The ostrich is as tall as the cars around it, and running at a fair pace in the fast lane of the Federal Highway, which links Kuala Lumpur’s city center to Petaling Jaya, its largest satellite town. As the video of the surreal incident — the result of a tame ostrich’s escaping from captivity — circulated on social media in June, what struck many observers was that the giant bird was able to run so freely along the busiest of the capital’s many traffic-clogged highways. An hour or two later and the adventurous ostrich would have been hemmed in by gridlocked traffic, just like the rest of us.

Traffic dominates the daily lives of those who live and work in Kuala Lumpur and the network of smaller but still populous cities that surround it, collectively known as the Klang Valley. Conversations between friends often begin with comparisons of recent experiences of traffic jams. (My current gripe: an hour to drive six and a half miles from Damansara Heights to Taman Megah, which Google tells me should take 15 minutes.) People become accustomed to their dinner guests’ arriving an hour late; parents wake their children earlier than ever to ensure they get to school on time.

As Malaysia navigates its way from developing country to middle-class-nation status, the battle of its capital city against worsening traffic will play a crucial role in shaping the country’s 21st-century identity. Next to its regional neighbors, will it be a choking urban sprawl (think Jakarta) or a hyper-efficient, sustainable metropolis (think Singapore)?

A large part of Kuala Lumpur’s traffic nightmare is caused by its love affair with the automobile — as elsewhere, a key symbol of wealth. According to the consumer data company Nielsen, car ownership in Malaysia is among the highest in the world — a staggering 93 percent of households own at least one car. And Malaysian motorists are hungry for more: In the Nielsen survey, seven out of 10 respondents said they hoped to purchase a new vehicle in the next two years.