Kuala Lumpur Timeline of Events

Home / Timelines / Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur is the capital and the second largest city in Malaysia by population. The city proper, making up an area of , has a population of 1.4 million as of 2010. Greater Kuala Lumpur, also known as the Klang Valley, is an urban agglomeration of 7.2 million...

Timeline of Events

1942

1.11.1942

World War II: The Japanese capture Kuala Lumpur.

1969

5.13.1969

Race riots, later known as the May 13 Incident, take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1972

2.1.1972

Kuala Lumpur becomes a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

1974

2.1.1974

Kuala Lumpur is declared a Federal Territory.

1975

8.4.1975

The Japanese Red Army takes more than 50 hostages at the AIA Building housing several embassies in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The hostages include the U.S. consul and the Swedish chargé d’affaires. The gunmen win the release of five imprisoned comrades and fly with them to Libya.

1993

12.11.1993

Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1998

9.11.1998

Opening ceremony for the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Malaysia is the first Asian country to host the games.

2003

10.17.2003

The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise.