On Saturday, the Lawan protest took place in our capital city, where young Malaysians took to the streets to voice out their frustrations with the Perikatan Nasional administration and their handling of the pandemic. The protesters had aimed to gather at Dataran Merdeka, but it had already been cordoned off by the police earlier in the morning. Yesterday, we saw Opposition MPs gathering at the Dataran calling for Parliament to reopen. A common thread that runs through these recent protests as well as others in the past, is the role that Dataran Merdeka often plays in these events. We speak to Dr Nurul Azreen Azlan, senior lecturer in the Masters of Sustainable Urban Design programme at UTM KL, to find out more about the significance of Dataran Merdeka as well as the influence of the built environment on protests and public participation.

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