Prominent human rights advocate Siti Kasim has voiced strong criticism against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ambitious Kota Madani project, accusing him of prioritizing personal legacy over the country’s economic reality. Speaking from the Netherlands, where she is attending a human rights programme, Siti expressed disbelief over the prime minister’s call to accelerate the massive development despite Malaysia’s financial challenges.
The project, envisioned as a pedestrian-friendly smart city complete with public amenities and green spaces, spans 41 hectares in Putrajaya and carries an estimated cost of RM4 billion. Planned to house around 35,000 residents, Kota Madani will occupy roughly 0.8% of Putrajaya’s total land and is expected to be completed by 2032. The initiative is being spearheaded by the Malaysian government in partnership with Perbadanan Putrajaya.
Siti questioned the need for such an expensive venture, arguing that the country already has enough unoccupied developments in both Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur. She suggested that the billions of ringgit could instead be used to improve essential services such as healthcare and education or to increase salaries for doctors, nurses, police, and other civil servants. Doing so, she argued, could help reduce the temptation for corruption among public officials and address the country’s growing social inequalities.
According to her, the nation’s leaders have a recurring tendency to chase after legacy projects that serve their personal pride rather than the public good. She remarked that while Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s creation of Putrajaya once made sense, given Malaysia lacked an administrative capital at the time, duplicating such an effort now seemed unnecessary. In her view, Anwar’s rush to complete Kota Madani reflects more of a desire to leave behind a symbolic mark than to solve pressing national issues.
She emphasized that the government should instead focus on stabilizing household incomes, managing the rising cost of living, and supporting marginalized communities such as the Orang Asli. To her, the Kota Madani project offers no immediate benefit to Malaysians struggling under heavy economic pressure and a national debt running into trillions.
Adding to her concerns, Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has warned against pushing forward with large-scale projects like Kota Madani without robust transparency and oversight. TI-M president Raymon Ram stressed that integrity pacts and independent monitoring should be in place from the start to prevent corruption and ensure accountability. He added that while upcoming procurement reforms under the Government Procurement Act 2025 are welcome, they still lack sufficient provisions for external monitoring—an omission that could open the door to abuse in projects of this scale.
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