Putrajaya, a planned city located just south of Kuala Lumpur, is the new federal administrative capital of Malaysia. Several Government offices have relocated there to gain relief from the overcrowding and congestion of Kuala Lumpur, which is Malaysia's largest city. However, Kuala Lumpur still serves as Malaysia's national and legislative capital for now. Putrajaya is a Federal Territory just like the city of Kuala Lumpur and the island of Labuan.

The city is named after the first Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra. In Bahasa Melayu, the Sanskrit-derived words "Putra" means son while "Jaya" means excel or success.

The city has only been established recently and it is still undergoing massive development: its development was hampered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

The city is built on a scale completely disproportionate to its current population, with a number of bridges spanning an artificial lake, Putrajaya Lake.

Although Malaysia is multi-ethnic with Malay, Chinese, Indian, Eurasian groups, the architecture in Putrajaya is predominantly (some would say excessively) modern Arabic in style. There have been calls for more traditional or even modern Malay, Chinese, Indian and Western architectural elements in some sectors of the city to make it less like a modern Persian Gulf capital. Some people[who?] have suggested it might have its own "Chinatown" and "Little India" for added flavour.

To the west is Cyberjaya, a cybercity, also located within the Multimedia Super Corridor, which is situated between Kuala Lumpur and Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

History

The vision to have a new Federal Government Administrative Centre to replace Kuala Lumpur emerged in the late 1980s, during the tenure of Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Bin Mohamad. The relocation was to reduce the congestion in the city and to ensure that Kuala Lumpur will continue to develop as Malaysia's principal business and financial centre.

Putrajaya was founded on October 19, 1995 and is located in the middle of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Putrajaya is the third Federal Territory of Malaysia; the other two being Kuala Lumpur and Labuan.

The land on which Putrajaya now stands was formerly known as Prang Besar, part of the state of Selangor. Prang Besar ("Great War" in Bahasa Melayu) Estate had been the showpiece estate of the Harrisons & Crosfield plantation group of companies and was the birthplace of the classic "PB86" rubber tree, clones of which were grown more prolifically than any other throughout South East Asia during the mid 20th century. Later, the estate contained oil palms and some of the trees can still be seen in the new city.

The Federal government negotiated with the state on the prospect of another Federal Territory and in the mid-1990s, the Federal government paid a substantial amount of money to Selangor for approximately 11 320 acres (46 km²) of land. As a result of this land purchase, Selangor now completely surrounds two Federal Territories within its borders, namely Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

In 2002, a high speed rail link called KLIA Transit was opened, linking Kuala Lumpur and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Selangor to Putrajaya. Construction of the Putrajaya Monorail system is also underway.

Most foreign embassies and high commissions continue to be located in Kuala Lumpur. A new area within Putrajaya was developed to cater towards the foreign missions. It remains to be seen what efforts the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) will make to persuade them to relocate to Putrajaya. MFA itself is located in the new Wisma Putra Complex at No. 1 Jalan Wisma Putra in Putrajaya. However most major foreign missions like the American Embassy and the Indian High Commission have expressed reservations in moving to Putrajaya, citing the costs in moving and the fact that they have already spent lots of money in their current headquarters on security.