DISCOVERING KUALA LUMPUR (PART I)

DISCOVERING KUALA LUMPUR (PART I)
(October 25 – 28, 2007)

By Doods A. Amora, PEE

Traveling to other lands has always been fascinatingly educational.

As other countries differ from our very own language, history, culture, tradition, architecture, infrastructures and ways of doing things, the opportunities given me while in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Northern China, Southern China and Jakarta in mid 1990’s had addressed the learnings & experiences of these mixed diversities I’ve treasured over the years.

The inertia at rest brought by my eight-year travel hiatus somewhat made me lethargic to take a trip outside the country once more. But this time, an occasion to discover Kuala Lumpur courtesy of Qatar Airways through its partner airline, Malaysia Airlines, the zeal to trek in places I haven't reached yet came itching to my senses once again.

What would I see then? What would I learn this time?

Hence, on a sunny Thursday afternoon, we flew from Mactan to Kuala Lumpur via Kota Kinabalu together with my wife Mimi, my son Boboy and a family friend. We were to join my daughter Kitty, a cabin crew of Qatar Airways, in time of her three days lay-over at the posh Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel located in the heart of the financial district of Kuala Lumpur. Similar to Manila-Davao flight, it was one hour & thirty minutes plane ride to Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, a state of Malaysia.


STOP-OVER AT KOTA KINABALU

Flying over Sabah brought my thoughts to the scenes of the past. Unplundered, its blue-green forests showcased the richness of the centuries-old flora & fauna of a land that was once claimed by our country as ours. In a nostalgic flash, it reminded me of the bald(ed) woodlands of our country that were once known as the vaunted source of best timbers of the planet. It further prompted me to muse over the sad plight of a once mighty wood-based industry sprawled in my hometown of Nasipit (Northern Mindanao) that had now been leveled and vanished seemingly without a trace.


[A partial view of Kota Kinabalu International Airport]

Yes, to my friends who knew my roots, I meant our cherished Nasipit Lumber Company (NALCO), which once upon a time employed more than 3,000 people (including me) and fed some 15,000 mouths. Reflecting on recent history, NALCO like most of the lumber companies in the country had to fade away as there were no more jungles to log over. No more lauan, apitong, magkono, tugas, tuog, yakal, etc. Gone were the sight of the power plant smokestacks, the smells of the ‘trosos’ and the shrieking sounds of band mills & moulding machines. In retrospect, I felt sad thinking of the demise of such a beautiful industry I had been a part of. What were left are memories… and like NALCO itself, its memories will slowly die away, sooner or later…

My soliloquy was disrupted when we touched down at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) at 5:30 in the afternoon. Our brief sojourn at KKIA nursed us with the first Malaysian phrase we learned … “Selamat Datang”, apparently same as Indonesia’s “Welcome”. Being a smoker myself, the next words that caught my wits were “Dilarang Merokok”, meaning “No Smoking”. To my subliminal relief, I found the next words I should grasp, “Bilir Merokok”, meaning “Smoking Room”. And there it was my friends, together with my unacquainted cohorts, we found ourselves silently savoring the aroma of the white whiffs within the four corners of the so-called (in my own lingo) “Oxygen Room” sometimes referred to as “Lung Center” by others. Then, there was the “Tandas” or Toilet. Similar to other travelers, one’s system must always be leaking and thus one must know where the Tandases are.

[My wife Mimi exploring KKIA's Duty Free Shops]


THE KOTA KINABALU AIRPORT

At the outset, airports always fascinate me. An international airport is said to be the window of the soul of a country or region it represents. As a reflection of what the country is all about, international airports are in fact, national prides, some describe them as national monuments. Airports somehow manifest & articulate in one way or another of the discipline of the people and the state of opulence & economic well-being of a nation.

As the forty minute stop-over at Kota Kinabalu tendered me of some insights, I found myself drifted into comparing Kota Kinabalu International Airport to our own Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA), both second only to the main hubs of Kuala Lumpur and Manila respectively.

Kota Kinabalu Airport at present is rated at 5.0 million passengers per year same as Mactan Cebu International Airport but with a runway stretching 3,780 meters (480 meters longer than MCIA). It has two terminal buildings compared to MCIA’s only one. But the airport itself is bustling of massive construction going on today in a project to accommodate Airbus 380 aircrafts and an ambitious 12 million annual passenger capacity by 2010.

Terminal 1 is the main terminal of KKIA. At present its technical facilities include 12 gates, 5 air-bridges, and 4 baggage claim belts. It has the capacity of handling 3.0 million passengers annually. Today, the terminal building is currently undergoing vast renovation and expansion – a beehive snapshot of activities that can not escape the eyes. Noteworthy, Kota Kinabalu is in the thick of constructing more than twice as large as the present airport.

With Terminal 1 temporarily out of service, operation of KKIA concentrates momentarily at Terminal 2. What is today’s Terminal 2 used to be the original terminal building of the airport when it was first built. It is accessed and located on the other side of the runway from Terminal 1. Newly renovated, it has 26 check-in counters for domestic & international flights and six parking bays for B737 and A320 aircrafts as well as seven luggage x-ray machines, a VIP room and 13 immigration counters. The terminal has the capacity to handle another 2.0 million passengers annually.


[Another view of KKIA's Passenger Transit Area & Duty Free Shops]

As earlier stated, KKIA will be rated at 12.0 million annual passenger capacity by 2010 – a feat that will soon drown Cebu’s MCIA to oblivion. I was told that a monorail tunnel connecting both terminal buildings will be constructed as part of the on-going project. Beyond 2010, the Cebuanos will be seen wafting to indifference to our MCIA’s dignity. It is because our very own pride won’t even warrant a comparison by then.



ARRIVAL AT KUALA LUMPUR

Our next league from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) required two hours & thirty minutes (almost the same as Cebu to Hong Kong flight).

At 9:00 PM we set foot at one of the awesome prime hubs of the region – the very airport said to have bested the grandeurs of competitors Chek Lap Kok of Hongkong and the Changi Airport of Singapore. Forget about our airports in Manila - they won’t fit any comparison.

[A partial view of Kuala Lumpur International Airport]

True to its billing, I learned that KLIA was voted as the World's Best Airport for two consecutive years, in the 2005 AETRA awards and 2006 ACI-ASQ awards.

Today, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) boasts of a capacity of 25 million passengers per annum and is one of the largest and most advanced airports in the world. It is positioned as the transit point linking the world to the rest of Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific countries. It took 25,000 workers from 50 countries (including Filipino expats, engineers & technicians) and three years to build the KLIA on a 10,000 hectares area at a cost of RM10 billion (roughly PhP 100 billion) at the time of construction.

KLIA is a destination in itself as it has within its boundaries all which is needed for business, entertainment and relaxation. Designed as a leading regional hub, the airport was built in a jungle with features that allow flexibility for future expansion. It prides itself of a Golf Course and Formula 1 Racing tracks for Malaysia Petronas Grand Prix including motorcycle and rally racing. By 2020, the KLIA will eventually comprise two main terminals and four satellite buildings.

Nowhere else in the world, KLIA is also dubbed as the 'Airport in the Forest' or a 'Forest in the Airport' that creates a green and nature frindly spectacle - soothing the nerves of tired travelers. Literally, the airport is situated amidst a forest and the airport itself has a forest literally & physically in it. There are more than 100 species of indigenous plants & trees including the manila palm (coconut trees) in the forest within the airport.

The airport will soon in 2020 have a total capacity of 100 million passengers annually. Wow! Amazingly pleasant…!


THE ARRIVAL WING OF THE TERMINAL BUILDING

OMG! The airport building by itself is spectacular - built as if they are mammoth cathedrals interconnected in five storey edifices. Designed by the renowned Japanese philosopher-architect Kisho Kurokawa, KLIA is a futuristic setting that saw us effortlessly toying as if weightless on travelators in a space station. Very spacious and serene in the arrival wings, I noticed no other people except the incoming passengers ourselves amidst in a great dose of signages, glass walls & windows, stainless steel frameworks and sovereign shiny tiled floors.

[Part of KLIA's Arrival Corridor]

The enclosures for the buildings are not conventional walls - they are a myriad of geometrically formed steel structures supporting the glass skin that enable a non-obstructed view from the inside of building, thus providing an integration of a royalty environment housed in the utter majesty of the buildings.

The columns are shaped into conical figures - apparently mimicking the trunks of palm oil trees. All the columns' surfaces are finished with granite in a mixture of grayish and stainless steel colored structures. On top of these, the parabolic ceilings in timber finish are somehow shaped like surging waves. The exotic lighting in effect looks like the leaf of the palm trees. The floors are tiled granite in Islamic geometric pattern. The ceiling with down-lighters randomly seemed to have been reflecting a multitude of stars and heavenly bodies in a clear cloudless night sky.

And … all very clean, clinically sterile, no eyesores whatsoever…

The airport as of today is capable of accommodating 25 million passengers annually. By 2020, passenger traffic is expected to reach more than 70 million. The annual cargo-handling capacity is presently 650,000 tons. This will be increased to 1.2 million tons. And construction milestones for expansions had already been laid out to meet the burgeoning needs.

The KLIA at present has 46 aerobridge gates, two state-of-the-art runways and 106 aircraft stands. About 1,300 security television cameras are installed all over the airport.
[Part of the KLIA's Arrival Wing]

There are two ‘aero-trains’ each connecting the Main Terminal to Satellite Buildings for international departures can carry 250 people in one trip. As complimentary transportation system, the areo-trains shuttle to & fro passengers between the Main Terminal Building and the Satellite Building. Each aero-train operates at two minutes interval. Unmanned just like its Hongkong counterparts, they are automatically & remotely controlled.


THE MALAYSIAN PRIDE EXEMPLIFIED

The harmonious & workable integration of modern technology overlaid with the national culture has after all proven to be achievable as showcased in the KLIA. Malaysia’s modernized ethnic architecture interwoven together with national pride is imbedded in what one can see in the airport.

Remember, Malaysia is said to be an epitome of Palm Oil Economy. And there it is, in a gesture of gratefulness to the value of a prime natural resource, the airport itself is a sculpture of such pride. Aside from potent petrol, Malaysia’s economy thrives in agriculture. The Palm Oil Tree plantations as can be seen from the plane bear awesome witnesses of the immaculate respect and preservation of such natural legacies. As I would learn later, foods of any kind is abundant and are reasonably priced.

[KLIA's Immigration Area. Note the conical columns, the surging wave ceiling, the palm leaf lighting system & the immaculate floors]

As early as the first day, I couldn’t help but ponder on the appalling mysticism of Malaysian nationalistic fervor. “Satu Warisan, Satu Matlamat” translated as “One Legacy, One Destiny” … as the striking national motto of Malaysia goes.

I wondered, in the Philippines, we once had “Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa”, or “Philippines 2000”… and the other semantics which I won’t desire to remember anymore. Those could have been great visions. But where are we now? Quo Vadis, Philippines?

The Philippines was once upon a time the model of Malaysians in the past. Even our ways of doing things had found dressed in prevalent patterns in Malaysians operational systems. Their journalism too, it has blueprints of what is Filipino. Our business schools as AIM and others were once heavens to them. Ask the successful business managers in Kuala Lumpur and they will tell you, most of them graduated from Ateneo, UP, La Salle or AIM.

It's worthy to mention that Malaysia has just been in its 50th year of nationhood after the British governance. It's a young state so to speak as compared to the Philippines. With this wonderment, I later found myself verbalizing the question as to how Malaysia soared high in such a short time.

I found one answer. As one night manager of our hotel said, “Like the Philippines, there is also corruption in Malaysia. The only difference is that: in Malaysia, only 10% goes to corruption, while in the Philippines, only 10% goes to the project”.

I felt mortified, whether it is true or not, I felt ashamed on the impression.


(To be continued… abangan ang susunod na kabanata)