Kuala Lampur, Oct. 8 -- When former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin took to the streets last Saturday with Bukit Damansara residents, it wasn't just a protest against a 60-storey redevelopment plan. It was a cry against the slow suffocation of Kuala Lumpur - by congestion, inconsistency and planning without conscience.

Bukit Damansara, once a quiet residential enclave of tree-lined streets and single-storey homes, has changed beyond recognition whilst it quietly traded its gentle hills and tree-lined horizons for a skyline crowded with concrete.

This is not an isolated case but part of a long pattern of planning decisions that have chipped away at the city's natural grace in the name of growth.

The proposed redevelopment of Wisma Dam...