The occasion was the launch of a number of new products for its Asian region, with a particular emphasis on reduced features, particularly those requiring expert servicing. And of course, prices are markedly lower. (See page 22 for details).
Not having been to the Malaysian capital before, I was surprised by the superior roads, many of which are tollways charging a uniform 25c for a 3 to 5km stage. But despite that, for a tourist, it is a surprisingly pedestrian friendly city. You just spend quite some time on footpaths running beside tollways.
Another feature of the city is the enormous shopping centres, often stretching over four or five levels. Harvey Norman was in one I visited with a branch of Melbourne’s Monash University established nearby.
Unlike Singapore, Kuala Lumpur has retained many more of its old buildings, including a grand, British built central railway station, now largely supplanted by a very ordinary new central station.
The rail system too is excellent. Again that is a legacy of the British occupation and its extensive line and station building from the late 19th century. During the Second World War, the occupying Japanese removed about 500km of track. They shipped it over the border into Thailand, for use by their prisoners of war in building the Death Railway, on which so many Australians died.
Occupied over the last 500 years by the Portuguese, Dutch, British and Japanese, Malaysia had until August 1957 when it declared independence, little opportunity to develop its own identity.
Strangely it was a teachers college established by the British on the peninsula in 1923, that really got the independence movement going after the war. Basically the teachers told their students to grab the best things that made Malaysia what it was, and promote them to forge a unique identity.
Now the country’s aim – 1Malaysia they call it - is to become a developed country by 2020. With what has been achieved in the last three or four decades, it seems achievable.
