Thaipusam, is an annual festival beginning on a full moon day between January 14 and February 14. This festival is celebrated in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and South Africa. It is celebrated by all Hindu castes, from the highest Brahmin to the lowest Dalit. An important feature of Thaipsam is the kavadi ritual. This follows the myth of Surapadma, the demon, who eventually became Lord Maruga's honest devotee, Idumban. This conversion is represented by purification ceremonies, around which the festival focuses, and in which participants enter a state of trance, in order to carry out physically demanding feats. Kavadi originates from a Tamil (South Indian) word, kavati. It describes anything that can be suspended on the body (pole, hooks and chains). Today, it is taken to mean a semi-circular structure that is decorated with flowers, peacock feathers and palm leaves. The kavadi is drawn by devotees who have hooks, attached to their skin, with which to pull along the structure. The Brahmin caste, however hook small pails of milk onto their skin instead. The kavadi usually bears a vel (flesh-piercing implement), which represents Lord Maruga's lance. Devotees who 'take kavadi' do so in a higher state of mind or trance. Chanting, music, especially drumming, and incense are used to induce trance. Focusing mainly on fieldwork undertaken around Thaipusam in Kuala Lumpur, this thesis examines the background of the ceremony, its Hindu connections and the different music associated with each caste. The different drumming patterns, of each caste in particular, are transcribed, analyzed and compared, together with the melodic music of the nadaswarum, the instrument associated with the Brahmin music.

During recent decades, urban transport systems in Southeast Asia’s industrialising high growth economies were transformed. The ownership and use of privatelyowned cars and motorcycles grew in all cities, simultaneous to the introduction of new forms of public transportation including rail rapid transit in the larger metropolises. While these cities all experienced dynamic change, the relative rate and direction of the changes to urban transport systems varied greatly as did levels of success. Singapore emerged as a highly efficient transit metropolis whilst Bangkok and other cities gained notoriety as some of the world’s great traffic disasters. Why these differences emerged, particularly given a regional and global context of increasing interaction and exchange of ideas and of capital flows, presents a compelling question largely unanswered by previous research. A review of the general state of knowledge about urban transport worldwide reveals fundamental disagreements over basic questions such as the social value of motorisation, the relative merits of specific modes and technologies, and prescriptions for change. However, there is a general consensus that interest groups or rent-seekers influence urban transport, which can not be understand in solely technical or value-free terms. A literature review focused on Southeast Asian cities finds that in contrast to theoretical perspectives on cities of the industrialised world, there is less acknowledgement of interests and values and more emphasis on instrumental knowledge which can be used to address immediate problems such as rapid growth in motorisation, traffic congestion, and pollution. Questions such as who wins and who loses from changes to urban transport systems are not systematically examined in the existing literature on Southeast Asian cities. In order to address this gap, a case study analysis of three key cities, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore is undertaken. This analysis utilises policy and planning documents, monographs and academic works, newspapers and archival materials, discussions with key informants, and participant observation, to reveal the significant actors and processes which shape urban transport. The study finds that the presence or absence of actors and complexions of interests in the development of urban land, urban transport equipment, infrastructure construction and operation, and local environmental improvements are linked to specific urban transport outcomes. The findings provide a basis for future research, particularly in cities of the developing world characterised by economic growth, rapid motorisation of urban transport systems, and substantial inequalities of wealth and power.