AirCon Culture in Malaysia

Picture this. You've travelled for 14 hours on a plane from the UK. You have watched the last 5 years’ worth of Marvel movies back to back, you've drunk water from a sealed plastic cup and maybe, if you’re lucky, you squeezed in a couple hours sleep. And finally, you have arrived, having travelled a quarter of the way round the world and you can finally step foot on Malaysian soil.

And what’s the first thing you notice?

Oh boy, it is hot.

Believe me, it gets hotter still when you try to climb all these stairs!

You start to sweat instantly, in fact there's no point worrying about sweat patches because you will be drenched within minutes no matter what you do. This is going to be a sticky couple of weeks.

And then you get into your air-conditioned taxi and forget all about it. 

Until you get out at your accommodation, and you are again met with a wall of heat. 'How do people tolerate this?' you think. You are reluctant to even pick up your bags in this heat, and you eyeball your emergency raincoat with disgust. Why would anyone willingly put on MORE layers in this weather?

And then you go inside into the air-conditioned building and forget all about it. 

I love seeing how different locals dress for the climate - this looks warm to me!

Welcome to Aircon Culture

This was the situation I was met with when I visited Malaysia a few months ago. I, being the naive westerner that I was, assumed that everyone in Malaysia was simply used to the heat and humidity. And maybe, decades ago, this was the case. But 2018 Malaysia painted a very different picture for me, one of a society dependent on their air conditioners for survival. Or as I like to call it, an ‘Aircon Culture’. 

Grab a cup of tea because this is a big one, I present to you my thoughts on this surprisingly interesting (trust me on this) aspect of Malaysian culture, why it exists, and what it means for the future of the country.

To begin with I would like to highlight two industries that have thrived through aircon culture in Malaysia: shopping centres, and the transportation industry.

Shopping Centres

Petaling St: An outside market and a long way from the immaculate nature of indoor malls

Admittedly this is really only in the major cities, but the number of shopping centres in Malaysia is staggering. In Kuala Lumpur almost, every train station has a shopping centre, the scales of which are mind blowing. Five storey complexes equipped with museums, aquariums, cinemas and epic food courts are dotted throughout the city centre. As a result, KL is famed for being a shopper’s paradise. And of course, it makes sense, what do you do when no one wants to be outside and goods are cheap? You build shopping centres! 

The somewhat sad side of this (excessive consumerism aside) is that, with a few notable exceptions (e.g. KLCC park), the 'outside world' away from the likes of shopping centres and food courts is somewhat lacking. Throughout much of the Western world you can stroll through the centres of cities and almost guarantee parks, street performers, and at the very least, benches. There is stuff happening outside. This is not the case in KL. You are either inside or in your car. Which leads me to my second point...

Nobody walks.

Source: http://raklouisville.com/rak-kuala-lumpur-in-traffic/

If you are from Europe this may sound ridiculous, but seriously EVERYONE drives. And again, it makes sense. If you can afford a luxurious air-conditioned car, then why would you walk around? And if you can’t afford a car do you use public transport or walk? Of course not, you buy a scooter instead! And the lack of walking expands far beyond just laziness; entire industries boom or fall into disuse as a result. 

Source: http://www.newfortunetimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/kl-traffic-640x360.jpeg

For example:

• Public transport is lacking. The inner-city trains are easy and cheap enough to use, but many are impossible to get to without a car as there are no footpaths. Trains out of the city are another story altogether, being both ridiculous in price, difficult to figure out, and sporadic at best. And let’s not even begin with busses. 
• Uber-like services are booming: Of course, not everyone can or wants to drive but with the boom of Malaysia’s Uber-equivalent 'Grab', nobody has to. And it’s so cheap too! You can get around for what would be pennies in the UK!
• Infrastructure decline: because no one walks, no one wants to repair pavements. So, when I dangerously tried my hand at navigating by foot, I was often stranded at the edge of roads where huge sections of pavement have been destroyed and fenced off, with no diversion available. 
• Scooters: Again, even if you can’t afford a car, there's an alternative to walking - join the army of scooters that whizz through the city streets. At every major city intersection, you will see dozens upon dozens of scooters revving and running red lights. 

Now what I have described here is more of a reflection of Kuala Lumpur. The lack of walking is worse in smaller cities such as Ipoh (my disdain for which has been discussed in my KL survival guide!) It is pretty apparent therefore that aircon culture has fuelled these two industries in a pretty major way.

But the question is...

Why has this culture developed?

Of course, there is the factor of heat, but as I mentioned, it can’t have always been like this, aircon hasn’t always existed! So why now has the country moved indoors?

I believe it comes down to two reasons:

1. The speed at which Malaysia has evolved as a country.

Because Malaysia has experienced sudden and rapid economic growth, a whole number of industries have expanded at once, leaving behind those that are less needed. For example, in Europe where the countries grew slowly, strong networks of public walkways and footpaths were established, long before the rise of motor vehicles. European towns and cities HAD to build their automotive use around the infrastructure already in place. Cities like KL on the other hand have evolved so quickly that when people took to cars, the city grew so quickly the infrastructure couldn’t keep up with the changing technology. And as people could now drive there was no need for money to be pooled into rarely used footpaths.

This self-fulfilling prophecy goes deeper too…

• As infrastructure declined less people could walk, and as personal vehicles became more accessible and more comfortable less people wanted to walk. As such companies like Grab expanded exponentially and so it became easier still to choose not to walk.
• As even fewer people walked the usage of public transport declined, thus driving down the quality of public transport services, making people even more reliant on cars.
• As scooters become normalised even those who can’t afford big cars can get around without walking, and so public transport and public infrastructure takes an even greater hit. 

'But surely' you may be thinking, there must be some initiative to reduce the environmental impact of all these vehicles, some driver towards government investment in infrastructure and public transport? But this is where Malaysia’s recent growth plays an important role. Malaysia is a relatively poor country, so the focus is increasing GDP, not investing in the welfare of the people and planet. As such there is little government incentive to clean up the streets if it means less people will be buying cars and petrol. Which all leads nicely to my next point…

2. The petrol companies of Malaysia fuelling the automotive industry. 

Without wanting to turn this into too much of a conspiracy theory, it Is evident that there is certainly at least some incentive for petrol companies to want this over-consumption of motor vehicles to increase. Petrol companies need to drive the sales of vehicles so there are more customers to buy their sweet sweet oil. And the bigger the car, the more petrol they need. How do they do this? Promote oil as being the key to all of life’s luxuries. Oil is absolutely portrayed in Malaysia as more than just a vital commodity, but also as a gift from mother nature. Never do you catch one sniff of ‘eco-fuels’ or solar power or environmentally friendly alternatives. What you see instead is the Malaysian-owned oil and gas company ‘Petronas’ getting their oily hands over every aspect of Malaysian life. Want to see one of the tallest (and probably most spectacular) buildings in the capital city? That would be Petronas towers. Want to take your darling child to the science museum so they can learn how the world works? Sure thing, head to Petrosains in KLCC mall and make sure to explore the huge exhibition of how oil is extracted and all the good it does for the planet. Formula One fan? Why not follow Malaysias biggest F1 team, Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team. And this not-so subtle promotion works too, as within the last 5 years Petronas has been ranked the most profitable company in Asia. People don’t see the impact of the excessive over-consumption. They just see everyone else with their big, beautiful cars and they want more of the same. And Petronas and friends are always happy to oblige, provided it keeps them on top. (Pretty nice analogy for capitalism, don’tcha think?)

So What…?

Its difficult to know where the future lies for Malaysia. They may fall anywhere on a spectrum from utopia to dystopia. As the public grows in global awareness there may become a greater demand for sustainability, and the country may make moves to follow in the footsteps of its little neighbour Singapore, in heavily invest in environmentally friendly energy sources, and improved public infrastructure. Alternatively, the demand on petrol may continue to grow, placing huge strain on the environment, resources and human health (I haven’t really mentioned the smog issues in KL but they are real!). It is of course impossible to predict. During the Western industrial revolution, European cities were dirty, crowded and full of smog. And now there are huge movements and governmental pledges to reduce oil consumption and clean up the earth. Only time will tell if one day Malaysian governments will attempt to do the same.

For me it was an interesting insight as to how countries have developed so differently to my own, and has also really made me appreciate a cold rainy day back at home!

Happy travelling!

Vicky