There have indeed been many changes in Malaysia and KL since I was last there, although my memory doesn’t have to stretch as far back as Graham’s !
Teaching medical students in 1978 :-
... Revisiting the University this year, where one of my previous junior trainees is now Professor
:-
The country has more than doubled in population in the past 40 years. Coupled with that, car ownership and traffic have increased dramatically, despite a good Light Rail Transit, with planned Mass Rail Transit and Singapore-Kuala Lumpur High Speed Rail systems. There are over 350 cars / 1000 population ( 31 Philippines ; 500 UK ). The " new " airport is massive, quite intimidating and a long way from KL centre.
GDP is $ 313bn ( Philippines $ 272 ; UK $ 2,679 bn ). Falling oil prices have adversely affected the Malaysian dollar ( ringgit ). Only 3% of the labour workforce are unemployed ( Philippines and UK around 7 - 8% ).