I refer to the letter AirAsia passengers need the rotan .

This problem not only affects AirAsia passengers but also MAS'. I had the opportunity to travel monthly between Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur for a total of three years between 1994 and 1997.

These are local flights and I travelled by MAS. As usual, when it was time for boarding, there would be an announcement and following that, First and Business Class passengers would board the plane. Then the economy class passengers with children and older folk will be asked to board.

Then will come the announcement for the remaining others to board by their seat row numbers. The mad rush begins as everybody rushes forward irrespective of their seat numbers. I do not join that crowd and wait for the rush to be over.

Meanwhile, the guy or lady at the boarding gate does nothing to check the seat number of the passengers rushing in. And the few of us who wait our turn finally get in and find that safe for our seats, the luggage compartments above our seats are all full.

That was in 1997. Fast forward to 2004. I went to New Delhi for a conference. I went by SIA (cheapest air fare). The connecting flight was MAS and the same thing happened again. In Changi, boarding the SIA plane was a breeze and there was no rush of the sort I witnessed in KLIA. Every passenger was screened and anyone not following his seat number was asked to fall back. Return flight from New Delhi, same experience. The security personnel made sure that every passenger followed the instructions.

Boarding the connecting flight to KLIA, back to the same mad rush. Every other airline, I noticed was orderly but with MAS, it was total pandemonium. The same scenario as in 1997 in Kuching/Miri and now in Kuala Lumpur.

A year later, I made a trip to New Zealand. The same mad rush again in KLIA when departing, but very orderly in Changi on transit to Auckland. The return flight from Auckland, too, was very orderly as the ground crew made sure that everyone followed instructions.

But at Changi, boarding the flight back to KLIA, the same mad rush occurred. This time I stayed back a little longer to get in last and told the ground crew, 'It's a shame that you are allowing this to happen and it is a shame what the foreigners boarding the plane would think'. The ground crew personnel replied, 'Mereka selalu tak ikut cakap kita, apa nak buat'.

I told them the solution is simple, just enforce it. Tell the 'illiterate' passengers to get back and do as instructed. When I told her that, she just shrugged her shoulder. This is our 'tidak apa' attitude. So when passengers boarding MAS cannot follow instructions, what about those travelling AirAsia?

These same passengers would follow instructions by airlines but not Malaysian airlines. Don't blame AirAsia or even MAS. This is a Malaysian attitude problem. Just rush, get that place quick and to hell with everybody else.