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By Mihar Dias October 2025
There’s something about Malaysian prime ministers and their obsession with concrete. From Tun Dr Mahathir’s steel-and-glass utopia called Putrajaya to Najib Razak’s 1MDB-funded “Greater Kuala Lumpur,” every leader seems to think that nation-building equals building something.
Now, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim wants to immortalise himself with his very own RM4 billion vanity project — Kota Madani.
Human rights lawyer Siti Kasim, currently in the Netherlands (and perhaps safer there from the fumes of local hypocrisy), said it best: every Malaysian leader wants to leave behind a legacy. Focus Malaysia
Apparently, integrity, reform and lowering the cost of living don’t qualify anymore. You need to pour concrete — fast — or risk being forgotten.
Putrajaya was conceived when Malaysia needed an administrative capital. That made some sense, even if it drained the treasury.
But Kota Madani? A “pedestrianised smart city” for 35,000 people in a nation already dotted with empty malls, ghost condominiums and half-occupied office towers?
It’s absurd how our governments keep building cities no one will live in — monuments to political ego disguised as development.
However. Anwar himself once promised no more mega projects.
In his Budget 2025 address, the prime minister declared: “We will not implement any mega projects.” He went further, saying, “Now is not the time to implement mega projects.”
Instead, he vowed to focus on infrastructure that serves ordinary Malaysians and warned against projects that “turn cities into concrete jungles.”
Those words now echo with bitter irony. Because only months after making that pledge, he’s ordering the RM4 billion Kota Madani project to move “full speed ahead.” Focus Malaysia
One imagines bulldozers racing while doctors still queue for overdue allowances and police officers moonlight as Grab drivers to feed their families.
RM4 billion could build hospitals, repair rural schools, or improve Orang Asli settlements that are still waiting for clean water — but no, let’s build another “symbol of progress” with smart lampposts, green boulevards and luxury apartments.
Siti Kasim’s frustration is justified. She asked why a prime minister who preaches empathy and social justice would push a project that benefits contractors more than citizens. Focus Malaysia
Her jab — “as if he won’t be around soon” — is brutal but fair. Focus Malaysia
There’s a desperate haste in Anwar’s tone, the urgency of a man running out of time to etch his name into Malaysia’s skyline.
Transparency International Malaysia has already sounded the alarm, urging for independent monitors and integrity pacts to prevent abuse. Focus Malaysia
But we know this script: fanfare at the launch, silence at the audit. The project cost will balloon, deadlines will drift, and one day, when political winds shift, Kota Madani will be quietly renamed, rebranded or left half-built — another monument to misplaced priorities.
Malaysia doesn’t need a Kota Madani. It needs a Negara Madani — a country that values governance, fair wages and affordable homes over legacy projects and slogans.
A nation where leaders measure greatness not by how many skyscrapers they inaugurate, but by how many lives they uplift.
But as Siti Kasim wryly noted, “Our leaders tend to only address their own ego.” Focus Malaysia
So, the bulldozers will roll, the banners will flutter, and the speeches will echo with hollow pride — while the rakyat continues to count coins at the checkout line.
Kota Madani? More like Kota Megalomania — the latest chapter in Malaysia’s long love affair with concrete dreams and crumbling realities.
Mihar Dias (mihardias@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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