Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Work
The most important change in the social structure of Malaysia (and by extension KL) has
been the rise of the Malay community since independence. Following the riots of 1969, the
New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced. This programme of positive discrimination
was designed to bring marginalised Malays and Orang Asli - known collectively as
bumi-
putra
- into the political and economic mainstream. Although not wholly successful, 40
years on, the end result in KL is a city where the vast majority of government and
government-affiliated jobs are held by Malays. They make up most of the police force,
army, civil service and parliament.
With ambitious and talented Chinese and Indian Malaysians shut out of the best public
sector roles, these communities have tended to thrive in the private sector, in particular re-
tail and property development. As the nation's capital, there's almost every other type of
economic activity in KL, barring major heavy industry (which can still be found nearby in
the Klang Valley). Finance, banking - KL is a major hub for Islamic Financing - and the
oil and gas business are all key alongside tourism, education and healthcare.
The city's unemployment rate is low at 2.7% and likely to remain so as KL shows every
sign of continuing to have a robust economy. The city is increasingly courting multination-
al companies to set up shop by emphasising its liberal business environment, track record
in innovation, and highly educated workforce. This has led to a growing expat population.
One of the aims of the federal government's Economic Transformation Programme is to have KL rank
among the top 20 cities in the world in terms of economic growth and livability by 2020.
