Women Shaping Kuala Lumpur City

Women Shaping the Soul of the City

ANN MARIE CHANDY | 8 March 2026

WHEN we think of cities, images of planners, architects, investors, or policymakers usually come to mind. But cities evolve through many hands and today, increasingly, through the hands of women.

Across Kuala Lumpur, women in the arts, culture, philanthropy, and urban development are breathing new life into how we live in and experience the city.

Figures like Shanthi Kandiah of Creador Foundation, Sarah Abu Bakar, curator and art writer, and Lena Ng Hwei Ling of Railway Assets Corporation, represent a rising wave of accomplished women whose empathy, lived experience and long-term vision are reshaping KL’s cultural and urban narrative. Their journeys – rich with resilience and optimism – remind us how vital women’s voices have become in defining the city’s future.

Shanthi says that thanks to strong female mentors she never saw gender as a limitation.

Reimagining Heritage Spaces

Above the lunchtime hum of kopitiam chatter at Hock Kee Heritage in Medan Pasar, in an office at Creador Foundation, Shanthi Kandiah reflects on a career shaped not only by determination, but by the example of women who came before her.

Early in her career at the Securities Commission Malaysia, she found herself working alongside formidable female leaders, including Wong Sau Ngan and Dato’ Dr Nik Ramlah Mahmood. Watching them negotiate complex policy reforms and stand their ground in high-level discussions left a lasting impression.

“They were negotiating toe-to-toe with senior lawyers, defending ideas and policies with confidence,” she recalls. “Being in that environment was empowering. You didn’t see gender as a limitation because these women were leading the way.”

Their example shaped Shanthi’s outlook on leadership and resilience – lessons that proved especially important later in life.

Like many women balancing family and career, Shanthi stepped away from legal practice for more than a decade while living abroad and raising her two children. When she eventually returned to the profession, she did so by identifying emerging areas in regulatory law and rebuilding her career step by step. “It wasn’t easy coming back,” she says. “You know your peers have moved ahead, so you have to find a way to break back in.”

Today, Shanthi is also deeply involved in philanthropy. Together with her husband, investment magnate Brahmal Vasudevan, she co-founded the Creador Foundation in 2018. The foundation focuses on education, healthcare and the arts – areas they believe are vital to nurturing talent and strengthening communities.

One of its key initiatives is Schola (https://schola.org.my/en), a career guidance portal designed to help Malaysian students explore potential pathways after school. The platform now reaches more than half a million users, offering insights into different professions and what those careers might look like in practice.

“Many of us left school not really knowing what to do next,” Shanthi says. “Often the advice came from relatives or people around us, but there wasn’t a structured way to think about careers.”

Beyond education, the foundation has also turned its attention to the arts – particularly in Kuala Lumpur’s historic core. The idea began almost by chance when Shanthi and Brahmal noticed a shuttered row of shophouses in Medan Pasar, including Sin Seng Nam, once a familiar haunt for lawyers when the courts were located nearby. The corner lot was later revitalised by Creador and today houses the popular KLCG Confectionery & Bakery, its bright yellow shutters making it a favourite photo spot.

But the couple soon began envisioning something more ambitious: a cultural space that could help revive the neighbourhood through art and performance.

The project is now taking shape as Muara Arts, a modern and contemporary arts centre expected to open later this decade. The vision is for it to become a confluence where South-East Asian art, culture and ideas come together – with a visual arts gallery and a performing arts theatre designed as a collaborative platform for artists.

For Shanthi, the arts have long held a personal appeal. As a student, she enjoyed theatre and even once performed as the character Ranjit Singh from the television comedy Mind Your Language while in Secondary School. One day, she shares, she might even try writing a screenplay!

The location of this project in KL carries deep personal resonance. As a young lawyer, Medan Pasar was part of her daily routine – a place of court appearances, quick breakfasts and conversations between colleagues. “Something about these old buildings and the people walking through the streets still evokes nostalgia,” she says. “It feels like a confluence of Malaysia.”

Having lived in numerous cities around the world including Singapore, London, Boston, Palo Alto and New Delhi, it feels good for Shanthi to be back in KL. Helping restore this corner of the city, she says, is both a privilege and a responsibility – and through the arts, she hopes it will create opportunities for future generations, especially women and young people, to find their voice.

Sarah at Gallery Khazanah's physical space in the historic Seri Negara building, where you can view works by women including Nadiah Bamadhaj and Winnie Cheng. Sarah says there is a growing presence of women in the art ecosystem here in Kuala Lumpur.

Curating the Stories of a Nation

For art writer, curator and consultant Sarah Abu Bakar, art offers a powerful way to explore how a nation sees itself.

Based in Kuala Lumpur, Sarah works across curatorial projects, cultural strategy and collaborations with artists, collectors and institutions in the region, focusing particularly on Malaysian and South-East Asian art.

Much of her recent work centres on connecting art with history and place. As a curator involved in projects at heritage sites such as Seri Negara and Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, she develops exhibitions that weave together artworks, historical research and archival materials to create engaging narratives for the public.

“These projects are highly collaborative,” she explains. “They involve historians, designers, architects and cultural practitioners – many of whom are women – whose perspectives contribute to how Kuala Lumpur’s heritage and cultural narratives are interpreted today.”

Sarah has also contributed to initiatives that expand how audiences encounter Malaysian art. She consulted on Gallery Khazanah, launched by Khazanah Nasional in 2022 as its first virtual art gallery. The platform showcases works from Malaysia’s modern and contemporary art scene and offers visitors an opportunity to explore the country’s artistic heritage online.

“At Galeri Khazanah, the curatorial approach begins with the collection itself – looking at how artworks reflect Malaysia’s story,” she says. “Rather than presenting a single narrative, I aim to highlight multiple perspectives – the dialogue between tradition and modernity, rural and urban experiences, and the ways artists interpret social and cultural change.”

For Sarah, the city’s art ecosystem is particularly dynamic because it sits at the intersection of tradition and experimentation.

“Kuala Lumpur is an exciting place for artistic expression because it allows different ideas to circulate,” she says. “There’s a network of galleries, artist-run spaces, collectors and cultural institutions that supports these conversations.”

Women, she adds, are increasingly shaping those conversations. “There is a growing presence of women in the art ecosystem. Many are shaping thoughtful conversations around identity, history, and social change, while also building networks and supporting younger practitioners.”

As Kuala Lumpur continues to evolve, Sarah believes the arts will remain an important lens through which the city’s past and future can be understood – with women playing an increasingly visible role in shaping its cultural landscape.

Group pic: Ng (second from right) and the RAC team outside the KL Railway Station during the ongoing first phase of facade works. Inset: Ng's role involves overseeing transit-oriented developments and regenerating railway heritage assets across Peninsular Malaysia.

Building a City That Works for People

For Railway Assets Corporation Chief Operating Officer (Property) Lena Ng Hwei Ling, shaping Malaysia’s rail and urban landscape is both a professional calling and a personal journey through the city she has long experienced on foot.

Armed with a Bachelor of Architecture from Curtin University, Ng began her career in 1999 at T.R. Hamzah & Yeang under renowned architect Ken Yeang, whose ecological design philosophy introduced her early to sustainable urban strategies. Over the years, she worked on projects ranging from masterplans to hotels, luxury residences and data centres before moving into the rail asset management sector.

Yet Ng says the most important influence on her work did not come from design theory alone. “More important than architectural training, for me, was being a public transport user,” she says. “Taking public transport and walking in the city is very different from sitting in a car getting from one point to another.”

In fact, Ng does not drive at all! Instead, she relies on trains, walking and the occasional ride-hailing service – experiences that inform how she thinks about urban connectivity and safety.

“If I feel safe enough to take the train, walk from the station to the mall and then connect to my apartment, then that I see as a successful development,” she explains. “If I have to cross a highway, go under a bridge and walk through a wasteland, then that’s already a design flaw.”

Her perspective is particularly significant in sectors that have historically been male-dominated. Reflecting on nearly 26 years in the field, Ng says she has been fortunate not to face direct discrimination, but acknowledges an underlying bias.

“As a woman working in the field, you sometimes have to stand your ground further, especially if you believe in something,” she says. “Then you really have to fight for it.”

Ng says it has been rewarding to be part of the ongoing refurbishment of the KL Railway Station, one of the city’s most iconic heritage assets. Beyond that, her role involves overseeing transit-oriented developments and regenerating railway heritage assets across Peninsular Malaysia – from Perlis and Kelantan to Johor – giving her a unique vantage point on how rail connects communities.

“You see passengers not just as tourists, but locals travelling for family reunions,” she says. “You realise on a national scale what transportation can do to bring people together.”

One example of this philosophy is the transformation of underutilised railway land in Kluang into Laman Rel Mahkota Kluang, a community space that has quickly become a lively meeting place.

“Creating these kinds of spaces may have very little in terms of financial gains,” Ng notes. “But the cultural and community capital you can give back to people is really important.”

Having grown up in Kuala Lumpur, Ng has also witnessed the city’s dramatic evolution.

“Thirty years ago you didn’t go to KL after 6pm,” she recalls. “Now it’s really transformed – it’s safe and vibrant.”

For young women hoping to shape Malaysia’s built environment, Ng’s advice is simple: combine technical training with empathy and curiosity. “Success in this industry doesn’t come from sitting in an office and going back at five o’clock,” she says. “It comes from walking around, understanding the sites and understanding what people need.”

Kuala Lumpur and the Women Supporting Its Future

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, the stories of Shanthi, Sarah and Ng remind us that cities aren’t built solely from steel and stone, they are built from the passion of people who care.

These women are breathing life into historic spaces, curating Malaysia’s stories through art, and shaping a city infrastructure that truly serves its people.

Aligned with the vision of Warisan Kuala Lumpur – a national commitment to rediscover and restore the soul of the capital, they are not only preserving heritage, but they are also making it relevant for the generations to come. Their spirit, ideas and determination form the living narrative of a Kuala Lumpur that is evolving boldly while honouring its roots.

A city shaped by many voices, including women, is a city shaped with heart.

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