The unfortunate deregistration of the BMW Motorrad Club Malaysia (BMWMCM) has members and former members reeling in sadness and anger. Leaked images of show cause letters issued by the Malaysian Registrar of Societies shows that the club was mismanaged for a few years, leading to its untimely demise. You can read the full report about what transpired over here.
We reached out to former President, Minesh Doshi, widely credited for building BMWMCM to be voted as the best BMW Club in the world in 2014, for a comment. Minesh was generous with his time and came up with the following statement, and for that we are grateful.
The following (unedited) words are by Minesh:
The (Sad) Demise of BMWMCM
BMW Motorcycle Owner Club (B.O.M) as it was formerly known is was when I had my first encounter with it at the Auto Bavaria Showroom (then opposite Pavilion). This was 2008 when Tony Siew and I bought a GSA. Kamarul was our salesman, introduced us to the club. The club was the brainchild of Kenneth Ong who did all the work and drafted the constitution numerous times to meet the requirement for the ROS. It was an interim committee, and the president was Jimmy Tee. The club was incorporated in January 24th, 2008
I became a member and the first gathering was in Desaru Coast to collect the Membership goodie bag on the 24th of October 2009 and I could not attend as it was the day my daughter was born! Moving forward, I started getting more active in the BMW Motorrad community, the next gathering was in Kuala Tahan in 2010 to co-inside with the AGM. Membership numbers were 30 and some joined during the ride bring the total paid members to 60 odd before the AGM. I was elected the President at that AGM in Kuala Tahan in 2010. Kenneth Ong was immediately appointed as Secretary by me as he was the most knowledgeable person in BOM matters.
My first order of business was to increase the membership from 60 odd members. We organised Membership to the northern parts of Peninsula followed by the southern parts and eastern parts too. This was a massive undertaking as we need to print tee shirts for the goodie bags and had no idea of how many to print. A lot of help was given to me by Justine to design the tee shirts, Kev Biking M’sia (Club Treasurer) and Mannu Sidhu who came to my house to sort out the tees and we worked late nights. The second order of business was to change the name from BOM to BMW Motorrad Club Malaysia (BMWMCM) as we all know and love it today. A lot of dealing with ROS for name change was done by our committee member, Amir Zakaria. This was approved by ROS on August 9th 2011 (about 10 months after I took over as President).
After the first year, we had close to 400 members and at its peak, we had 900 members! In the same year, our membership to the BMW International Council of Clubs was approved. We were now a sanctioned BMW Motorrad Club recognised by BMW AG
This was by no means a one man job. I had tremendous help from committee members and members…
Honorable mention to Sunny Puan, Gary Sidhu, Dato’ Aras, Kev Lee Rat, Kesevan (my trusted PA that drove the support car for our long rides) to name a few and even non members like Khairun Lamb that we loved to ride with… Huge support from our partners Wunderlich, Touratech and Sunny Cycle.
Our biggest achievement locally was to prove to BMW Malaysia that we were a serious club and very serious about the Motorrad brand and organising safe and well planned rides. Only then, support from En Fazli Shukor, Head of BMW Motorrad Malaysia came in droves. It was a win-win for both side and we shared a close cordial relationship.
By 2012 we had achieved many firsts, most memorable, being the Peninsula Ride covering the 4 extreme corners of Malaysia and it was the brain-child of Dato’Capt Nik Huzlan. By this time, we had done two Turkey-to-Garmsich rides under the guidance of 1$ (Assir). We also welcomed a new BMW Icon, Maznah Zulklifi to the club.
In 2013, BMWMCM won the prestigious award of the BEST BMW MOTORRAD CLUB in the world beating much older and experienced clubs especially from USA. It was then that I decided that it would be my final term as President as I wanted to spend more time with my daughter, Misha who was 4 years old then. The most capable person at that time, was our dear VP, En Zaini, the humble man of BMWMCM. We were in constant contact till his term ended in 2017.
I was still active then, in the club, but one ride in Africa and everything come to a stand still as I had a bad crash. I never really kept in touch with the club after that but attend all their AGMs and even retained my membership (MY0001). I have been in contact with Prez Nizam (2017-2023) and finally 2023 Prez X-Man but was not privy to the committee’s decisions.
Looking back at all the effort we put in to the club, it is sad to see it go due to negligence or mismanagement. (Many rumors are flying about).
An effort must be made to revive or rescue this club. Too much blood and sweat has gone into making this club so iconic and world renounced.
They say all good things must come to and end, but in this case, I am hoping otherwise.
Minesh B. Doshi
President 2009 – 2014
