Notes on Farish Noor's lecture on megaprojects

I couldn't get online during the lecture, so I wasn't able to live-tweet it. So I'm sharing my notes to get this info out of my head. The notes are incomplete and I hope to hammer them into better shape with a bit of help from my friends (yes, you!).

Lecture is less a history of megaprojects in Malaysia, more a history of urban planning in Southeast Asia.

Premise: we do not make history we are history.
That is, we are a product of historical moments which are in turn products of earlier historical moments.

Premise: Malaysia's current historical moment belongs to the larger historical moment of the region. The history of malaysia cannot be understood in isolation.
If so, it is true that many things in the past continue to exert their influence on us.

We've replaced traditional construction with the megaproject.

Chandra Muzaffar's book
Current paradigm on development makes no sense from a rationalist perspective, but it makes sense from a neo-feudal one.

Ancient notions of power came from the blurring of political power and sacred power

Burma to java, there was never a popular history of country because people did not matter
Histories consisted of a record of the royal lineage (e.g. Glass Palace Chronicles of the Kings of Burma).

Power is sacred and the embodiment of this were god-kings.

Kingdoms were always on the verge of bankruptcy because they had to constantly wage war to fund megaprojects.

Sacred architecture emphasises social distance.
Highly structured universe embodied in concrete form to suggest permanence.
Need for huge areas of space to emphasise distance.

Sacred architecture is architecture of power (that is, threat of violence).

Current sentiment dates back to the when local religions were adapting Christian styles from missionaries.

Sacred symbols normalize power.

Power comes from the earth, that's why palaces are low-standing structures and the king's quarters are on the ground floor.

17C onwards, SEA encounter with modernity changes everything (again).

It should be said, waves of colonialism did not all have the same effect.

2nd wave no longer missionaries, but company men concerned with purely commercial enterprises. Urban landscape based on ordered universe driven by capitalism. It undermined sacred power by building new monuments. Ushered in modern contract-based society.

Colonial race relations: keep people apart and productive.

Late colonial arch was anglo-moorish, style inspired by India and late Orientalist styles. At its time, as novel as karaoke. grafting of the pre-colonial power to colonial structures.

In post-colonial environment, new urban spaces a mix of traditional and modern elements. 

Don't forget, malaysia and singapore independent at the peak of cold war. The historical moment was very different from Burma's and Indonesia's independence.

FURTHER DISCUSSION
Was the rejection of the malayan union a reassertion of feudal power over colonial power and a return to the sacred/profane formula?
The role of race in power
Look up capitalism as civil religion