The ‘Beem’ still shines

You have to hand it to BMW – when they launch a new series of automobiles, they do it with a class and style that no one comes near to. I was fortunate enough to be invited a year ago to Bangkok when BMW launched its 7 series (two nights at the Mandarin Oriental, chopper rides to their Rayong plant and dinner at the Jim Thompson house). And so, when Lito German called for the launch of the brand new 5 series at Kuala Lumpur, I was checking the validity of my passport even before the "s" of yes escaped my lips.

If decades ago, the Bavarian Motor Works (a loose English translation) vehicles signified performance and versatility, while that "other" German auto manufacturer was more synonymous with luxury and comfort, that easy pigeon-holing no longer carries weight.

The 7 series proved how responsive BMW could be in recognizing that a number of Asian "beemers" would be chauffeur driven, and that one could marry this need for "lap of luxury" regulars and options with performance-related features.

The 5 series carries on this seamless incorporating of the very best in advanced technology to automotive making. Dynamic Drive, Active Steering, the Heads up Display feature – they are all manifestations of how BMW’s philosophy of "tradition and the future" bear on their design values, making the driving experience of their cars that much more special.

In a future issue of People Asia I’ll go into more detail on these "specials" of the new 5 series. For now let’s just talk about the Heads Up display. You press one of the buttons that’s conveniently placed on the steering wheel and like magic, a beamer creates a lit display right on the lower half of your windshield. It could be the state of your fuel tank, the temperature of your car, but the main thing is that rather than shift your head to look at some gauge or tucked away display, it’s all done without you having to shift from your driving line of vision (it’s like video game technology brought into the "real" world). The beamer is even photosensitive to whether you’re day-driving or driving at night. The definition and clarity of the display always makes for easy reading.

If only...
I wanted to write about this BMW Kuala Lumpur "junket" here in this column more for the fact that I seethed with envy and frustration throughout the trip. We had a special dinner at the Petroleum Club of the Petronas Twin Towers (officially the highest twin tower structure in the world), and to test drive the cars, we were whisked to the Sepang race track (where the 2004 Formula One season officially commences March next year).

Prince Leopold of Bavaria, who’s a retired race and rally driver and official BMW ambassador, was there to give us a spin round the racetrack. And at over 150 kph, he proudly exhibited how stable the cars were at taking the tight turns. One of Prime Minister Mahathir’s sons dropped by to exchange "machine shop-talk" with the Prince and other BMW execs.

One afternoon had them taking us to Putra Jaya, an ultra modern city that has literally sprung up out of nowhere (part of the area used to be a palm oil plantation). Covered by a 15-Year Plan that began in 1996, it’s now the seat of government, evidence of the prosperity and single-minded commitment to progress of this country. We had some free time late Sunday afternoon and I trooped to the Suria Mall that’s right beside the KL Mandarin. It’s six floors of retail shops and restaurants and the enormous place was jam-packed – with matching shopping bags adorning the arms of the multitude. Even the super high-end free standing retail shops had several people walking in at any one time and leaving with purchases; and I’m talking about Prada, Gucci, Anya Hindmarch, Christian Lacroix, Chanel and Hermes.

Lito, who was last in KL some eight years ago, was constantly amazed at how things had changed. There’s an innate sense of pride you can feel from the people we talked to. It’s akin to what you feel when you talk to somebody from Singapore or Thailand, and I figured it stems from the fact that there was no hint of apology, frustration or shame over what is happening in their countries. There may be ethnic problems and issues of graft and corruption may exist but the overwhelming feeling is that if there are one or two steps backwards, there are at least five that go forward and create a sense of prosperity for these citizens. The basics of food and shelter, of education, of increasing disposable income seem to be addressed for a large cross section of the populace. The cities there "work"; just land at the KL airport and you’ll understand what I mean.

And I know, people sometimes ask why – if I want to gripe so much about the Philippine situation – don’t I just leave? Well, that just misses the point completely. If I didn’t care, if the future of my kids weren’t at stake; maybe I would just shut up and go. It is precisely because this country does mean something to me that I stick around and complain. Whether it falls on deaf ears is moot, I can’t just sit back and watch all these other countries in the region catapult themselves out of Third World status, while we make a reckless dive for the fourth.

Immigration man on the line

As you hit the immigration counters at our airport, there’s a sign asking us to refrain from using cellphones while our passports are being processed. Ah, if only those signs could also be read by the officers themselves! I’m sure most of them take the discharging of their duties seriously. But on the morning I left, there was one who kept receiving calls and would move out of the booth to take his calls. Meanwhile, the line in front of his counter just kept getting longer and longer. You almost wanted to tear off the sign from the counter window and plant it in front of his nose.

(E-mail me at peopleasia@qinet.net)