The Kuala Lumpur International Airport is a prime example of a first-world infrastructure with third-world mentality.

I have no objections over the marble floors and the Japanese architect told a party of visiting journalists including myself that the airport was designed to provide a view of the outside wherever one is in the airport, and the internal lighting is arranged in an irregular pattern like stars in the sky rather than in rows, which is creative.

However, the airport is beginning to show signs of poor maintenance which is what happens when a first-world infrastructure is maintained according to a third-world mentality. I returned from Bangkok on Wednesday night and found one of the moving walkways out of order.

Worse is the airport's distance from the major residential areas in Klang Valley. I suppose it was designed to serve the "burgeoning" number of residents in the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) but post-Mahathir one wonders whether the MSC will not become a moribund super corridor instead and thus KLIA become a moribund super airport.

To prevent that from happening, we should award MSC status to members of the Cyberjaya Golf and Country Club (so far a figment of my imagination) to encourage wealthy foreign tourists and retirees to fly in and play golf in Cyberjaya.

My friends in Bangkok who have lived in Malaysia for many years especially when the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang was operational complained that KLIA was far away from the city - further away in fact than Bangkok's proposed new airport in Nong Ngu Hau - and they felt put off by the distance and the taxi fare.

Look, it costs RM50 to get to KLIA from my home in Petaling Jaya, while it cost about half of that to get from Bangkok city to Don Muang airport, and while Don Muang is old and has been renovated and expanded many times it is still functional with planes landing and taking off every few minutes.

Also, like in other major cities like London, Singapore, etc, I could take a regular metered city taxi from Don Muang to town instead of having to buy a coupon for some authorised taxi company.

Take the KLIA Express? Well, if one adds up the RM35 cost of a one-way ticket from KLIA to KL Sentral on the KLIA Express with the RM11 cost of the from KL Sentral to Petaling Jaya, I might as well take the airport taxi especially if I have heavy luggage.

All KLIA needs to do, is to get rid of the touts, get rid of the limo service and let metered city taxis line up to pick up passengers.

Also like major cities, for about RM10, one can take the airport bus from Don Muang which stops at various hotels, etc, on its way to its Thonglor bus terminus along Sukhumvit Road, a major road in Bangkok with easy access to taxis and the elevated Skytrain above it. The Airbus in Singapore lets you do the same but I understand the airport bus at KLIA only stops at the Jalan Duta terminus.