I refer to media reports where it is stated that KTM Bhd was looking at drafting a law to penalise men who deliberately enter women-only coaches.

Please let me inform the public, politicians, staff of the ministry of transport and KTM officials who do not use the KTM commuter services about the daily ordeal faced by those who travel on the trains. I am a 62-year man who uses the Komuter train.

Usually, I avoid the peak hours but, to my dismay, gradually over the past two years, even boarding the train in off-peak hours at the Kepong station has become a pain. There are just no seats for elderly people. If you are suffering from arthritis, it's just too bad because no one is going to offer you their seats, your illness is not obvious to the eyes unlike a pregnant lady or a blind person.

The middle coaches are segregated for women and I notice that these coaches are not so packed.  This reversed discrimination against men has resulted in all the ‘men’ coaches being even more packed than usual because the number of coaches are just not enough even in off-peak hours.  

It is not strictly ‘men only’ coaches because young couples and married couples with children do not want to be separated and so the young girls and married women have to forego the ‘women only’ coaches.

It often happens that the only way to get into the train for the men is to go into the ‘women only’ coaches because the other coaches are so sardine-packed that you cannot not squeeze in. I have been caught in such situations several times. On one such occasion where I boarded the Komuter train at KL Sentral, I went into the ‘women’s only’ coach because the other coaches were so full. I did not want to wait for another train.

As the train passed the PWTC station, an officious young man in KTM uniform ordered all men to leave the ‘women’s only’ coach even though it was not full because many commuters had disembarked.

There were only a few men, some of them with their wives and children. Uncomfortably, we had to make our way to the other coaches even when the train was in motion. And yes, the other coaches were packed compared to the one we were ordered to vacate.

May I suggest to male politicians and KTM authorities that before you implement a policy that impacts daily on the lives of struggling commuters, you take the train yourselves both during and after peak hours over, say two weeks, and observe very carefully that what on paper may be a brilliant idea to protect women has had adverse effects on elderly men, the sickly and families travelling together.

If the Komuter train can provide efficient services where everyone can embark, disembark, sit or stand comfortably, trains keep to their schedules, KTM staff know their manners and can distinguish between the needy, elderly men, married couples with children and the young healthy single womenfolk, then when that day comes I shall support the proposal to ‘penalise men who deliberately enter KTM women coaches’.