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Malaysia’s National Expressway

St. Olaf College

A transient site like an expressway raises questions about modern forms of power and the shifting role of the state in regulating space. Since 1994, an 850-kilometer expressway has linked peninsular Malaysia north and south. As both a stunning infrastructural achievement and a heavily used traffic artery, the expressway has reworked the Malaysian experience of travel. This article examines the myriad social effects of such a roadway, focusing on issues of speed and power. First, a brief history of roads and motorized transportation in Malaysia contextualizes the country’s contemporary dependence on road travel. The heart of the article explores the "life" of the expressway, including the road’s effects for Malaysian nationalism, the implications for the Malaysian state in privatizing such an important project, the danger and disposition of high-speed accidents, and the changing relationship between local and rural space wrought by the expressway’s limited-access design. The article contributes to a growing literature on mobility and modernity.

Key Words: nationalism • Malaysia • speed • modernity • expressways • automobiles • privatization

Space and Culture, Vol. 6, No. 2, 110-131 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/1206331203251255


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