Machine Legibility and Epistemic Governance in Malaysia’s Smart Cities: A Postcolonial Analysis of Algorithmic Knowledge, Identity, and State Power

Abstract

This thesis examines how AI systems deployed in Malaysia’s smart cities encode constitutional and racial asymmetries through algorithmic infrastructures. Focusing on epistemic governance, it analyses how data, models, and legal frameworks shape machine legibility and citizen classification, with comparative insights from India and Brazil to contextualise Malaysia’s postcolonial governance model.