Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1 - The Founding of Brickfields and the Prewar Development of Kuala Lumpur -- Introduction -- Frank Swettenham, Yap Ah Loy, and the Founding of Kuala Lumpur -- The Origins of Brickfields -- Early Attempts to Centralize Urban Planning -- Civilizational Anxiety and Urban Order in Kuala Lumpur -- A Second Attempt to Create a Town Planner -- Conclusion -- 2 - The Malayan Emergency, Islamic Reform, and the Trajectory of Urban Governmentality in Kuala Lumpur -- Introduction -- The Emergency, 1948-60 -- The Evolving Role of Islam in Malaysian Public Life -- Religion, Moral Authority, and the Issue of the Islamic State in Malaysia -- Religion and Public Life for Non-Muslim Communities -- Conclusion -- 3 - Law, Justice, Disappearance: The Experience of Place in a Time of Radical Transformation -- Introduction -- The Land Acquisition (Amended) Act of 1991 -- The Desire for Engagement -- Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur -- Endgame-Kampung Khatijah -- Neighbors -- Buildings That Move -- Conclusion -- 4 - Strangers, Counterfeiters, and Gangsters: Figures of Belonging and the Problem of Belief -- Introduction -- The Stranger, the Counterfeiter, and the Gangster: Figures of Personhood in Brickfields -- The Stranger: Personhood and Place in Brickfields -- Local Institutions and the Stranger in Brickfields -- The Counterfeiter: The Imagination of Place and the Multiplicity of "the Good" -- Counterfeiting, Contracts, and Local Sociality -- The Gangster: The Materiality of a Dangerous Romantic Figure in Brickfields -- Local Order and Social Life: Brickfields Gangs and the Community -- Conclusion -- 5 - Ambivalent Encounters in the City: Islam, Hinduism, and Urban Governmentality -- Introduction -- Islam and the Malaysian State -- Religious Reform in Malaysia.

Sri Murugan Centre: Hindu Reform and Modernity -- Religious Reform and Local Practice -- The State and the Power of Temple Deities: A Wheel Falls on a Man's Head -- The Law, Housing Rights, and Unregistered Residents in Brickfields -- Murugan and Hanuman Temples -- Krishna Temple -- Ambiguous Legitimacy -- The Limits of Acceptable Belief and Public Ritual: Seng Hong Tokong -- Memory and Individual Devotional Practice -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Cultural Memory in the Present.