Although Sunway Lagoon was launched much earlier, the theme park was reserved for special occasions, such as birthdays or short school breaks. The young me was always excited for the wave pools, water slides and the thrill of feeling like a tourist in my own backyard.
The two anchors — the mall and the theme park — made Sunway a name that meant “somewhere to go” long before I understood anything about master plans or integrated developments.
As I grew up, the brand followed me beyond Subang Jaya. Sunway began planting flags across the Klang Valley, and one of the earliest touchpoints near my home in Kota Damansara was Dataran Sunway. It was five minutes away from my house, an easy drive even for my learner’s licence, and it became the practical centre of our family’s week. My parents set up their office there. My schoolmates and I would gather there after school. If Sunway Pyramid and Sunway Lagoon were destinations, Dataran Sunway was routine.
That pattern only deepened. Before I moved to Singapore 15 years ago, Dataran Sunway was my regular hangout spot, and it still is whenever I’m back. The area evolved into a complete township — the very sort of development for which Sunway is so famously known. Everything I needed was on hand: supermarket, restaurants, beauty salons, gyms and even an MRT station.
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Sunway Hospital has since opened nearby, too, solidifying Sunway’s business strategy of a single precinct covering daily life end to end, incorporating shopping, food, wellness, and care in a single space.
That convenience is the point. You feel it most when you have to juggle work, ageing parents and trying to have a social life. Being able to step off a subway train, grab a quick dinner with friends who live nearby, and run a few errands before heading home keeps the day manageable.
Of course, not everything is perfect. The only persistent gripe is traffic. Success brings congestion, and popularity draws cars. There were evenings, during peak hours, when the ring roads around Sunway Pyramid and the cross junction at Dataran Sunway felt like car parks rather than moving roads. Thankfully, this has improved with better transit links, as the MRT has helped alleviate traffic congestion. Nonetheless, traffic remains part of the Sunway experience, for better ot worse.
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As a consumer, you don’t think about the business idea behind the creation of a township. You notice that life is easier when you can complete three tasks in one stop rather than criss-cross the city for each errand.
Sunway intends to replicate this success in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, and on a larger scale than in Sunway City Kuala Lumpur. The template will be similar for the group, as it picks a strategic site — one near the Second Link — and then stitches in education, healthcare, retail, and leisure.
If Sunway City Kuala Lumpur taught me that a township can compress errands, leisure and care into one single space, Johor’s version hints at a cross-border neighbourhood. In this place, locals can enjoy the convenience of living in such a township, and Singaporeans can plan a short day trip to eat, shop, and get their hair done — typical things Singaporeans do when they cross the border.
In the end, Sunway is a household name for me because it was just constantly there, not just on weekends or special occasions. Sunway is more than just where I learned to ice skate during the weekends when I was a kid and partied at in the former Ministry of Sound when I was a young adult, it is also where my parents build their business till today, where I get my hair done from the same hairdresser for the past 20 years and quite simply, where everyday life adds up — traffic and all.
