Liminal spaces — Malaysia

Posted on by Koko2018

horusporus:

fightingfish:

tariqk:

So @fightingfish and I came up with this discussion about liminal spaces in Malaysia, like. And we kind of realized a few things:

  • Unlike in the US, hypermarkets like Tesco and Giant aren’t exactly liminal spaces, because the employees stamp their own identity and personality in these spaces. Maybe in some poorly-visited areas of the hypermarket? But not at the cash areas, the produce areas, or that serve foods.
  • That being said, probably some hardware large hardware stores, some art supplies stores used for wedding supplies.
  • University Malaya Medical Centre, specifically some corridors.
  • Not mosques, especially some mosques like Masjid Bulat Seksyen 14 have given me the opposite of liminality. But suraus, the Muslim equivalent of chapels, yes. Unless that surau is made a community center, where there’s daycare, or teaching.
  • Large parts of schools during school holidays, except the places where they do extracurricular activities.
  • Large parts of Kuala Lumpur during Chinese New Year, and to be fair, Hari Raya
    😂 

    (less of this these days, though, because we’re seeing people who’ve lived and consider Kuala Lumpur their home for generations).

  • Oil palm plantations, some service roads, or, basically places where you’d go if you were a horny couple and didn’t have a place to have sex.
  • Highway stops and R&Rs, almost with no exception. Yeah, even the large ones like the Restoran Jejantas.
  • Overhead pedestrian crossings, especially across train tracks.
  • Most of Publika outside of the heavily trafficked areas and the art installations.
  • Some public parks (an example would have been parks like Taman Aman. Interestingly enough, Taman Jaya during the time Pokémon Go actually had its liminality banished due to the large numbers of people trooping through the park to get a Pikachu, but… I don’t know? It certainly felt surreal gaming there).
  • Old rural train stations (a famous example would have been depicted in Lat’s Mat Som, i.e. Stesen Keretapi Tanjung Malim).

Actually, that last example is instructive, in which that scene, the punks who were with Mat Som called the train stop itself “tempat jin bertandang” (i.e. the place where spirits dwell / hang out).

Anyway. That’s some of what I’ve got. Let’s talk more about these places, @keiyoshi, @horusporus, @grrraknil, @maybethings, @anneemay, @radio-charlie, @mindscalpel, @were-cow, @melissaeliias, @jhameia, @pekorosu, other Malaysians?

eee i love this post.

  • schools in major exam season, where everything is open but only the nerds show up to study together. 
  • libraries. sad but especially true for malaysia.
  • old offices where everything smells like paper and nothing has been digitized. 
  • actually anywhere that has the smell of old paper. 
  • i’m gonna argue that the whole universiti malaya campus is a liminal space. it feels trapped in the 90s. 
  • train stations. i get this feeling especially for the new LRT extension stations that just opened, and train stations at the end of the line. Putra Heights is liminal like hella. 
  • all bus stops and bus stations.
  • highways are, by definition, liminal spaces. plus everything feels slightly unreal when whizzing at 120km/h along the lebuhraya utara-selatan. 
  • stores where everything is sold in bulk.
  • the underground tunnel between platforms at masjid jamek. 
  • dataran merdeka!!! it just feels weird to have that much open space that isn’t designated for sports. 
  • i remember during protests and at the height of the pokemon go craze, people swarmed dataran merdeka and the street next to it after sundown. the road was closed to cars, so kids rode their bikes and played in the middle of the street. there was music. i felt like i’d stepped into an upside-down version of this world.
  • the hallway of a shopping mall when you exit a cinema. 
  • jalan gasing, because of the sheer number of places of worship (especially churches) along this road. last weekend the road got almost completely shut down because vaisakhi, puthandu, vishu, songkran, and holy week all happened at the same time. 
  • amcorp mall 

so like i said in my last reblog, i tried to have a think. everyone’s got good suggestions, but im gonna give a go. i keep being confused about if we’re talking about old places or just places where reality just took a pause:

– the underground tunnel system that defines kompleks dayabumi.

– the corridors of wisma pkns.

– bangunan mara in kl, esp level 2. going thru the maze of tailors in the tailors’ plaza is a trip.

– very specifically, the R&Rs along the PLUS highway approaching the central mountain range before 10am on a cold morning.

– any jalan kampung in between the villages/settlements especially around dusk or when the sun has slipped past its zenith.

– most if not all of our airports that got built with the klia aesthetic. off the top of my head: kuching, kk and penang. kt not so much, kota bharu definitely not, i don’t remember much of the rest.

– the area in central jb that leads towards the tebrau strait/sea. um, the road where that hipster chaiwalla cafe is basically, at 9pm onwards. NOT the section with the indian shops XD those are lively as heck.

– the amusement park at genting highlands when it’s heavy with mist and still raining.

– bukit tinggi in the same weather. the tacky buildings makes it even more surreal.

– uitm main tower building’s corridors esp now that they’ve moved out the faculties occupying the space. 

– starhill tbh esp the floor where ytl’s art space starts.

– the batu feringgi beach at dawn before everyone wakes up.