There is a difference here. While both mean city centre, in our context the former meant the historical core of Kuala Lumpur, and the latter is the newer CBD area surrounding the Petronas Twin Towers that was developed in the 90s and beyond.
If you were to translate, pusat bandaraya is city centre. And apparently that's part of the title for KLCC in Malay, but no one seriously uses it. In Klang Valley it's just a fancy/aspirational way to demarcate some kind of hub complex.
KLCC was the first to use it though. But it's not really a centre of anything per se. Klang Valley's metro area never really worked out that way, despite planning. It's close to the Golden Triangle though, which is what we call our central business district.
So to answer directly, I'd say no, they're not the same, because there isn't an actual pusat bandaraya and there's a few building complexes titled "____ City Centre" of which KLCC is one of them.
There is a pusat bandaraya. In this case, it usually refers to the historical core of Kuala Lumpur, which center around the river confluence near the Central Market and Masjid Jamek. For a broader definition, the pusat bandaraya generally refers to all the areas inside the MRR1.
That definition works too, but would ppl know it as such? I tend to call it downtown or kotaraya
Some people do call the place Bandaraya, at least the area surrounding the DBKL building, especially since the LRT station nearby is named as such. Back before the rapid development of KL prior to the 90s, most of central KL we know today haven't existed in its current form yet, so the historical core area was referred to as such at least by the old timers like my father and his peers who grew up in KL during the 60s.
Also downtown and city center is an interchangeable term, isn't it?
For sure. But it's so funny trying to think back, I was never raised with either terminology - downtown was something I picked up with more English. And then parts of KL is each their own hubs: Pudu/Kotaraya, Masjid Jamek, DBKL (instead of bandaraya), Sogo/Pertama Complex, Chow Kit etc etc
Thank you so much for your answers. Whenever I am visiting a new place, I tend to check road signs and just noticed both so I can't help but to ask. Really appreciate it. :)
Ask Malaysians about anything!