have
presence in the city. Kuala Lumpur has also developed into an
international shopping destination with a wide variety of
shopping centres and megamalls which carry
well-known global and local brands. Conference tourism—which mainly
encompass
conventions—has also
expanded in recent years and is becoming a very important component
of the industry.
The major
tourist destinations in Kuala Lumpur include the Dataran Merdeka (the Independence Square),
the House of Parliament
, the Istana Budaya
, the Istana Negara
(National Palace), the Kuala Lumpur
Tower
, the Muzium Negara
(National Museum), the Putra World
Trade Centre
, the Tugu Negara
(National Monument) and mosques such as the Masjid Jamek
, the Masjid Negara
(National Mosque) and the Federal Territory
Mosque.
Other
tourist attractions include the Aquaria
KLCC, the Batu
Caves
, the Makam Pahlawan
(National Mausoleum), the National
Science Centre, Petaling Street,
the Royal Selangor Pewter Visitor Centre, the Zoo Negara
(National Zoo), and events such as Malay cultural
centres, the Chinese cultural festivals at the Thean Hou Temple and the Thaipusam procession at the Sri
Mahamariamman Temple
. The Golden Triangle, the commercial hub of
the city, contains the Petronas Twin Towers
and has a distinctive nightlife. Trendy
nightclubs,
bar and
lounges, such as the Beach Club, Espanda, the
Hakka Republic Wine Bar & Restaurant,
Hard Rock Cafe, the Luna Bar, Nuovo, Rum
Jungle, the Thai Club,
Zouk, and many
others are located within and around Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Sultan
Ismail and Jalan Ampang.
Hotels, from five-star to budget types, have cropped up everywhere
to accommodate the influx of tourists each year. There are many
hotels near Kuala Lumpur's entertainment and business
districts.
Retail
Kuala Lumpur alone has 66 shopping malls and it is the retail and
fashion hub for Malaysia. Shopping in Malaysia contributed RM7.7
billion (USD 2.26 billion) or 20.8 percent of the RM31.9 billion
tourism receipts in 2006. and Kuala Lumpur plays a big role in
attracting consumers.
Suria KLCC
is one of Malaysia's premier shopping destinations
due to its location beneath the Petronas Twin Towers.
Apart
from Suria KLCC, Bukit Bintang, which
resembles Tokyo
's Ginza
, New York
's Fifth
Avenue
and Singapore
's Orchard
Road
has the highest concentration of shopping outlets
in Kuala Lumpur. Bukit Bintang, which is part of the Kuala
Lumpur's Golden Triangle, spans over 3 roads, namely
Jalan Bukit Bintang,
Jalan Imbi and
Jalan Sultan Ismail.
It houses various
cafes, alfresco (open air) dining
outlets and shopping complexes such as Berjaya Plaza, Berjaya
Times Square
, Bukit Bintang
Plaza, Imbi Plaza, Kuala Lumpur Plaza, Lot
10, Low Yat Plaza, Pavilion KL, Starhill Plaza and Sungei Wang Plaza. It is also the
location of the largest single department store in Malaysia,
SOGO Kuala Lumpur (also known as
KL SOGO) which is
located at a landmark site on
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, one of
the best known shopping streets for locals in Kuala Lumpur.
The
Bangsar
district also has a few shopping complexes,
including Bangsar Village, Mid Valley Megamall
and The Gardens
. The Damansara area
north-west of Kuala Lumpur, though not in the city-proper, is the
home of the only IKEA outlet in the country,
and a cluster of locally-operated malls like Cathay Multi Screen Cinemas, The Curve,
Ikano Power Centre, NiuXehSui at
Ara Damansara and One
Utama
.
Apart from shopping complexes, Kuala Lumpur has designated numerous
zones in the city to market locally manufactured products such as
textiles,
fabrics and
handicrafts. The Chinatown of Kuala
Lumpur, or commonly known as
Petaling
Street, is one of them. Chinatown features many
pre-independence buildings with Straits Chinese and European
traditions influence. The
Kuala
Lumpur's Central Market, which was once the city's wet market,
offers an assortment of arts and craft merchandise, varying from
antiques and paintings to souvenirs and clothing. It is also known
as
Pasar Seni in Malay.
Since 2000, the Ministry of Tourism of Malaysia has kick-started
the mega sale event for all shopping in Malaysia. The mega sale
event is held thrice in a year—in March, May and December—where all
shopping malls are encouraged to participate to boost Kuala Lumpur
as a leading shopping destination.
Cityscape

Kuala Lumpur skyline at night
Architecture
The architecture of Kuala Lumpur is a blend of old
colonial influences, Asian traditions, Malay
Islamic inspirations,
modern,
and
postmodern architecture
mix.
Being a relatively young city compared with
other Southeast Asian capitals such as Bangkok
, Jakarta
and Manila
, most of
Kuala Lumpur's colonial buildings were built toward the end of the
19th and early 20th centuries. These buildings have
Moorish,
Tudor,
Neo-Gothic or Grecian-Spanish
style or architecture. Most of the styling has been modified to use
local resources and acclimatised to the local climate, which is hot
and humid all year around.
Prior to the
Second World War, many
shophouses, usually two storeys with
functional shops on the ground floor and separate residential
spaces upstairs, were built around the old city centre. These
shop-houses drew inspiration from
Straits Chinese and European traditions.
Some of these shophouses have made way for new developments but
there are still many standing today around Medan Pasar (Old Market
Square),
Chinatown,
Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan
Doraisamy,
Bukit Bintang and Tengkat
Tong Shin areas.
Independence coupled with the rapid economic growth from the 1970s
to the 1990s and with Islam being the official religion in the
country, has resulted in the construction of buildings with a more
local and Islamic flavour arise around the city. Many of these
buildings derive their design from traditional Malay items such as
the
songkok and the
keris. Some of these buildings have Islamic geometric
motifs integrated with the designs of the building, signifying
Islamic restriction on imitating nature through drawings.
Examples
of these buildings are Menara Telekom
, Menara Maybank
, Dayabumi
Complex, and the Islamic Center. Some buildings such
as the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia and National
Planetarium
have been built to masquerade as a place of
worship, complete with dome and minaret, when in fact it is a place of science and
knowledge. The tall Petronas Twin Towers
were designed to resemble motifs found in Islamic
art.
Late modern and postmodern architecture began to appear in the
late-1990s and early-2000s. With the economic development, old
buildings such as
Bok House have been
razed to make way for new ones.
Buildings with all glass shell appears
around the city, with the most prominent example being the Petronas Twin
Towers
and Kuala Lumpur Convention
Centre
.
Kuala Lumpur's central business district today has shifted around
the Kuala Lumpur city centre (KLCC) where many new and tall
buildings with modern and postmodern architecture fill the
skyline.
Parks
The Perdana Lake Gardens, a manicured garden near the Malaysian
Parliament building, was once home to a British colonial official.
The park includes a Butterfly Park, Deer Park, Orchid Garden,
Hibiscus Garden and
Kuala Lumpur
Bird Park, Southeast Asia's largest bird park.
Other parks in the
city include, the ASEAN Sculpture Garden, KLCC
Park, Titiwangsa Lake Gardens, Metropolitan Lake Gardens in
Kepong, Forest Research Institute
Malaysia
, Taman Tasik Permaisuri (Queen’s Lake Gardens),
Bukit
Kiara
Botanical Gardens, Equestrian Park and West Valley
Park near TTDI
, and Bukit
Jalil International Park.
There are three forest reserves within the city namely the
Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve in the city centre,
the oldest gazetted forest reserve in the country , Bukit Sungai
Putih Forest Reserve ( ) and Bukit Sungai Besi Forest Reserve ( ).
Bukit Nanas, in the heart of the city
centre, is one of the oldest virgin forests in the world within a
city. These residual forest areas are home to a number of fauna
species particularly monkeys, tree shrews, squirrels and
birds.
Culture
Arts
Frieze depicting Malaysian history at the National Museum
Kuala Lumpur is a hub for cultural activities and events in
Malaysia.
Among the centres is the National Museum
which is situated along the Mahameru
Highway. Its collection comprises artifacts and paintings
collected throughout the country.
Kuala Lumpur also has an
Islamic Arts Museum which
houses more than seven thousand Islamic artefacts including rare
exhibits as well as a library of Islamic art books. However, the
museum's collection not only concentrate on works from the Middle
East, the museum also puts the emphasis on Asia, with China and
Southeast Asia especially well represented. This museum features
some impressively decorated
domes and large
open exhibition spaces.
It is located at Jalan Lembah Perdana next
to the National
Mosque
.
The premier performing arts venue is the
Petronas Philharmonic Hall. The
resident orchestra is the
Malaysian Philharmonic
Orchestra (MPO), consisting of musicians from all over the
world and features regular concerts, chamber concerts and
traditional cultural performances.

Kuala Lumpur City Centre Park at
night.
The
National Art Gallery of
Malaysia is located on Jalan Temerloh, off Jalan Tun Razak on a
site neighbouring the National Theater (Istana Budaya
) and National Library. The architecture of
the gallery incorporates elements of traditional Malay
architecture, as well as contemporary modern architecture. The
National Art Gallery serves as a centre of excellence and trustee
of the national art heritage.
The Petronas Art Gallery, another centre for fine art, is situated
in
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
(KLCC). The Galeri Tangsi near Dataran Merdeka houses exhibitions
of works by local and foreign artists.
The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPac) in Sentul West is
one of the most established centres for the performing arts,
notably theatre, music, and film screening, in the country. It has
housed many local productions and has been a supporter of local and
regional independent performance artists. One of the highlights in
2006 was the KL Sing Song 2006 music fest which featured Malaysian
singer-songwriters of various cultural backgrounds, from both West
and East Malaysia, through two days of performances and
workshops.
Kuala Lumpur holds the Malaysia International Gourmet Festival
annually. Another event hosted annually by the city is the Kuala
Lumpur Fashion Week, which includes international brands as well as
local designers.
Royal Selangor has an ultra modern
Visitor Centre, which
allows tours to be conducted through its
pewter museum, gallery and its factory. In its
pewtersmithing workshop, "The School of Hard Knocks," participants
are taught to create their own pewter dish using traditional tools
and methods.
Sports and recreation
Kuala Lumpur has numerous parks, gardens and open spaces for
recreational purposes. Total open space for recreational and sport
facilities land use in the city has increased significantly by
169.6 percent from in 1984 to in 2000.
Kuala
Lumpur is one of the host cities for the Formula One World Championship, the open-wheel
auto racing A1 Grand Prix and the
Motorcycle Grand Prix with
races being held at Sepang International Circuit
in the neighbouring state of Selangor, next to the
Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The Formula One event
contributes significantly to tourist arrivals and tourism income to
Kuala Lumpur. This was evident during the
Asian Financial Crisis in 1998.
Despite cities around Asia suffering declining tourist arrivals,
Kuala Lumpur tourist arrivals increased from 6,210,900 in 1997 to
10,221,600 in 2000, or 64.6% increase in tourist arrivals.
KL Grand Prix CSI 5*, a five-star international showjumping
equestrian event is held annually in the city. This annual event
draws the world’s top riders and their prized horses to
Malaysia.
Other annual sport events hosted by the city include the KL Tower
Run, the KL Tower International BASE Jump Merdeka Circuit and the
Kuala Lumpur International Marathon. Kuala Lumpur is also one of
the stages of the
Tour de Langkawi
cycling race.
The annual
Malaysia Open Super Series
badminton tournament is held in Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur has a considerable array of sports facilities of
international class after hosting the
1998 Commonwealth Games. Many of
these facilities including the main stadium (with running track and
a football field), hockey stadium and swimming pools are located in
the
National Sports
Complex at
Bukit Jalil while a
velodrome and more swimming pools are located in Bandar Tun Razak,
next to the Taman Tasik Permaisuri Lake Gardens. There are also
soccer fields, local sports complexes, swimming pools and tennis
courts scattered around the suburbs. Badminton and ‘
takraw’ courts are usually included in
community halls.
Kuala Lumpur has several golf courses including the Kuala Lumpur
Golf and Country Club (KLGCC) and the Malaysia Civil Service Golf
Club in Kiara and the Berjaya Golf Course at Bukit Jalil.The city
also has numerous large private fitness centers run by California
Fitness,
Fitness First, Celebrity Gym,
True Fitness and major five-star hotels.
Kuala Lumpur is also the birth place of
Hashing which began in December 1938
when a group of
British colonial
officers and expatriates began meeting on Monday evenings to run,
in a fashion patterned after the traditional British
Paper Chase or "Hare and Hounds".
Media
There are several
newspapers, including
daily newspapers, opposition newspaper, business newspapers and
also a digital newspaper, based in Kuala Lumpur. Daily newspapers
include
Utusan Malaysia,
Berita Harian,
Harian
Metro,
The Star,
New Straits Times,
The Sun,
Malay
Mail,
Kosmo! as well as other language
newspapers like Sin Chew Daily, China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau and
others oppositions newspapers such as
Harakah, Suara Keadilan, Siasah and Wasilah.
Kuala
Lumpur is also the headquarters for Malaysia's state broadcaster
RTM
and Media Prima, a media
corporation which houses the commercial television stations
TV3, ntv7,
8TV and TV9. Programmes are broadcast in
Malay, English, Chinese and
Tamil.

TM Tower is the headquarters of
Malaysia's principal telecommunication service provider.
The city is also home to the country's main
pay-TV service,
Astro, a
satellite television service, which
broadcasts local and global television channels such as
CNN,
BBC World,
Star World and
HBO.
Al-Jazeera, the Doha-based Arab news network has
launched a new English-speaking channel called
Al-Jazeera English to boost its
international viewership with one of its broadcast centers based in
Kuala Lumpur.
Phoenix TV, a
Hong
Kong
based television broadcaster has also announced
plans to expand its regional business by partnership with local
satellite TV provider, Astro. The Hong Kong
office of Channel V
International, an international music channel, relocated its
programme production unit in Kuala Lumpur by appointing the local
company Double Vision Sdn Bhd.In March 2008,
Time Out, the international listings and events
magazine, launched in Kuala Lumpur as its 24th global city.
Kuala Lumpur has been featured in all aspects of popular culture
such as movies, television, music and books. Movies set in Kuala
Lumpur include
Entrapment, starring
Sean Connery and
Catherine Zeta-Jones, and
Children of Men, (starring
Clive Owen) where the Petronas Twin Towers were
depicted in flames for a few seconds. Books which were set in Kuala
Lumpur include
KL 24/7 by Ida M Rahim, Shireen Zainudin
and Rizal Zainudin,
My Life As a
Fake by
Peter Carey, and
Democracy by Joan Didion.
Kuala Lumpur is also mentioned in many songs by local Malaysian
artists such as
Keroncong Kuala Lumpur by
P. Ramlee,
Kuala
Lumpur, Ibu Kota by
Saloma,
Chow Kit
Road by
Sudirman Arshad,
Senyumlah Kuala Lumpur by
Alleycats,
Streets of Kuala Lumpur by
Murkyway,
K.L. by Vandal,
Kuala Lumpur by
Poetic Ammo,
Anak Dara by
Azmyl Yunor and
KL by
Too Phat. Kuala Lumpur was also one of the
destinations in
The Amazing Race
Asia and
The Amazing Race.
Games have also been set in Kuala Lumpur. They include three levels
of the game
Hitman 2:
Silent Assassin and two levels of the PlayStation 2 game
Burnout.
Transportation
Unlike most other Asian cities, driving is the main mode of
commuting in Kuala Lumpur. Hence, every part of the city is well
connected by highways.
As capital of Malaysia
, Kuala Lumpur has a comprehensive road network that leads to the
rest of Peninsular
Malaysia
. High speed roadways, or
expressways are tolled roadways, and motorists
using these
expressways
have an option of paying by cash, or by stored value cards such as
Touch 'n Go and
SmartTAG.
In terms of air connectivity, Kuala Lumpur is served by two
airports.
The main airport, Kuala Lumpur
International Airport
(KLIA), which is also the aviation hub of Malaysia,
is located about south of city. The other airport is
Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah
Airport, formerly known as Subang International Airport and
served as the main international gateway to Kuala Lumpur from 1965
until KLIA opened in 1998. KLIA connects the city with direct
flights to destinations in six continents around the world, and is
the main hub for the national carrier,
Malaysia Airlines and low cost carrier,
AirAsia.
KLIA can be reached using the KLIA Ekspres high-speed train service from
KL
Sentral
which takes only twenty-eight minutes, while
travelling by car via highway will take about an hour. As of
2007, Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport is only used for chartered and
turboprops flights by airlines such as
Firefly and
Berjaya
Air.
Public transport on Kuala Lumpur
and the rest of the
Klang Valley covers
a variety of
transport modes such as
bus,
rail and
taxi. Despite efforts to promote usage of
public transportation, utilisation rates are low as only 16 percent
of the population used public transportation in 2006. The
rapid transit system in Kuala Lumpur consists
of three separate rail systems which meet in the city and extends
towards other parts of
Klang Valley.
The rail systems are
RapidKL
RAIL,
KL Monorail, and
KTM Komuter. These lines have either underground
or elevated stations around the city.
The main rapid
transit hub is KL
Sentral
which facilitates as an interchange station for the
rail systems. KL Sentral is also a hub for intercity railway
operated by
KTM Intercity.
It
provides rail services to as far as Singapore
in the south, and Hat Yai
, Thailand, in the north.
The largest public transportation operator in Kuala Lumpur and the
Klang Valley is
RapidKL. Since the take over
from Intrakota Komposit Sdn Bhd, RapidKL has redrawn the entire bus
network of Kuala Lumpur and
Klang
Valley metropolitan area to increase ridership and improve
Kuala Lumpur's public transportation system. The management of
RapidKL has adopted the
hub and spoke
system to provide greater connectivity, and cut down the need of
more buses.
RapidKL is also the operator of
three rapid transit rail lines in Kuala Lumpur, namely Ampang Line,
Sri Petaling Line and Kelana Jaya Line.
Kuala
Lumpur is served by Port
Klang
, located about southwest of the city. The
port is the largest and busiest in the country handling about of
cargo in 2006.
Education
According to government statistics, Kuala Lumpur has a
literacy rate of 97.5% in 2000, the highest rate in
any state or territory in Malaysia.In Malaysia, Malay is the
language of instruction for most subjects while English is a
compulsory subject and is used as the language of instruction for
mathematics and the natural sciences. There are also schools which
provide Mandarin and Tamil as languages of instruction for certain
subjects.
In Kuala Lumpur alone, there are 13 tertiary education
institutions, 79 high schools, 155 elementary schools and 136
kindergartens.
There are several notable institutions located in the city which
have existed for more than 100 years, such as
Victoria Institution (1893); Methodist
Girls' School, Kuala Lumpur (1896);
Methodist Boys' School
(1897);
Convent Bukit Nanas
(1899),
St. John's
Institution (1904) and
Maxwell
School.
Kuala
Lumpur is home to the University of Malaya
. Established in 1962, it is the oldest
university in Malaysia, and one of the oldest in the region. It is
also the most prestigious tertiary institution in Malaysia, having
been ranked first among the universities in Malaysia in the 2004
THES international rankings. In recent years,
the number of
international
students at University of Malaya has risen, a result of
increasing efforts made to attract more international
students.
Other universities located in Kuala Lumpur include
UCSI University,
International Medical
University,
Open University
Malaysia,
Universiti Kuala
Lumpur,
Wawasan Open
University and the branch campus of
Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia and
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Apart
from these, universities located around Kuala Lumpur include
Monash University
Malaysia Campus, University of Nottingham Malaysia
Campus
,Taylor's
University College, HELP
University College and others.
The
National Defence University of
Malaysia
is located at Sungai
Besi Army Base, at the southern part of central Kuala
Lumpur. It was established to be a major centre for military
and defence technology studies. This institution covers studies in
the field of
army,
navy,
and
air force.
Sister cities
- Sydney
, Australia
- Auckland
, New
Zealand
- San Francisco
, California
, United
States
- Los Angeles
, California
, United
States
- New York City
, New
York
, United
States
- London
, United
Kingdom
- Dubai
, United Arab
Emirates
- Mashhad
, Iran
(October
2006)
- Esfahan
, Iran
- Shiraz
, Iran
- Casablanca
, Morocco
- Malacca
, Malaysia
(April 15, 1989)
- Beijing, China

- Osaka, Japan

- Ankara
, Turkey
- Delhi
, India
Karachi
, Pakistan
- Los Mochis
, Mexico
See also
References
External links