Most Read
Most Commented
Read more like this
mk-logo
From Our Readers

I refer to the letter Thrill of first visit to M'sia dampened . To add to the experiences of dismay that tourists can have with Malaysian staff at points of entry to the country, I would like to contribute mine too.

Some years ago my wife and I who are British decided to visit Asia. For my wife, it was her first ever visit to the region. After a wonderful SIA flight we arrived at Changi. The immigration staff were polite and so helpful. We enjoyed our three days in Singapore even though it is not a cheap place.

However, on departure, at the Changi airport check-in for our MAS flight to Penang, we were served by an initially bored-looking member of staff but who later turned out to be shockingly rude and abusive. Needless to say, my wife and I were terribly upset by the whole experience.

We later found out he was a Malaysian, employed by MAS at Changi airport. On board, the attitude of the MAS cabin crew were at best, indifferent; nothing like the SIA crew who flew us from London to Singapore. When we arrived at Bayan Lepas, we witnessed an incident involving an immigration officer having a rather unpleasant and heated argument with a foreign tourist.

In Penang, we found the official licenced taxi-drivers not very different from pirates. And like the MAS staff and crew, there was also that 'I-couldn't-really-be-bothered-attitude' again.

Since that year, we have been back to Asia regularly for our summer holidays. We have visited Singapore and Indonesia twice, Thailand three times and Bali and Bangkok later this year for our 2007 summer holidays.

But we have never visited Malaysia or flown with MAS again nor are we remotely tempted to do so again. If Malaysia really wants foreign tourists, it must first train its frontline staff to behave in a civilised and decent manner to both the locals and foreigners.

I believe that is one of the reasons why Thailand and Singapore do not seem to need to constantly advertise with different slogans to try and attract tourists.

ADS