Posted on by Kit

Horror flight on board MH161

by Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan
Jan 20, 09 3:55pm
Malaysiakini

I am a Malaysian currently residing and working in Dubai. On Dec 25, 2008, I flew with Malaysian Airlines flight MH161 to Kuala Lumpur to visit my parents. I was in seat 36H (an aisle seat) and the seat next to me, 36K (window seat) was vacant. The flight stopped over at Karachi for an hour.

In Karachi, more passengers boarded the plane. One male passenger boarded, showed his boarding pass to a stewardess and she pointed to seat beside me (36K). The man looked at me and said, ‘She’s a Hindu, I cannot sit beside her.’ The stewardess responded, ‘So what? What’s wrong with Hindu?’ The man then began to yell and shout that he would not sit next to a Hindu.

The crew insisted that he had to because there were no other seats available because the plane was full. Then this passenger sat down but began to verbally abuse my faith and the crew members. I sat in my seat but was physically cringing away from him. The flight supervisor was summoned and until then the man was still seated next to me. Imagine my shock, horror and fear in being next to a hostile, abusive person.

One steward did stand next to me but did not offer any help and I did not feel safe or reassured. I reached out and told that steward that I did not feel safe anymore. I said this to him softly in English and he told me to sit and wait. He then walked off and a female crew member took his place. All this time I was under the impression that this hostile passenger beside me was a Pakistani.

I then told the stewardess in Malay that this man should not be seated beside me after what he had said about me. There were other Malaysian passengers sitting in the same area and all of them heard me. She smiled and merely nodded.

Finally, the flight supervisor, ‘SB’, approached the passenger and after an angry exchange, the passenger said, ‘Move her then!’ and SB replied, ‘Yes, we will move her’. More angry words were exchanged and it was revealed that the passenger was actually a Malaysian. When this news was revealed, the passenger actually stood up with his fists up, ready to be physically violent. I was then hauled out of my seat and taken to the back of the plane. I was kept in the kitchen.

By this time I had gone into shock and was crying uncontrollably. I was shaking with rage because I was in a position where there was nothing I could do to defend myself. No one else seemed to be doing anything too.

I could not see what was happening from the rear of the plane but I did see uniformed security personnel approaching my original seat. I could not hear or make out what was happening as there was a group of people standing around my original seat. Eventually, the group left and it was announced that the plane would be taking off.

All this time I was in the kitchen, shaking and crying. All that was done for me was crew members taking turns to ask me if I was okay and offering me Coke and water! The plane began to taxi and I was then taken to another seat (42H). As I sat down, I asked the steward, ‘Is he off the plane?’ and the answer was, ‘No.’ I was appalled.

After the plane took off, the flight supervisor, SB, came and sat beside me. He explained to me that they could not put him off the plane because he was a deportee and if they had insisted on putting him off, then the plane would not have been cleared for take off. I was still crying at this point. I asked, ‘Why am I in a different seat? He should be!’ but my question was not answered.

The plane was not full. There were eight seats vacant in the rear, four on the right aisle and four seats on the left. Seat 42H, where I was put, was one of those vacant seats in the rear. If the MAS crew knew there was a deportee boarding, should they not have made arrangements to place him at the rear of the plane? What kind of airline policy allows a deportee to sit beside a female passenger travelling alone?

I spent the next five and a half hours on the flight in tears. I was not able to sleep because I knew that a hostile passenger was only six rows down from me. I was not afraid but in rage. My friends who are reading this would know the kind of person I am. I have always stood up for my rights and for the rights of people whom I love. I would not usually tolerate such abuse and I would not have hesitated in defending myself.

What stopped me was knowing that I was on a plane, in a confined space and that there were other passengers around me too, women and children. The abusive passenger was not removed from the plane and when we landed at KLIA, he disembarked like a normal passenger and was not escorted or arrested. I also disembarked knowing that I was now in the same terminal, on my own, as this hostile passenger.

I am very disappointed with the way MAS dealt with the incident. That passenger should have been taken to the rear of the plane and restrained. I was the victim of the incident yet I lost my chosen seat that I had paid for. Apart from offers of water, Coke and some verbal reassurances, the crew did not do anything else for me.

I have contacted other major airlines and this is how they would have dealt with the matter: I would have been moved to Business/First Class and I would have been escorted into the terminal until I safely exited the airport. MAS did not do anything for me. First of all, they jeopardised my safety and well-being by forcing the passenger to sit beside me knowing that he was hostile towards me and then they did nothing else to keep me safe.

I was in the same cabin as that passenger, wondering if he was going to walk by or pass me. I spent the entire five and a half hours in tears because I could not stand up for my rights and also because I had to keep my own rage pent-up.

Once I landed, I rang my husband in Dubai and related the events to him. He took immediate steps to contact MAS but to no avail. I stayed for one week in Malaysia and every single day, I tried to call their Customer Complaints Department. All I got was a voice mail. I left numerous messages but no one called me back. No one contacted my husband in Dubai. It is only after he put it up on the MAS blog that we have received some kind of response. Fourteen days after the incident, someone from MAS called me to offer an apology.

My husband also received an email from someone who has offered me 25 percent discount on a return flight from KL to Dubai and actually referred to that abusive passenger as a ‘fellow customer’! She also clearly stated that measures taken were to prevent that passenger from getting angrier. So in other words, they do admit that.

These are the questions I posed to MAS:

Why force a passenger who is racially abusive and hostile to my appearance and faith to sit beside me? There were other seats available at the rear as I discovered later.This was not a passenger who was merely fussing about his seat, this was a passenger who was potentially a threat to another passenger.

Why did the flight supervisor immediately give in to his demands and agree to move me? I was not the passenger causing trouble.

Upon retrospect, I think I was lied to. I do not think the passenger was a deportee. It was a lie told to me to keep him on the plane and keep me quiet. If a lie was told, that means that the crew took measures to protect the hostile passenger and themselves but not me, the victim. If so, then the MAS crew perpetuated the racism and discrimination initiated by the passenger.

If this is the case, then the entire crew participated in jeopardising my safety and appropriate action should be taken against them. If the passenger was truly a deportee or an INA (inadmissible because of visa) then the plane captain should have documents about him. If a deportee or INA caused trouble on a flight, the captain should have been informed immediately.

Why was the captain not informed and if he was, why did he not come to see me? I have been informed that KLIA security had been called but there was no one waiting when the plane landed. The abusive passenger disembarked like any other normal passenger. Why was he not nabbed or restrained? Why did not the crew ensure my safety in the terminal too?

I am demanding a formal, written apology from Malaysian Airlines. I want a truthful, reasonable explanation for all the five points I have listed above. I want some compensation for what I suffered. So far, I have only received an e-mail informing that the matter is under investigation.

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213 Replies to “Horror flight on board MH161”

  2. I have flew countless international flights..and never heard such nonsense in my life.
    Until….Radhika can get one to support his message….no need 5 witnesses…just one enough…especially from Malaysian Airlines..I have to presume he is telling lies and try to create racial tension.
    It is not surprising to read racialists blaming others are…in blogging as well by smart dirty UMNO politicians.
    If one Pakistani is proven a religious fanatic….we have thousands right here in Malaysia..created by UMNO and PAS.

  3. Dear Radhika,
    I’m sorry to hear your mistreatment. The best thing you can do is to sue MAS and let the public know how they handled their customers. This will also make public the troublemaker’s name. I suspect he was drunk. Shame him and get your revenge.

  4. If that is proving MAS is doing a bad job…..Radhika is doing it.. in bad taste ….without proofs.
    As much as we do not like MAS….but I have always enjoyed their hospitalities..and good food.
    MAS management maybe lousy or crooked..but pilots….stewardess .planes cleanliness..are well recognized and respected by worldwide passengers……on international flights….voting MAS as one of the best in the world.

  6. Wow, I feel sorry for this lady. The horror she must gone through.

    I travel alot as well, and I find the MAS staff to be all too chicken on handling situations properly. Their motto is to get most people happy & the problem is solved.

    So what is this rude guy is a deportee. If she insist and make more noise than he did, will the MAS staff help out?

    Besides, the ‘deportee’ did Verbally abused her & raised his fist for a fight. Thats a clear sign of a threat & must be addressed strictly. The deportee should be thrown off this plan and the captain has a direct influence in it. It has nothing to do with the clearance of the plane. This Im sure.

    I see a trend of radical muslims from pakistan that act like this, I saw this even in london. Something is not right for them to treat others, especially Hindus this way. They probably didnt realise that their fore fathers were Hindus before.

    Instead of stopping the deportee from his rude behavior, they endorsed it by giving in to him. Geez, I dont feel safe with Malaysian Airlines. they dont deserve the best cabin crew award after all.

    Im sure this news will grow out of proportions & its interesting to see how MAS deals with this.

  7. ooppppp! Radhika IS a lady…my apology.
    Now “tiwork” writer..confirm ..somewhat .. her experience is true.
    I guess…I am lucky one….all pleasant flights.
    I hope to read more and learn passengers bad experiences with MAS.
    Mine were at the ground…few times…with rude and arrogant ticketing clerks.

  8. I would have believed that crew fabricated a lie that the passenger was a deportee. This is general Malaysian culture, creating fear in others. Don’t we remember that we are all brought up in an environment that breaking the law and get scot free is viewed as strong?
    When that passenger was making a fuss and creating trouble, the crew members were actually too “afraid” to confront him. They viewed him as “strong”. Or, as usual, take the easier way out. Then, they created another story to intidimate poor Radhika.
    I am sure you know some parents are still trying to discipline their children by telling lies like, “don’t go there, that place is haunted”…
    I am very sad that these people are now representing Malaysia on our national carrier MAS.
    However, I think the crew will act differently if Radhika is an angmo (Caucasian). Until we can break away from this mentality, we are going nowhere. What Wawasan 2020? Bullshit!!!

  9. There is a customer feedback in MAS website. I am sure if Radhika were to fill in her details, she will get a reponse from MAS. She can always keep on sending reminders to MAS if she does not get a reponse.
    In this way everything is in writing and MAS will have to repond. When you have this case in verbal contact there is always the possibility of the other party denying what actually happened.

  10. My only bad experience with MAS…when the Foker Friendship plane….one wheel will not come down for landing in K.L.
    The pilot kept us informed with assuring words…and plane was flying round for more than 20 minutes.
    When fuel was low..pilot told us he will climb down and knock the wheel to landing position.
    “Oh my God!” were passengers reactions. From the window…we can see the pilot do his stunt!!
    Down came the wheel…plane landed safely…to confirm….in the history of all planes…Forker Friendship planes are the safest..not one bad incident.
    When you take a Japan Airline….taking off and landings…passengers will clap with appreciations…for the pilots good job done..even if the landing was lousy and rough.
    It’s passengers being safe… that counts.
    To me..best is Quantas Airline….from Australia.

  11. I used to travel by MAS quite frequently, not any more. I take SIA anytime. The services in the plane is quite good compared to many other airlines, it is the management that needs looking at. They still owe me the refund of a trip I did’nt make. I went to the travel agent regularly for a year and nothing happened. I gave up. My second experience, I requested for a new Enrich membership card as my old one was torn…I never receive a reply. This reflect so much on MAS efficiency.
    For a simlar case with SIA, they gave me a refund in less than a month!

  13. Each one may have a different experience boarding airplane. In your case, you should be given the first/business class seat. Perhaps MAS treated as a lower class passenger compared to this ‘Pakistani’ Malaysian!

    I once took China Airline from Taipei, and the person who came in said she cannot sit with a man. For the first time, I was discriminated because I am a man. She was a nun. She was then given another seat as the plane was not full.

  14. I think this incident can be categorized as customer abused.

    I think the victim here should use the legal avenue to seek justice and compensation.

    Complaining in the customer complaints section is a futile action as if this is true then this is a gross abuse of customer and only a full refund should suffice.

  16. OMG i am so sorry to hear that! i suggest you to write a letter in the newspaper… in this case, UMNO BN media (utusan/the star/nst etc) because they are (MAS staff) for sure will read this…!

    oh god.. that is very bad! although i am a frequent user of the MH…

  17. Should lodge a police report against MAS for the treatment received, and another police report on the racial slurr uttered by the ‘deportee’ pasenger.

    Do not let the culprits get away easily without having to face the laws of the land.

  18. “If the passenger was truly a deportee or an INA (inadmissible because of visa) then the plane captain should have documents about him. If a deportee or INA caused trouble on a flight, the captain should have been informed immediately.”

    It matters not one iota that this passenger was an unwilling passenger. In the post 9/11 world, it is not just your safety and personal comfort that matters but the security of all the passengers. If I were on that flight I would have as much reason as you have in expressing the fears you expressed – except that those fears will not be focused solely on my personal safety and comfort. The entire flight is at risk the moment a passenger not fully in control of his or her mental faculties expresses anger in such a public manner. He does not need to be a terrorist by any definition for the flight crew to react and have this passenger evicted – no matter what his nationality.

    Malaysians are pathetic when it comes to enforcing rules and procedures and matters relating to law and order. You cannot blame only the flight crew. As Malaysians they grew up in a country in which the rule of law is given scant regard and law enforcement a joke by international standards. In a conflict situation like this one, the flight crew is at a loss of how to handle it. It is time the crew be given a course in post 9/11 conflict management.

    If the same thing were to happen on an American flight, this passenger would be taken off the plane immediately by airport security.

    It seems the benefit of the doubt in this case has been given to the passenger who puts the flight at risk. Flight safety comes second.

    Rest assured this is not the first or the last. The next one may be for real.

  19. Radhika, 2 things you can do:

    1. Sue MAS
    2. Send this mail to all travel magazines in the world.

    I am sure next year MAS will not be voted by that stupid magazine as Best cabin staff in the world!

    MAS will then wake up…

  21. What if this same Pakistani passenger were to abuse a Hindu stewardess, will the captain take any action on him?
    In Australia, in one of the Qantas flights, a drunken passenger abused a stewardess because she refused to serve him more drinks due to his situation. He became very aggressive and was making a nuisance of himself. Upon arrival to Australia, the security guards came into the plane and took him a way. He was later fined in court for being a public nuisance and bar from traveling with Qantas.
    So chenho, Mas on its part, should take the initiative to nab this abusive passenger and whether, the offended passenger desire take legal action is another matter.

  22. I am sorry to hear about Miss Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan’s experience as a random victim of racism and religious fanaticism. Racism and Religious Fanaticism really make me sick and I think as a rational human, we should try our best to stop racism and religious fanaticism from happening again.

    We find that satanic influence of racism and religious fanaticism are getting more and more serious in Malaysia nowadays. Even the Home Minister, Dato Seri Syed Hamid Albar, himself is a very disgusting religious fanatic.

    Proof of Syed Hamid Albar’s religious fanaticism is evidenced by his blatant assertion of a religious persecution on the Sabahan or Sarawakian Native Christians by banning the usage of the word “Allah” in the Christian Weekly called “The Herald”.

    The Christians from East Malaysia’s native groups had been using a Malay version of the Holy Bible for centuries. I had a book of the Malay version of “Kitab Suci” since many years’ ago. I could assure you that the Native people in East Malaysia had been using the word “Allah” to refer to “Jehovah” or “God” right before the time when anyone of us was born to this world.

    Why does the Home Minister choose to restrain the Christians in using the word “Allah” now? Is Syed Hamid Albar trying to turn Malaysia into another Gaza? Is he a religious cult who tries to deviate from the acceptable peace-loving Islamic teaching in Malaysia? Why must Umno appoint a religious cult to assume the duty of a Home Minister? Is Umno really running short of talent now?

  23. I sympathize with Rhadika. I think that we should all choose MAS last.
    About 10years ago, I was flying business from Chennai to KLIA. The flight could not take off because of a “cyclone” ( the SIA flight 1 hour ahead took off and return to Spore safely ). They just made the annoucement to us over the business lounge intercom, and asked all of us to return to Chennai and return next morning to fly home. I protested that I had checked out of my hotel, and that they must put me up somewhere safe. The lounge staff said that they cant and have not been told to. I wandered around the airport in the rain. I finally found a hotel to take me. In the airport I finally found an old boneshaker taxi to take me to Chennai. Halfway out of Chennai, the taxi stopped to extort money from me. I pretended not to understand him. After a few minutes of shouting at me, he took me to my hotel ( thank God ) safely. I return home with the next MAS flight safely, the next morning. When I got back, I complaint to MAS customer service. They did nothing. They listen to my complaint, said a feeble routine apology and did nothing.
    I think that we should all choose MAS last. Their routine service in flight is reasonable, but their PR is terrible.

  24. Unbelievable, where is MAS professionalism? How could they allow such thing. Not only one person in trouble but they were putting the flight in danger.
    Between safety and the delayed departure, MAS crew made the wrong choice.
    This matter has to be pursued for the safety of all passengers in future. The flight safety department in The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) must take MAS to task.

  25. The first and the last time I took MAS was in 1980. The stewardess treated orang putih and Malaysians differently. Since then I swore never to take MAS.
    I suggest we get all readers here to boycott MAS and send this letter by email to all your contacts.
    Teach them a lesson that a Hindu too has rights. It does not mean if the government mistreats Hindraf, MAS must ill treat Hindus.

  26. Is he a religious cult
    I can hardly type for laughing. Is that a spelling mistake, an attempt to avoid the swearing filter, or a misuse of the word ‘cult’? To my mind, your comment makes perfect sense in the first two cases, and if you intended one of those, I would recommend everyone pay careful attention to Onlooker Politic’s comment as an example of perfect English vernacular. Although regarded as the foulest word in the English language, it has become quite popular in the last decade or so (possibly owing to the efforts of feminists), and it isn’t uncommon for friends to use the word when they chide each other.

    That made me feel quite homesick.

  30. Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan,

    1. If what you say is true then MAS crew had done wrong.

    2. The Captain and crew are required and empowered under section 5 of the Civil Aviation Offences Act 1984 (“CAOA”) to maintain good order and discipline when in flight and to protect the safety of the passengers and aircraft from threats evinced by an unruly passenger as such described. Measures would include pacifying the unruly one and if that fails, by applying restraint, delivering him to police upon disembarkation.

    3. The wonderful part about all this is that if you know the flight and seat no . (which you obviously do) then you would know the seat no . o f the unruly passenger. There is an audit trail leading to who he is and where he stays.

    4. Then you may want to initiate cr iminal prosecution. You would lodge two police reports :

    (i) against the unruly passenger. Don’t worry, you have lots of witnesses – the crew in that flight that day;

    (ii) against the flight supervisor and Pilot : they too have committed an offence u nder CAOA. It i s an offence under CAOA for commander of flight not to perform their duties under CAOA stated in 2. above.

    5. You may also want to sue MAS on a civil action for vicariously responsible for the wrongful actions of its crew.

    6. M y sense is that MAS will straight away settle by giving you a private apology and recompense. Ask for a reasonable sum as recompense for your emotional stress. And don’t forget free tickets two-way for you & spouse to at least three exotic destinations that you always dreamed of. : )

    7. Although prosecution is up to Attorney General’s discretion, whether or not your actions under 4 yield results is irrelevant. Bottomline, the National Airline canot afford adverse publicity when its crew were in the wrong. It will sure seek to appease you, the cost of it so doing is but fractional in relation to what it otherwise spends on advertising to boost its commercial image.

  32. Hmmm… how did MAS win the \Best Cabin Crew in the World\ award?

    I am not surprised at all. I even think the \deportee\ is a VIP otherwise why would MAS cover this up and let him walk away freely on arrival.

  34. He could walk away freely on arrival but for how long? There’s an audit trail and he could be identified and located. He could be hauled back. This is because an aviation offence of criminal complexion had been committed. It would not be extingusihed by him being let off then. It follows him.

  36. Hey people,

    I’ve actually seen an almost similar case happened inside a MAS plane.

    While I was back from Melbourne(8hrs journey), there was a Caucasian guy who was seated on the same row with me:

    (Centre Row D E F G H)

    He was in D
    A nice old lady was sitting in E
    F and G was empty
    I was sitting in H

    This guy; in which I suspect is drunk, was constantly making weird noises, hassling the old lady who was sitting in E.
    I remember seeing the fear in the lady’s eye when he was trying to talk to her.

    The Steward/dess wasn’t doing anything about him. They just allow him to rant in this own world. At times, he hurled abusive words toward anyone who was seated around him.

    This lady decided to move away from him, and sit closer toward me in G.

    She then later realised, by avoiding him, she’s getting herself in trouble for showing that she rejected him… she crosses over me and jump to some empty seats behind the plane.

    I was still seated there. Pulling my face away from him and ignored him the whole flight.

    I can sense the insecurity everyone was feeling in the perimeter.

    MAS is of no help to troublemakers in the plane. They just ignore them and hopefully not to provoke them. They never care about the safety of the passengers.

    I bet, if fights broke out, they’ll just stand aside and watch.

    MAS is useless in Nuisances Management.

  41. I suggest you make a police report. With the police report, get MAS to reveal the details of the passenger so that you can sue that passenger. If MAS is not cooperative, sue MAS. Get some big shot law firm to help you. go to http://www.klbar.org.my/directory/member.asp?txtInput=A to find out some of the law firm contacts

    Check with you lawyer, there is an Act out there which I am not familiar with. I think it is illegal to be abusive towards children and women. you lawyers should be more well versed with it.

    try and sue that idiot.

  43. after sending my comments, I just read Jeffrey’s comments. he sounds very much like a lawyer. :) Radhika, please fight for your rights. Don’t give up. I know there is strength in you or else you wouldn’t have spent your time writting this down in Lim Kit Siang’s blog. Seek justice. Seek justice until that idiot apologise to you and the Hindu community.

  46. I am a frequent air traveller and having flown on numerous airlines, i have come across many incidents on many flights.

    I can safely say that MOST Malaysian Airlines cabin crew are ill-prepared to handle rude and rowdy passengers. At times, i wonder if their trainning are truly in tune with what is expected in modern time travel.

    Let me relate one of the many incidents that i had witnessed on my flights with MH.

    There was once when this MH flight was about to depart and there was this group of expats who was not even properly seated in their seats, even though the aircraft was taxing for take off. The air stewardess went over to them and politely requested them to return to their seats and all she got was a ‘Gee! I have forgotten where my seat is.’ remark from one of the expats and all she did was just turn back and returned to her jump-seat, leaving the group of expats sniggering at her incompetence and the rest of the passengers (who witnessed the incident) feeling less confident about the cabin crew ability to handle rude passengers. I wonder if the cabin crew trainning ever prepared them for such an incident!

    Another thing about MOST MH cabin crew is that they tend to talk a lot when they are working! If the talk was related to work, it won’t be that bad but come to think of it, gossip (about other crew members and office politics) was more like it. There are many cases that i had witnessed where it involved 2 cabin crew talking between each other when they are seated in their jump seat and yakking away about office politics while the aircraft was coming in for a landing! For those who had ever been seated in the middle section of an aircraft, the distance between these 2 cabin crew when they are seated in the jump seat is like one is seated in seat A and the other is seated in seat K. That is akin to one being seated on the right side and the other seated on the left side of the aircraft! One doesn’t hear such gossips on other airlines. One doesn’t hear such conversations among cabin crew on any other airlines.

    The cabin crew would have had scored points if they had taken the trouble to make small talk with the foreign passengers and introduced the country to them. I believe that their job description is not about serving drinks and food. It should also encompass the soft ‘selling’ of the country. After all, aren’t they also considered as our unofficial Country Ambassodor.

    In Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan case, it is clearly evident that the cabin crew on that flight had falied miserably in handling a SINGLE rude passenger. The thought of having another 5 more potential rude passengers imitating the first one just send shivers down my spine.

    MH cabin crew trainning need to be revamped and Malaysia Airlines should and must seriously studied and revised their cabin crew trainning immediately. Having won the Best Cabin Crew award (which frankly speaking, i find the award somewhat dubious) is nothing if such similar incidents are tolerated. God knows, how many potential passengers are embolded to act as such in their future travel with Malaysia Airlines. In the end, it will be known as ‘The airline for rude passengers’….Now that is one award that i will not have any trouble doubting.

    If Malaysia Airlines is trying to give a true picture of the marginalisation of races in our country, then the entire cabin crew on that flight had succeded in presenting the true picture to other travellers (both local and foreign). There can be no more denials from any Ministers or govt officials. For proof, just fly with Malaysia Airlines!

    If Malaysia Airline is not able to stand up for equality, if Malaysia Airline is not commited to stand up for the dignity of our fellow country man and/or woman, then Malaysia, our country, has lost the credibilty to stand up for anyone who is oppressed in other parts of the world.

  47. “Onlooker Politic’s comment as an example of perfect English vernacular. Although regarded as the foulest word in the English language, it has become quite popular in the last decade or so (possibly owing to the efforts of feminists), and it isn’t uncommon for friends to use the word when they chide each other.” OrangRojak

    …and may that word by any chance be spelt with an ‘n’??

  48. Gosh! So many complaints about MAS…yet I never read any court cases against them.
    Why can’t some NGO lawyers help these poor victims?
    Surely…one or two is reading and can response to help them.
    I never like MAS too. Given a choice…I will use other airlines…but like newspapers…we have no choices.
    And many who complaint…still travel by MAS to Europe ..because it is cheap..or no choice at all?.
    Again..I prefer to pay a little bit more….and avoid MAS.
    But why is MAS planes mostly full to overseas…if that is so lousy?

  49. The problem don’t come from MAS alone. Our airport and airport security too are ‘kelam kabut’. From lack of direction signage to luggage misplacement to robbery to multi million dollars theft and the list goes on…

    I wonder what Ong Tee Keat would say?

  50. My advices to lone female travelers are first have a good vocabulary of four letter words in different common languages. So if the nut throw verbal abuses at you and your religion you do the same back at him but only do it better, more aggressive and in many languages. Also pick up some kungfu, silat, boxing and whatever you have as a form of self defence. So if the idiot starts to beat you up you can throw back at him your Tony Jua’s back kick. Than start yelling as loud as you can. Cry molest. When he is not looking give him a good kick in between the legs and then run for help.

    I prefer instant justice. Writing letters now to MAS serve only to frustrate you.

  51. My sister’s flight was postponed to next day last year and this year, it was delayed for about 6 hours on grounds that the planes are having technical glitches. Both are MAS flights. They only offered my sister some snacks for the 6 hour delay.

    Can we seek legal redress on this matter? Any legal opinion?

  52. In civilize country the crazy passenger would probably get a police escort but in Pakistan or in this case MAS airplane they are consider “normal”. Sad isn’t it when normal people are affected by crazy people and the authority/company busy arresting peaceful demostration. More power to our government…

  53. I doubt the police will take any action against that muslim Pakistani, since they are just as racist. And being a hindu Indian, you should have seen how they are mistreating your race. The moment you try to raise your plead for a fairer treatment, you will be detained under isa, like the Hindraf.

    The way the airline handling the situation has show that it is not doing a proper job to protect the safety of the passenger. This pakistani has show to be aggressive and has mental instability and he should be removed immediately from the plane before it toke off. Can you imagine if he has become violent once the plane is in the air after seeing so many non-muslims in the flight.

    If you want any action, maybe you should lodge a complaint outside like IATA or even some US security department since MAS is flying to US and I am sure US will not tolerate any airline flying into US if is not strict with their safety standard.

  57. harrisonbinhansome Says:

    Today at 02: 08.45 (4 hours ago)
    My sister’s flight was postponed to next day … They only offered my sister some snacks for the 6 hour delay. Can we seek legal redress on this matter? Any legal opinion?”

    When you purchase an airline ticket you enter into a contract with the carrier. So go read the terms of that contract. You can find those at the back of the ticket.

    Your sister should consider herself lucky to be offered snacks for the 6-hour delay. The airline booked me into an airport hotel for an overnight delay.

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  63. “Is he a religious cult who tries to deviate from the acceptable peace-loving Islamic teaching in Malaysia? Why must Umno appoint a religious cult to assume the duty of a Home Minister? Is Umno really running short of talent now?” Onlooker Politics

    Are you saying Hamid Albar belongs to a religious cult defined as : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious ; also : its body of adherents? Are you saying that Islam is a false religion?

    Are you saying that Malaysia has a cult as its official religion?

  64. MAS is national flag carrier. It boasts of excellent on board service. It is implied in the transportation contract that every passenger has the right to comfortable seating free from harrassment and unruly behaviour of fellow passenger.

    Doesn ‘t MAS have zero tolerance policy against disruptive behaviour?

    Flight crewmembers of MH161 had not reacted appropriately on Dec 25th.

    They should have re-located the passenger guilty of unruly and unjustified conduct rather than inconvenience the innocent and subject her to stress.

    Where is the fairness? Would they have h andled differently if the offender had refused to sit next to a Muslim?

    If the unruly passenger refused to relocate, MAS crewmembers should have disembarked him at first available opportunity at Karachi.

    Surely his behaviour constituted a breach of the transportation contract between him and the Airline. Instead the Airline con tinued flight without resolving the situation in the right and fair way and in so doing subjected Radhika to stress and emotional trauma in breach of the Airline’s own transportation contract with her instead.

    At a time when airlines around the world are suffering financial losses, how can MAS turn around when cabin crew are not properly trained to manage unruly behaviour and conflicts such as the one highlighted?

    Before suing the Airline or lodging police reports based o n offences covered under the Civil Aviation Offences Act 1984, Radhika should perhaps first write to or seek a meeting with MAS’s MD, Datuk Seri Idris Jala to give MAS the opportunity to m ak e adequate recompense on its own accord. That guy is generally reputed to be smart and would do the right thing.

    Indeed at a time when airlines around the world are suffering financial losses and many potential passengers are staying home, he has no other choice.

  65. I used to travel to Frankfurt,Melbourne, New Delhi and so on and the attitude of MAS flight attendants was good and extraordinary.However,I noticed something different when I was on business trip to Chennai.I would say that their attitude was like “suka tak suka”. I’ve seen they treat one of the passenger very badly.The lady was asking for plain water and the Malay flight attendant just make don’t know and walk here and there.When the lady asked for the water again,she shouted at the lady asking her to wait.Finally,the lady reports to the flight supervisor and he said that he will look into it.From that day till now whenever I go to Chennai I take SIA and willing to pay extra.I think she feels that she’s a Malay and reluctant to serve other race due to superiority concious.I think she should stay at home and take care her kids.See how the politicians successfully brainwash the Malaysians to be racist at all the level.

  66. MAS is really incompetent even after so many years in the business. I feel so sorry for what Radhika gone through on her flight. Though my experience with MAS was not so horrific as hers but it was equally unpleasant as I was in a cast and specifically requested for a seat on the first row for the leg space (imaging flying in to KL from LA,USA with a cast). It was confirmed but was changed on the last minute (found out why on the stop over at Narita airport from the air steward– some Japanese dude got my seat.)

    That is why I have been telling everyone I know not to fly MAS. If possible, pay a bit more (and at times, more savings come by flying other airlines like SIA). MAS crew (ground or air) can’t handle any crisis that occurs — also shorter than the required height since they can’t even close the overhead baggage compartment — had to do that myself everytime.

    If the next flight out of Pakistan do have terrorists on board, let us see what the captain of the MAS plane going to do — jump out of it to save himself????

  67. Jeffrey QC,

    You are advising your client to sue the airline – for what?? Is it not for damages suffered? What damages has she suffered? She did not miss her flight and had to book herself in a hotel. If she did she could sue for the cost of accommodation and meals and whatever else directly related to it.

    Just because, as the aggrieved party, we have a cause of action against the other party does not necessarily mean we should or must commence legal action. In many cases it is like sending good money after bad money.

    The passenger was understandably shaken by the experience. Is she going to claim that, as a result of that experience, she is now afraid to travel by air and has had to give up her present job and any job which involves air travel – and sue for the loss she suffers and will continue to suffer as a result?

    Why not? It is not inconceivable that she might develop a phobia for air travel as a result of her bad experience.

    Let’s say she was returning home for a holiday. Could she sue the airline for the loss of enjoyment as a result of what she was made to go through?

  68. Who is that idiot on board? MAS air crew are actually scared of him and had to be unfair to you as a result. Who the hell is he? MAS ought to reveal his identity. In this country such bully attitude only comes from umnoputras. Is he one of them? If MAS does not reveal his identity, make a police report and have him exposed! Doesnt matter if no actions are taken to prosecute him. At least let the world see his face!

    The air crew’s reaction and handling of the matter shows that they are not quite able to deal with the situation. Yet they are trained to face all sorts of situation including handling unruly and unreasonable passengers. Perhaps training will not quite fully equip one to face real problems. But that cannot be an excuse.

    What is appalling is MAS’s reaction after the event. The silence and the inaction for two weeks are simply damning. I am sadden by the whole thing.

  69. Recently at LA a family of Indian Muslims (all American citizens) when taking seats on the plane were heard by fellow passengers discussing where in the plane would be safest for them to sit. They were removed from the plane by the captain and interrogated by the FBI who then cleared them. However, the airline refused to allow them to fly.

    Had they not been cleared by the FBI of possible involvement in terrorist activities (they were a family of four adults and two children), that would be a different story if the airline were to refuse to let them fly.

    It is going to be tough for the airline to put together their defense in a claim for breach of contract. The issue in this case is only the quantum of damages. How much damages do you think the plaintiff could get? Any racial discrimination issues involved? If racial discrimination could be proved, damages could be in the millions.

  70. Used to Fly MAS but no more in the last 8 years. Never could resolve with the airlines. Now flying SIA and Cathay to reach KL from LA. Show this to 2 families about to vacation in Malaysia. They canceled their booking and switched to Cathay. I will do my part to dissuade folks from fly MAS. My contribution for a “better Malaysia”.

  71. pulau_sibu Says:

    Today at 07: 13.03 (1 hour ago)
    May be all the MAS flight attendants are small and sweet ladies. They don’t know how to chase the bad men out. This is the cultural problem, compared to a tall fat big size lady.”

    It would be a good idea to employ a few fat ass ladies like our Minister Rafidah Aziz as flight attendants. All she has to do is to sit on the faces of those passengers causing trouble.

    BN/UMNO Ministers may soon be looking for jobs. Don’t you think we should reward them for their devotion to King and country over the last two decades or so??

  75. Onlooker politics, computation, undergrad2, completely right. Sorry about the ‘vernacular’ comment. I saw something in the incompetence of this story that mirrors my own current experience where I have to ‘give up what can I do’ over an unreliable GLC that has sunk a project I worked on for most of last year. ‘He is a cult‘ is almost exactly what has been going through my feverish mind for most of this month. I’ll try to exercise more restraint in future.

  77. I never read those small fine line printed words at the back of the air ticket.
    When I lost my luggage bag…MAS asked me to fill in a form…details of the contents.
    I did….but got a RM300 as compensation.. for more than RM2000 items lost.
    Yes….loosing bags few times are my experiences with MAS.
    Fortunately most were found and I need to go to airport to collect it.
    Last one…..recently…bag found and MAS personally deliver….it to my house.
    As I have said……most of my problems..start from the ground..not on the plane.
    Those so call Security officers…..checking your bags before entering into proper checking counters…are a bunch ..low class irritating people.
    They will ban this or that…so obvious….according to their whims and fancies.
    What ever they do not allow me to bring on board..I take them out….and give them to outsiders..such as.. expensive torch lighters for my cigars …manicure set..even my hair oil!!
    But I changed all that to cheap stuffs..all approved…….next flight!!

  80. Undergrad2,

    Hey, I am neither QC (a title bestowed only by you) nor is Radhika a client. (So in matters of law, I ought to yield to your superior knowledge as (I presume) an ex-Malaysian or present American practising lawyer. :)

    However it may interest you to evaluate the following:-

    1. Under general law, emotional anguish and stress may attract damages, whether in Tort (breach of duty of care) or breach of transportation contract (to be construed from that ticket issued by MAS with its terms and disclaimers).

    2. Complication here is Malaysia is contracting party under Warsaw Convention (“WC”) setting out limits of liabilities and the conditions under which claims to establish liability during flight are to be met. (It also depends on flight from where to determine whether WC applies).

    3. But supposing WC applies, it provides for limitation to claims based on baggage loss or damage, death or bodily injury.

    4. Here’s the problem. One can argue that whatever that WC does not provide for, there is no damages. Emotional anguish and stress being not ‘bodily injury’ therefore attracts no damages unless (perhaps) it is directly caused by bodily injuries.

    5. However the other view is that WC applies in term s of limiting extent of claims for baggage loss or damage, death or bodily injury and will not preclude causes of action otherwise maintainable under general laws eg emotional distress or if that is too intangible to be maintainable, then at least an action based on breach of duty (in carrying out what they are empowered and expected to do under Civil Aviation Offences Act 1984 when dealing, a dereliction of which is also an offence under that Act).

    6. Admittedly it is a bit dicey, this part of claiming damages in the face of WC but there is room for argument. What is of practical importance is that an action, whether or not successful, will bring to light cabin crew incompetence, which MAS may settle ex gratia to avoid negative public perception, whatever the true legal position.

  81. One flight I was back from London…plane was filled with young Muslims.
    I asked them….what are they doing in England. They said…they are studying ..and going back for holidays.
    I asked…how can your parents afford that?
    They replied..they all got Mara loans.
    Not one speak good English!! I asked how can they study in English…when they cannot speak well ….the English language.
    They replied….they can understand and read the English books…given to them.
    From my further research…….most failed.
    Pass or fail….almost all..never repay back loans to Mara…..no suing….no nothing….unless…public is hot on the heels…they get few victims..did that ..and start all over gain….no suing….no demanding back loans.
    Yet UMNO say….they are not a racialist party.
    UMNO have a quota to fullfill….sending Malays to Universities here and overseas.
    heck out..how much spent and what are the results.
    MAS is having a sizable income…with UMNO as main contributor……best wealthiest customer…always fly first class…and charter full plane..for holidays.
    No other government dare to do that in the world..except UMNO….encouraged by Mahathir….the self appointed dictator..or king…or crazy nut…..you choose.

  84. One need not be a lawyer to write like Jeffery…whose comments are made with professionalism that should make him…an excellent management man in any international company.
    Perhaps he is actually a lawyer..working for a company…passing his time blogging….nothing must to do. If he is a lawyer….and spending so much time in blogging…..he cannot be a successful lawyer…not in low or high court at all.
    Perhaps…he is actually a student….studying law.
    I am not judging Jeffery…but give my sincere opinions for young readers to read pros and cons…how one is being judged by one or the other..with respect.
    I hope Jeffery will take this in good spirit.

  85. What an unfortunate incident ….I feel sorry for Mrs Radhika and couldn’t believe that she was badly mistreated……I believe the management will take her complaint seriously and stern action will be taken against those involved.

    Mendela,

    Your suggestion to blast this e-mail to all travel magazines in the world would not resolve this issue. Consequently, it could ruin the country’s tourism industry.You don’t burn the mosquito net, because you’re mad at the mosquito

  92. i don understand why the lady creates issue. first, is not that paki/malaysian wanted the lady moves away, but the lady wants the paki to moves away. how can so double standard, if it’s the lady wanted to stay away, then she should be the one relocated, not the paki. and she probably hallucinating that the paki will stab her when it is not, she’s just paranoid. it’s obvious no one can bring stabbing weapons onboard, and no one will strangle or whack ppl infront of full audience in an airplane. since the lady was so paranoid, the steward was correct to moved her away to the rear seat, giving her business/first class seat will be unfair to other passenger, kan? why that paki din harass other passengers but typically her. must be something wrong with her lar, kan?

    it’s like you have someone with bad odor sitting beside you, is it “polite” and appropriate to have conductor to move that guy away when it is you who discriminates here?! typically some “high” class malaysian attitude, no surprise here….

    this is my point of view.

  93. mas incompetent? hey, the star recently published the story of idris jala making the airline turnaround from downtrodden company to world class…. do you mean idris jala did not do a good job, and the star covered up/making up the story?

  94. The MAS crew knew that the “deportee” was actually a VVIP, on the run from the CIA and FBI for terrorist activities, possibly the Mumbai massacre in November 2008. However, they could do nothing since he belongs to the “Ketuanan” race and Radhika was merely a “Hamba”. Difference between the sky and the earth, you see.

  95. Well, I do believe in Radhika encounter because we do have these sort of people running around in the country.
    These sort of people are mostly Islamic hardliners and I do encounter several of them here.
    They hate other races and whenever you accidently cross their path, they’ll threaten you with death.
    Even with christian, I do encounter a few who are not willing to befriend other races.
    It depend on to what extend their mind is being controlled, by their belief!

  96. Rosa Parks has to give up her bus seat to a white fellow in 1953. Back then, there was no Obama to take up her case. Radhika was forced to give up her airline seat to a Tuan in 2008. Now there’s an Obama in the White House, Radhika should complain to him. There’s a place in Gitmo for that Tuan where he can play waterboarding day in and day out.

  99. sotong
    i hope that one day if you ever have children
    or already do, that if you have a daughter,
    then when she is of the same age
    as the poor lady, is racially and verbally abused,
    threatened,insulted and made to suffer mental anguish by a
    hindu (who is drunk, because no hindu does that when sober )
    with the circumstances in which the episode helped and
    exacerbated by the sheer incompetence and insensitivity of
    mas staff.
    then i hope that after your daughter is given
    the run around and posts the details of the
    incident on the MAS blog out of sheer desperation for
    redress that 14 days LATER someone calls to apologize.
    I then hope your daughter is told that since MAS
    the carrier on which you feel most at home on (understandably)
    has apologized she should move on.
    I hope she will be matured enough then to move on
    as well. truly i do.

  103. I beleive MAS MD Idris must have his mouth sut up by those Umno politicians to comment on this despicable issue by a totally complete idiotic moron fool. That idiot must be belong that racialistic Ahmad clique.
    It is amazing that this idotic moron was not kick out of the plane. Instead the full paying innocent pax was made to pay.
    Hey MAS (Mana ada system) your proudly claim to “excellent” service. What service??? You guys have done a GREAT DISSERVICE to a paying passenger.
    I hope the victim will continue to pursue this matter to ensure that idiotic moron and MAS in particular are brought to justice. It MUST BE DONE no matter what.

  105. The man looked at me and said, ‘She’s a Hindu, I cannot sit beside her.’ The stewardess responded, ‘So what? What’s wrong with Hindu?’ The man then began to yell and shout that he would not sit next to a Hindu.

    Then this passenger sat down but began to verbally abuse my faith and the crew members. I sat in my seat but was physically cringing away from him. The flight supervisor was summoned and until then the man was still seated next to me. Imagine my shock, horror and fear in being next to a hostile, abusive person.

    More angry words were exchanged and it was revealed that the passenger was actually a Malaysian. When this news was revealed, the passenger actually stood up with his fists up, ready to be physically violent.

    ————————————————————

    From the abstract above, the man must have uttered seditious words which are detrimental of the victim’s faith in full view of other passengers.

    Maybe the SEDITION ACT 1948 would be applicable in these situations.

    According to Section 2 of the SA 1948, the interpretation of the “seditious” is “when applied to or used in respect of any act, speech, words, publication or other thing qualifies the act, speech, words, publication or other thing as one having a seditious tendency” and “words” include “any phrase, sentence or other consecutive number or combination of words, oral or written.”

    Under Section 3, the “words” tantamount to a “seditious tendency” where according to Section 3(e) “to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia” or under Section 3(f) “to question any matter, right, status, position, privilege, sovereignty or prerogative established or protected by the provisions of Part III of the Federal Constitution or Article 152, 153 or 181 of the Federal Constitution.”

    According to Section 4, an offence is committed if the person under Section 4(1)(b) utters any seditious words shall be guilty of an offence …

    Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan, you may have a course of action against the man under this Act.

  106. exactly right!
    the abusive person could indeed
    have commited a criminal offense.
    disgusting.
    i wonder if MAS staff would have
    allowed a person who abuses a muslim
    to walk off the plane.
    disgusting!

  107. MAS should take immediate action against the crew members for not acting accordingly for person who demean other religions and race.This passenger should not go unpunished as there is enough evidence to charge him.MAS will suffer if no drastic action is taken.Passengers like me will have second thoughts and I am sure more will boycott if the management does not come out with a statement.

  109. You should take legal action against MAS as your personal safety has been seriously compromised, not to mention the mental trauma. Having said that, the security level at our airports is also a sham. You could probably get weapons pass security if you wanted to.

  110. Malaysia Airlines regrets and views the matters raised by Mrs Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan very seriously.

    We had initiated an immediate investigation into the matter.

    The results of our investigations showed that the passenger who was given a seat next to Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan was not allowed into Karachi in view of insufficient travel documents on arrival.

    From an immigration standpoint, if a passenger fails to provide adequate documents, they can be turned away by the arrival country, and airlines are still to treat the person as a passenger. As such, he was not assigned to a separate seating area.

    It is truly unfortunate that a Malaysian chose to behave in this manner particularly in a flight filled with multi-ethnic passengers. In checking with our Inflight Supervisor and crew, they themselves were shocked at his behaviour.

    The Inflight Supervisor made a judgment call to provide Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan with an alternative seat, instead of that passenger, because they needed to remove her from that environment. This was aimed at ensuring that the crew could keep a closer eye on her, and to prevent any reoccurrence of the earlier incident.

    Throughout the flight, our cabin crew kept a close watch on both passengers. During the constant rounds, the cabin crew was glad to note that Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan was resting and they assumed that the rest of the journey went well.

    On arrival, the male passenger was only allowed to leave the airplane after all the other passengers had disembarked. Our ground staff were on hand to meet him when the cabin crew handled over his travel documents.

    We truly regret the incident and have offered Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan service recovery beyond the norm. We are currently in discussions with her to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

    Regards,
    John Low
    Manager
    Customer Response
    Malaysia Airlines

  111. Wanderer….Proton is value for money…based on tin can stuffs.
    Millions keep buying Proton..as it has no down payment needed…and long long…7 years installments.
    Muslims love long installments..and will not be bothered by ..the the high financial interest charged.
    Saga…Wira…are Proton two most successful models. So not all are bad cars,
    But I prefer Perdua…a more intelligent higher quality manufacturer than Proton.
    Perdua in not controlled or owned by government.
    Do not believe…ask buyers.
    Finally wanderer…if Proton is not under UMNO’s help….it would have gone bankcrupt years ago.
    This shows …not all car manufacturers do not produce quality cars….yet still can go bancrupt.
    It’s bad management and too much company racialist politics played…with unqualified people..as .heads of departmentys…creating a change reaction….that employ so many half past sixes. That will kill the company.
    Proton and all government aided controlled companies have that distinct characteristic.
    Any company under UMNO..can never succeed because UMNO does not know management at all.

  112. The bone of contention is this : in order to diffuse the hostile environment by separating the parties, the Inflight Supervisor should have relocated the unruly passenger with an unreasonable grouse than relocating Radhika from her seat when she was the innocent party. Whilst it might not be intended by the Inflight Supervisor, it however gave the impression to Radhika and all on board that the unruly passenger had his bigotry ways condoned and gratified by MAS’s cabin crew!

    That is where MAS is on soft ground on this issue : but what can we say, it was the Inflight Supervisor’s judgment call under the pressure of circumstances.

    Suffice to say, MAS’s stance to investigate and preparedness to negotiate with Radhika on “service recovery beyond the norms” is the correct thing for MAS to do, and thats the way to go.

  113. What Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan encountered on that eventful flight can occur anyway. There is a simple world for it and it is call BULLYING. Had she been a 6 footer, well build fierce looking Hindu man with bulging shoulder and biceps like Nadal, I am not so sure this could have happened. The worse thing she could have done was to go one corner and cry on the quiet. This only strengthen the resolve of the bully to push further. If she wanted to cry she should have cried out aloud for everybody to hear and make sure it reaches the pilot. If she heard herself and religion being verbally abused why did she not make a stand there and then. Fire back at whatever language and in fact just use any damn words. Don’t think that idiot will understand anyway. She was really in a very public place with lots of people around and I would be surprise if the bully did not back down with any type of outburst from her. There is a price for being timid.

    This is really life. If you do not fight the battle there and then for yourself I am afraid often time you will not get addressal. You are in fact fortunate here as MAS did and is indeed behaving responsibly and you have the avenue to broadcast on this blog to reach the public. I suppose most of us understand that if we want something done fast and well, we really have to be either hands on and make a fuss of things- especially when we are dealing with incompetent institutions.

  115. Since 911, airline crews should have gone through special training in handling “dangerous” and “suspicious” passengers in view of terrorism. Based on the description by Mrs Radhika Iyer, the male passenger’s disposition and actions was not only a security threat to Mrs Radhika, but also possibly to the other passengers and crew members. This man should have been immediately escorted out of the aircraft by security personnel and thoroughly scrutinized before allowing him to board the flight again. It is clear that the MAS crew were not trained well in handling hostile and dangerous situations like this. This is clearly not acceptable in post 911 era.

  116. Sorry to be off-topic

    Suspected car thief Kugan was taken to the Taipan police station on Tuesday when he suddenly collapsed and died while being questioned. Then how come the hundreds of terrorists held in Gitmo do not suddenly collapse and die while being questioned? Sumting very funny going on in Taipan.

  118. /// malaysia_airlines Says:
    Today at 14: 20.33 (1 hour ago)

    The results of our investigations showed that the passenger who was given a seat next to Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan was not allowed into Karachi in view of insufficient travel documents on arrival. ///

    So, who is at fault now? The MAS check-in counter, or the Malaysian Immigration counter for letter this brute out of the country without proper and sufficient travel documents?

  119. malaysia_airlines Says:

    Today at 14: 20.33 (1 hour ago)
    Malaysia Airlines regrets and views the matters raised by Mrs Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan very seriously.

    …….

    We truly regret the incident and have offered Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan service recovery beyond the norm. We are currently in discussions with her to reach a mutually agreeable solution.

    Regards,
    John Low
    Manager
    Customer Response
    Malaysia Airlines

    ———————-

    First of all, I applaud MAS for acknowledging the issue. There are some discrepancies between the results of MAS’s investigation and Mrs. Iyer-O’Sullivan’s story but MAS’s own investigation is mostly consistent with Mrs. Iyer-O’Sullivan’s story.

    From my own experience, given the situation, most other airlines would have moved Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan to business or first class. The staff will over compensate and I think that it is the right thing to do under the circumstances. The fact that in-flight crew choosed to move Mrs. Iyer-O’Sullivan to another seat in the same class and not the unruly passenger is rubbing salt to the injury, in my honest opinion. I can only conclude that either the crew has not been properly trained to handle the situation or the crew is unable to appreciate the seriousness of the situation and consider the matter trivial. Neither of which is a good reflection of MAS.

    Lastly, I hope that your discussions with Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan end with an amicable solution and it will not be a case of “too little too late”.

  120. who are the two deputy ministers? besides RPK, no media dares to name any politicians

    PETALING JAYA, Jan 22 — The police are expected to record the statements of two deputy ministers in connection with the incident at the Serdang Hospital mortuary where the body of a suspected car thief was alleged to have been tampered with.

  121. MAS pays very little attention to cultural needs passengers.

    I am a vegetarian. Whenever I fly with other airlines (SIA, China Air, EvaAir, etc, someone will always confirm with the my diet choice and put a sticker on my seat prior to the take off. And I always have no problem with the food they serve.

    But on MAS flight, after I board the plane, someone will approach me to confirm my diet choice, then just walk away without putting a sticker or any other form of identification. Almost half of the time I will be served non-vegetarian meal, simply because another attendant serve the food. And they will exchange the meal only after my protest. That truly upset me. And I am sure I am not the only upset by their obvious unsystematic procedure. A simple diet choice stick will prevent all this problem.

    Food choices are VERY important for religious people. How would you feel if you are served beef if you are a Hindu? Or served non-halal food if you are a Muslim? Sadly MAS has done nothing to improve it over the decades.

  122. UMNO was like former MAS, a former horrible airlines. But MAS managed to become one of the best airlines in the world (put aside some complaints), then why can’t UMNO make it to become one of the best political parties?

  123. Then how come
    It’s nice to see people feeling unafraid to use dodgy logic in comments again.

    not acceptable in post 911 era
    I was hoping after some time had passed, we could all try something other than ‘shoot first’. There’s no doubt the bar was raised for ‘acceptable behaviour’ aboard aircraft post-911, but not everybody wants to live in Singapore. I remember flying to Ireland twice a year as a child, with the cabin thick with fumes from cigarettes and alcohol. It was a rare flight that didn’t see a punch-up or two. They didn’t have pretty stewardesses on those flights – they were no good in a fist fight, I guess. Undergrad2 might remember the glory days of the Aer Lingus jet set.

    should have relocated the unruly passenger
    I’m with Jeffrey on this one, but one unruly halfwit could cause trouble that might take several people to subdue. Perhaps placating the troublemaker is erring on the side of caution. If no other passenger was ready to speak up in defence of their fellow passenger, and the passenger herself wasn’t standing her ground, then perhaps the cabin staff didn’t fancy their chances if push came to shove. A difficult decision to second guess. I imagine it would have been an easier decision if the deportee had boarded at LAX or LHR: “please reconsider your behaviour, the ground crew are licensed to kill, sir”

  124. MAS sucks, we all know that, but lady you should just get over it.
    boo hoo from your letter what u claim you had to go through wasn’t exactly the rawest deal. the way MAS handled that man, on the other hand spells discount airline.

  126. I myself felt that Air Asia is worse than MAS. But most of you tried not to complain because you pay less to fly with Air Asia. The airport check-in, boarding room and lines, etc. are a disaster. No one wanted to line up properly. This is just a kampong airlines. Perhaps this is the boleh manner than we all can accept. I would rather pay a bit more to fly with MAS.

  127. If Ms Radhika had not brought up this issue here on Kit’s blog, I am positive NOTHING would have happened. MAS would have most probably closed the case with a standard apology.
    Mr Low has deliberately avoided the most important point. Why was no action taken against the uncouth passenger? Failure to act will encourage him to repeat his racist stance against some other innocent passengers.
    MAS could have kept an eye on her regardless of where she had sat.
    So if a drunken man makes a mess of himself in a hotel lobby/restaurant, should the manager request all other diners to move to another room in the hotel for their protection( like the need for the use of ISA on that reporter)?
    MAS should come clean and catch the bulls by the horns. Admit your mistake and go after that scum.

  128. This incident basically reminded me of my case in last year whereby a police report was lodged against this lady who daringly put up a notice on my car windscreen asking me to leave as the owner wanted the bay back. She didn’t know that I have rented out the parking bay from the owner (mind you I have been parking there close to one year then). When I confronted her, when argument heated up, she was violent to me via poking my eyes with her fingers and throwing keys at me and my wife who was hurt next to her eyelid. Went to make a police report and was told (after months later though!!) that she had been contacted and soon she will come and apologise to me and my wife. Guess what, it’s coming to one year now and she’s still walking in and out bumping into me and my wife now and then as if the argument had never taken place!!! Talk about JUSTICE here!! Are we being protected by the police here? If this is can be projected by MAS then what’s there for our police force to show or lead by example………………what a system!!

  129. MAS have responded.
    What else do we want?
    MAS clearly said….they will contact Radhika…to solve matters.
    Now it is up to her…to demand satisfaction.
    What is very clear to me…is…Lim Kit Siang’s blog is powerful and influential.
    With those great commentators…all supporting poor helpless..Radhika…MAS simply dare not ignore.
    Now lets wait for Radhika to tell us any good news.
    She does owe that much to you all…great supporters of human rights.
    For me….I will fly by MAS…to give our Malaysian airline..as much support possible. I have no choice too.
    The biggest problem is not the airline.
    It is playing race politics and corruptions.
    How many time…. you hear MAS is in financial trouble…instead of growing like tiny…Singapore Airline..into a world giant.
    Singapore Airline is riding high….yet UMNO want to teach PAP how to manage things.
    Malaysians UMNO Muslims have no shame..can never learn..and now known as.. with denial syndrom…but to me…they are simply thick skin corrupted hypocrites…in the government or out there..managing government owned companies. These..lapdogs CEOs…get filthy rich too…by co-operating with UMNO…to suck us high and dry…of God gifted wealth to all Malaysians..for UMNO kitty bank and private benefits.
    Those will be “HELL MONEY” for UMNO..sooner or later.
    Soon MAS…UE…Perjaya Steel need bail outs again.
    Crooks love to own companies that are in serious billions RM financial difficulties.
    For the reasons….I leave it to expert economists …to explain.

  130. ///The Inflight Supervisor made a judgment call to provide Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan with an alternative seat, instead of that passenger, because they needed to remove her from that environment.///—MAS

    He would have done better by providing Mrs Iyer an upgraded seat in a better environment, and inform the trouble-maker of this fact. The jealousy will affect him for the rest of the journey.

    Let’s hope that in future MAS will implement the policy of providing the affect passenger an upgraded environemnt as compensation for the unpleasant experience.

  131. I wonder all this inconveniences would have been mitigated if Mdm Radhika would just told the abusive ‘fellow passenger’ that she is a Christian/Buddhist/etc and tell him to behave himself.

    Emily Pratt

  132. It’s better for me to avoid taking MAS coz just like In-flight sales they also have In-flight racism.The situation here is getting worst as we’re forced to experience racism not only in the ground but also in the air.Is the Malaysian Obama already born or going to born????

  133. Emily Pratt,

    Even if mdm Radhika is not a Hindu ,it is not justify for this so called Malaysian/Pakistani idiot with Malaysian IC to bully any religion.MAS should have taken a strong action on this kind of racist. Who knows this fellow could be one of the terrorist freely travelling to Malaysia and Pakistan.This reminds me of 9/11.Wow,better boycott MAS once for all.

  134. Mother of three, i agree with you on the fact that MAS should have taken a very strong action on this type of racist fellow. Who knows, he maybe a foreigner that somehow got a hold on a Malaysian passport and IC. What a thought — “Terrorist on the loose!!!!!!!”

    So, if those out there going and wanting to travel overseas some time soon, better avoid MAS totally for your own safety.

  135. Not Suprising at all , the crew were in cohorts with the male muslim passenger, becos in Malaysia its Ok for a non muslim to be abused by muslims but not the the other way around , they call you kafirs and what not , but anyway thank you for highlighting this article, and GOD forbids , i will not fly Malaysian airlines for the rest of my life, the airline is as racist as the ruling party who continue to perpetuate racial hatred towards the nons.

  136. MAS be prepared for another complaint from an American passenger in the near future.One of your Malaysian passenger might say that he/she cannot sit beside an American as they boycott American product and also Americans as a whole.So,be cautious and give training for your crew and pilot to tackle this kind of situation.

  137. Let’s not get carried away with all these calls to boycott MAS. There are always passengers who misbehave on flights and it is up to each airline and their crew to deal with particular situations. Maybe the crew had not come across this blatant racist abuse before, and were ill-prepared to deal with the situation.

    Remember that a racist passenger with an inexperienced crew does not make the airline racist. Where were all those people sitting around this abused passenger ? Why did no one come to her aid or simply tell off this passenger ? Maybe we have all been taught to mind our own business, maybe we are mostly immune to racial taunts, but it is up to us all collectively to do something in such a situation – but surely not by boycotting the airline.

  138. Hell would have broken loose at KL arrival if a non muslim would have said that he/she would not want to have a seat beside a muslim., the passenger would have been handcuffed on arrival and then tortured by the police , this is justice ala Malaysia, just see what’s happening to the Hindraf detainees, just becos they are hindus.

  139. “….in Malaysia its Ok for a non muslim to be abused by muslims but not the the other way around…” is exactly the sort of uncalled-for statement that we must avoid. I have many Muslim friends who have openly criticised fellow Muslims for their racial statements. There will always be some rotten eggs in a large basket, so it is wrong to generalise in the manner than Evenmind did above.

  141. THE LEAST THE GOVERNMENT CAN LEARN FROM THIS IS STOP ‘CATEGORISING’ BECAUSE THE GOOD AND BAD CITIZENS ARE TAKING A CUE FROM THE ILLEDUCATED GOVERNMENT

    NO MORE NON THESE AND NON THAT S H I TT, IT GODAMN SUCKS

  142. Evenmind: You are not better than the racists that you purport to condemn. For every idiot like Ahmad Ismail, there are hundreds or even thousands of Malays who don’t have his racist views. Can you even understand this ?

  143. JUST CALL US MALAYSIANS , NOT NON THESE AND NON THAT , WHAT’S SO DIFFICULT ABOUT THAT. THE APARTHIED ERA IS OVER , THERE IS NOW A BLACK PRESIDENT IN AMERICA, MALAAYSIA IS STILL NON THESE AND NON THAT. THAT’S WHY THE PEOPLE HERE ARE SO RACISTS

  144. I just wonder if this famous “hero” ever come up with such a statement if he happens to travel by Cathay Pacific,SIA,Indian Airlines or British Airways.He showed his heroism coz he is travelling back to Malaysia by MAS airlines.So,who give him the strength to behave in such a manner??????Well,you know the answer.

  145. i am not a racist , i am driving a point. i’ve lived most of my life overseas where there is no non these and non that and people are not as racists as the blunt malaysian passenger on the plane, who think that it’s his birth right to be racist and a religion fanatic, from the day he was becos he has taken that very cue from the gomen from the day he was born.

  146. I’ve been on commercial flights at least once a month in over 30 years and only once have I encountered a difficult situation with a passenger. That happened on a Cathay Pacific flight where the female passenger started getting abusive to fellow travellers seated around her, and the captain had to eject her from the aircraft. She was definitely a nut case.

    The situation faced by Radhika is extremely rare, and I don’t think that the crew was ever prepared for it. Hence I don’t think we should make it into such a big meal, especially on the racial front.

  147. ………because he thinks he superior , becos his gomen has told him so. IF YOU STOP THE CATEGORIZATION YOU CAN STOP OR LIMIT THE RACISM …. WE HATE TO BE CALLED NON THESE AND NON THAT BECOS THE DISUNITY IS CULTIVATED AND SOWN BY THE VERY GOMEN WHO RUNS THE COUNTRY.

  148. I just remember!!
    MAS crews performing sex shows on DVD for sale…about 5 years ago.!! Hot stuffs….performing…all muslims…hahahahahahaha
    Those chicks were real hot!!
    Like all prostitutes….somehow…all disappeared to thin air.
    Not really . All retires to small towns and villages.
    MAS really do have some great reputations……hahahahahaha
    Just imagine…more than 50 years old..come one..Air Asia.. few years old….now as big …if not bigger than MAS.
    If license given to DAP..” Rocket” or freely to anyone..with total freedom of press releases… as newspapers….they will kill Star and S.Times in no time.!!
    So many businesses….monopolized by UMNO…yet all loose money.
    Who are they trying to fool now?

  149. “I just wonder if this famous “hero” ever come up with such a statement if he happens to travel by Cathay Pacific,SIA,Indian Airlines or British Airways.He showed his heroism coz he is travelling back to Malaysia by MAS airlines.So,who give him the strength to behave in such a manner??????Well,you know the answer.” – mother of three

    Assuredly, he would be quiet like a mouse!!!
    It’s so typical of them.

    By the way, the cabin crew of MH161 are just pathetic!!!

  150. and good nite , i’m on a different time zone , and i hope the ill educated gomen of Malaysia can learn from this and stop the categorization of its citizens so that we can live and work harmoniously as equals ., there is no neccessity of non these and non that .., This is very first step the UMNO morons should take., cultivate harmony and equality and i’m sure the results would be sweeet.

  152. Dear John Low, Manager, Customer Response.
    If the same type incident were to happen in, say, in any American Airline, would the offensive passenger be accorded the same treatment as what MAS has done?
    As far as I know the pilot will refuse to take off until the passenger is removed.I thought the pilot would have been involved in this matter instead of just the cabin crew?Was the matter reported to the pilot?
    I hope Mrs. Radhika Iyer-O’Sullivan will fight her case and not stop after some sweets have been given to her by MAS.

  153. I once traveled on JAL between Tokyo and Seoul and a passenger, apparently experiencing a sudden surge in testosterones level, pinched the bottom of a flight attendant who was reaching to secure overhead luggage. She just smiled at him. The flight went smoothly. No bumps. No grinds.

    We have a lot to learn from her.

    She did not sue this passenger for battery and assault. She knew when she took on the job, bottom pinching is an occupational hazard on certain routes. So she decides to take the rough with the smooth.

    Top marks goes to this airline which gives a new meaning to ‘passenger comfort’.

  154. Dear Wanderer many important people all fly SIA. Their first and business class far superior to MAS. And Undergrad2 I hope that your sister or wife is not working as flight attendent.

    Every day when I see what is happening around us I am lost for words. We have lost the moral high ground and are now officially going backwards.

    Those in positions should not abdicate their resposibility. If the seat is hot rersign and let another do the job.

  155. Are there any JAL flights from KLIA? I feel a sudden surge in testosterone levels! On the other side of the coin, I saw the bottom-pinching thing happen in a nightclub once, and the woman dancing hit the sitting man with a chair. The bouncers saw what was happening, ran over, were told what had transpired, and bounced the fellow off every wall and piece of furniture between his seat and the door. The manager apologised profusely to the woman, gave her and her friends free drinks for the rest of the night and arranged for one of his staff to drive them home at the end of the night.

    Zero tolerance for assault and sex pests is the way to go, if you have the support of those around you. Where I lived before I came to Malaysia, women walked to and from the nightclubs in bikinis and even quickly stocked up on frozen goods at the supermarket cold counter in bikinis if the weather was very hot. I’ve worked at IT companies where staff (including women) wore beachwear in the office in a very rare heatwave. Zero tolerance is a very, very good thing if you like your environment well-stocked with women enjoying to the full every single second of their freedom. I do.

  156. Ramesh Laxman Says:

    Today at 20: 30.25 (28 minutes ago)
    Dear Wanderer many important people all fly SIA. Their first and business class far superior to MAS. And Undergrad2 I hope that your sister or wife is not working as flight attendent.”

    My only sister has long passed to the other side after flying on a Concorde. I’m not married and so that leaves only my mother. Surely you’re not asking my mother to work as flight attendant?

  158. Manager, Customer Response??

    It is good to know MAS now has a team of first responders who are not firemen, paramedic and police and other emergency workers, sitting behind their desks ready to respond to criticism from the traveling public.

    I’m concerned that some members of the traveling public may now think that it is alright when traveling on an MAS flight for a Muslim passenger to insult another Muslim passenger so long as they are of the same race – or that it is alright for a Caucasian ‘infidel’ to insult a fellow infidel so long as they are not Malaysians.

    Perhaps MAS should reserve seats at the back of the aricraft for ‘insulting passengers’ and leave the rest of the aircraft insult free?

  159. OrangRojak,

    At the rate jobs are being lost on a daily basis in the U.S. soon there’ll be a wave of unemployed, angry and disillusioned Americans heading your way. MAS will need to put its cabin crew through a crash course in how to handle faith-insulting passengers – and perhaps reserve seats for those ‘insulting passengers’ at the back of the aircraft and leave the rest of the aircraft insult free.

  160. “Mr Low has deliberately avoided the most important point. Why was no action taken against the uncouth passenger?”

    Like banning this passenger from all MAS flights for a year?? For being the ‘scum of the earth’ that he is??

    I wonder if a Caucasian misbehaving himself and making his contribution to the already abundant supply of racial epithets would get a fraction of the attention and the criticism this passenger is now getting.

  161. Hey, let me tell you a real flight story I experienced on X’mas day, 25 Dec 2002.

    For those of you who travel frequently, you must have personal experience of when telling foreigners of any countries you are from Malaysia, the first question they will ask is whether you are Muslim… Many foreigners are very poor in geography & demography.

    I was on board SriLankan Airlines from KUL-SIN-CMB-MAA. En-route SIN-MAA, I sat next to some Sri Lankans, and we were chatting well on business in S’pore… I spoke Singlish & he thought I was Singaporean until he asked me where I stay. Told him I am Malaysian & he immediately distance himself away from me (shifted his body a little) and asked me “Are you Muslim?” I was taken back – obviously he doesn’t know almost all Chinese in Malaysia are non-Muslim. But after saying no, our conversation broke down – he became more silent & reserved. I kept quite & slept until we landed later & said goodbye to him.

    Let me tell you that I got this same “Are you Muslim” question when I visited India, Sri Lanka, even Burma (Myanmar), Philippines and China (they think Malaysia is like Xinjiang where many Han people there are Muslims) – and many don’t believe me until I ordered roast pork & brandy while eating with them.

  162. I believe that ‘Malaysian’ is not a native Malaysian, but of Pakistani descendant, living for too long in Pakistan.

    I have some Pakistani colleagues – all Muslims – & all are very friendly & openly says they like to work with Chinese here… All mixed well with the local Chinese here… Yes, most are very very very religious & pray 5 times a day, even while working under the hot sun & they are downright against the US.

    But they like the Chinese here because China is Pakistan’s staunch ally and vice-versa. But Pakistan & India are having strained relations I understand. But again the nasty guy on board is not a Pakistani – don’t know his actual status – orang pelarian. Better just send him to Guantanamo Bay – Aiyaa too late, Obama is closing down Guantanamo prison.

  163. I don’t read the MSM news anymore. But, this should be reported on the MSM and MAS should at least make some statement about it or why no action was taken. No politic or business sense and no wonder government can only compare Malaysia to Myanmar not other like Singapore or Taiwan.

    MAS should take this opportunity to its advantages but you know they will choose silence and hope two days from now no one will know or care.

  164. To the victim who wrote that article:

    – you should sue the airlines and its staff for the emotional trauma and abuse that you had to suffer. As a follow-up, you should also sue the passenger in question.

    – you are being told BS by the MAS staff. Deportee or not, when it comes to flight procedures, if the passenger causes a disturbance on the plane, that passenger has to be removed from the plane at first opportunity.

    If you simply stop at writing a letter to tell others about it, then you are extremely weak, and will probably end up being bullied in other situations in your life in the future as well. So, get a lawyer and sue the pants off them, it is pointless to just share this tale with others. Do not be someone who complains to the wrong channels.

  165. The airline’s excuse is a joke: “In checking with our Inflight Supervisor and crew, they themselves were shocked at his behaviour.”

    Airline crew should be well-trained enough to handle all sorts of nasty incidents. To say their staff were shocked (but did not do the right thing needed of them) does not help ease the trauma of the victim. If anything, it is just a confirmation that there are incompetent staff from inside of the plane right into the customer service department.

  166. //The plane began to taxi and I was then taken to another seat (42H). As I sat down, I asked the steward, ‘Is he off the plane?’ and the answer was, ‘No.’ I was appalled.//

    For crying out loud about your right to a stress free flight on an MAS flight, you’re insensitive about a fellow passenger’s right to exercise his constitutional right of freedom of movement. Am I missing something? Is it also because he is a Muslim and you’re a Hindu?

    He was belligerent to the crew (and unpleasant to you) for failing to assign another seat for him – but not to all the passengers. So why should he be forced off the plane because you have a sensitive disposition and because he made some rude and unkind remarks?

    Let’s try and connect the dots.

    Watch a Malaysian walks into a bank. At the slightest hint of a slow service at the counter how many would thump his or her fists and call for an officer or manager to demand more prompt service?? Try doing that at the counter of Barclays or Chase Bank in London or in New York and you’ll have a fleet of police cars ‘welcoming’ you to their country!

    I am curious to know how you would react to racial slurs leveled at you while walking the streets of cities in Alabama or Georgia in the U.S.

    Having said that, what the captain should have done was to take matters into his own hands and if the problem was one of seats, have you seated in First Class where there would always be seats judging from the poor handling by the flight crew of situations involving infractions of this nature. The flight crew did not ignore the problem and in fact handled the situation the best way they know how. I hope you’re not calling for their resignations as well.

    The anger that we see expressed on this blog and on this thread is due in no small measure to MAS being the symbol of racial discrimination in Malaysia – perhaps its cheer leader.

  167. Let’s try and connect the dots.

    Watch a Malaysian walks into a bank. At the slightest hint of a slow service at the counter how many would thump his or her fists and call for an officer or manager to demand more prompt service?? Try doing that at the counter of Barclays or Chase Bank in London or in New York and you’ll have a fleet of police cars ‘welcoming’ you to their country!

    I am curious to know how you would react to racial slurs leveled at you while walking the streets of cities in Alabama or Georgia in the U.S.

    Having said that, what the captain should have done was to take matters into his own hands and if the problem was one of seats, have you seated in First Class where there would always be seats judging from the poor handling by the flight crew of situations involving infractions of this nature. The flight crew did not ignore the problem and in fact handled the situation the best way they know how. I hope you’re not calling for their resignations as well.

    The anger that we see expressed on this blog and on this thread is due in no small measure to MAS being the symbol of racial discrimination in Malaysia – perhaps its cheer leader.

  169. This is no time to dwell on such issues as the state of mind of a passenger or passengers on an MAS flight!!

    Microsoft is for the time in its history laying off some 5,000 employees!!!! Deal with that and what is coming – a global recession.

    What’s one unhappy passenger on some airline??

  171. Malaysian Hospitality does not include self righteousness. With MAS, you could phone up to reserve your favourite seat. And change your seat if your sitting partner is a chatterbox. People who are racists cannot get to enjoy free seating in Air Asia. Wow ! Imagine if all civil servants including drivers get to enjoy first class flight. The government will be broke just by giving claims. Some of you guys here command such fantastic English. But knowledge wise, you need to talk to the grassroots.

  172. undergrad2, at least we can get our minds of the depressing news on the global recession for awhile by diverting our attention to less than a one star airline.

    raven77, betcha most of the GLCs’ employees are not bothered with what we think of them. As long as they get their fat bonus and increment, they do not care if they need to wake up to do their job properly. Even a TNB employee at the Shah Alam TNB office can yell and shout at a 50 plus lady customer and when asked to apologise, he can say, “Kenapa? Tidak Puas Hati ke?” as reported in the Star paper yesterday.

  173. To be fair, there are also quite a number of hardworking Malaysians that can be found in the GLCs. It is the bad apples that often overshadow these wonderful, caring, customer-orientated personnel.

    For those of you doing a good job, thank you and for those that are giving your colleagues a bad reputation due to your lack of intelligence and effort, better start thinking of selling goreng pisang instead of the nice air-con office that you are in at the moment.

  176. To the deportee who happens to be reading this, whoever you are, you are nothing but a racist scumbag! If I know who you are, I would spit right in front of your face. By the way, I have long boycotted MAS for one reason i.e. inefficient.

  177. Techincally the guy was not a deportee. He was declared inadmissible by immigration – which means he was not allowed entry. If they allowed him entry then he has the right to a lawyer and notice served on him to appear in court. Bail would have to be given.

    If he was a deportee they are likely to have him seated at the back by himself; and if accompanied by an air marshal he would probably be handcuffed if they think he poses any danger to other passengers.

  178. I was on board Air India at MAA back to KUL in 1999.

    Was assigned a seat at check-in, found myself next to an attractive Hindi girl – Bollywood style. But after seating for 5min the stewardess told me I cannot sit there & change seats for me. I asked why & she replied that male & female cannot seat together in Air India unless married. !!! That was in 1999. Haven’t taken AI since.

    Bet if PAS takes over Malaysia, there will be seperate check-in counters for male & female & seperate boarding gates for M/F – got to use 2 aerobridges & seperate seats for males & females.!!!

  180. Dear Radhika,

    I am not the least surprised about your Horror Flight from Dubai to KLIA when you fly MAS. I do sympathies you for the horrific experience, this is typical of MAS’s arrogance all these years. I would suggest you take MAS to the Tribunal Court in Dubai ( If they do have one ) Sue them for Undue Stress and whatever else you feel you have been subjected to during that flight.

    I live and work in Auckland, New Zealand and goes back for holiday almost every year. I have taken MAS to the Tribunal Court in Auckland and successfully claimed compensations for lost of income, Undue stress caused, accomadations cost and Taxi fares.
    A few years back, my family and I were booked on a flight back to KL but when we arrived at the Check-in counter on the Due date we were given a big shock by the counter clerk, \ I am sorry Sir, you and your family’s names are not in the system \. We were made to wait till the Counter for that fight closes and even then the counter clerk could not give us a good explanation as to why our names were strucked out from the Booking list. A desperate check by phone with my local Travel Agent revealed that MAS office in Auckland had at the last minute removed about 40 Paxs to accomodate a Tour Group. We were tossed about like a ball from MAS Auckland to Local Travel Agent and after much inconvenience we were finally offered another flight 2 days later.
    After coming back from our Holidays I decided to write a letter of my greviences to the Local General Manager for MAS at the downtown office. After a laspes of two weeks there was still no response from MAS, so I wrote another letter and added that should I not hear from them within a period 2 weeks I would not hesitate to take MAS to the Tribunal Court. Guess what, they DON’T give two hood about it and I thought I would give the GM another chance by phoning him. When I rang up to ask to speak to the GM, I was told he has gone Golfing ! What the heck, I was bloody stunned, Golfing during working hours?? Are they posted overseas to work or to play GOLF ?? I wasn’t about to claim any
    monies from MAS at the begining, all I wanted was to have my complain looked at by the MAS GM but obviously he was just too
    arrogant (typical Top Management and Govt Dept’s attitude) and most likely threw my letters into the dust Bin. The GM’s mistakes was that he forgot he was living and working in NZ and not in Bolehland and in New Zealand we have a Small Claims Court where you do not require a Lawyer to represent you. You bet I took MAS to the Tribunal Court and we won and was fully compensated. The whole case took only less than 25 minutes and I received the cheque within 2 weeks.
    Another most hated place to deal with in NZ is the Malaysian High Com. in Wellington, the staffs there also behaves as though they are in one of those Govt Depts. The Ambassador is always not available, either gone Golfing or Sea Fishing, what a Life. I hope Badawi or Najib can take a closer look at our Embassy in Wellington.
    One can hardly get through the phone and if you are put through at all, the staffs there behaves as though they are doing us a favour, what a bloody arrogance shown, I doubt the Ambassador knows about his staffs behaviours and attitude as he is seldom around.
    Coming back to MAS, I find most of them are racially bais, they’ll be exceptionally curtious and nice to White Paxs and some will even pick on own fellow Malaysian ! I am not simply accusing them of such behaviours as I was a victim myself to some of their arrogance.
    In short, MAS as a whole is ARROGANT. The current GM in Auckland
    is always not in Office, always out Golfing !!

  182. MAS does not take this matter lightly. We understand and appreciate the severity of this incident and have been in touch with Mr. and Mrs. O’ Sullivan since the incident came to our attention soon after Christmas.

    During this time, investigations were conducted, whereby personnel were interviewed and voyage reports were retrieved to ascertain all the facts from the incident. I contacted Mr. O’Sullivan and then Mrs. O’Sullivan over the phone in early January, and we had offered an apology and service recovery for the unfortunate experience, which was subsequently rejected. We will continue with our service recovery efforts and hope to settle this with Mrs. O’ Sullivan soon.

    The passenger turned away from Karachi Airport is not a foreign national. Airport Security at Karachi was in fact involved and on board before the flight took off. After being warned by crew and security the passenger agreed not to create any more incidents. Our records show that business class was full hence they were unable to upgrade Mrs. O’ Sullivan. Mrs. O’ Sullivan was re-seated within the economy cabin before the flight took off for her safety and security. The Captain was informed that the situation had been diffused, before the flight took off.

    We regret that this incident took place and will continue with our service recovery efforts.

    John Low
    Manager
    Customer Relations Unit
    Malaysia Airlines

  183. Then , why wasn’t the man arrested or at least questioned by police on arrival KL., what monkey airlines are you operating ??
    Mr. Low , take the crap out and sell the story to Timbaktu, you might find a buyer there.

  184. Mr Low,
    Yes, cut the crap. The comments here is reaching a record 200. What other feedback do you want.

    WHAT ACTION WILL YOU TAKE AGAINST THAT SCUM?
    Has any attempt been made to contact him? Don’t tell me that he will not be required to even offer a simple apology to Ms Radrika and MAS personnel?

  185. Mr John Low,

    Well MAS crew knew at Karachi itself that the unruly passenger had insufficient travel documents (thats why he was not allowed into Karachi).

    The question posed by TheWrathOfGrapes Yesterday at 15: 54.57
    – “so, who is at fault now? The MAS check-in counter, or the Malaysian Immigration counter for letting this brute out of the country without proper and sufficient travel documents? – has not yet been answered.

    After letting him out – and Karachi won’t let him in – he made a commotion whilst the aircraft was in flight doing an act which had he been on the Malaysian soil would have constituted an offence of sedition and therefore on the air should have likewise constituted an offence by virtue of the Civil Aviation Offences Act 1984.

    Yet he had his way, retained his seat, the one wronged and aggrieved was relocated elsewhere. Then on landing in KLIA, he was let off as if what he had done on flight to Radhika, including his travelling with inadequate travel documents, were nothing of consequence for which he needed to account for.

    Readers like Evenmind above are cheesed off because, assuming that the unruly passenger was just let off and just walked away, they don’t understand the apparent lackadasical approach taken by the National Airline in not making him account for his aberrant and unlawful actions. Can MAS explain why that is so?

  186. Sometime ago my daughter who was booked on a flight from Singapore to Chicago via Narita on United Airlines got the shock of her life when on reaching Changi she was told that the UA flight had been cancelled. She was instead placed on North West airline, which was scheduled to take off an hour earlier than the UA flight. Fortunately, we reached the airport 3 hours before the aborted UA flight.
    A few weeks later my daughter received a USD 200 voucher from UA, an apology for the inconvenience. She later used the ticket for a internal flight in the States.
    What I am trying to point our here is that my daughter did not even lodge a complaint for the ‘inconveniance’ yet UA acted on its own accord.
    Can we expect such a thing from MAS? Never in a million years.

  187. I was forwarded this link from friends.

    I am surprised Malaysian readers believe everything they read online.

    This is the online world. Moreover, this is an open letter from one individual.

    She is mad at being bullied not by the staff, but by the man, and there was nothing she could do about it.

    It sounds like she is diverting her anger for being bullied and not being able to stand up to him, towards the airline.

    If she really wants to pursue this she should bring this up with the airline asking them for the man’s details, and bring this up with the local police. She may need to go through the legal methods for this information.

    The lady also says she was contacted with some apology and an offer. It is not as if she was completely ignored and I’d say their dialogue is still going on.

    She is probably asking for freebies, not getting it, and resorting to this slander. We all know there are folks out there who jump on a chance like this.

    But as I said, you can’t believe everything you read online.

  188. Dear Mr. Low,
    ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS.
    If MAS takes this incident seriously why was the culprit allowed to walk away instead of being arrested.It is quite obvious MAS does not take this incident seriously.
    If Mrs. O’Sullivan was pleased with MAS handling this incident she would not have reported on this incident.So please do not try your best in telling us how thoughtful was the cabin crew during the flight etc.
    In your next posting please tell us what MAS has done to arrest the offending passenger.
    No point in telling us about Mrs. O’Sullivan for we now know she will not take your sweets.
    We would like to know what action MAS has taken against the offending passsenger.
    Anyway I have told my Office not to use MAS if possible for I do not want them to be abused by another passenger and MAS will inform the police to take action against the culprit.

  189. Is the unruly passenger an umno tuan? Then the only action MAS has taken against that offending passsenger is to kneel down before him and whimper, ” Ampun Tuanku, beribu-ribu ampun. Patik yang tak berguna ini minta ampun…”

  190. Radhika provoked the man.

    From the the story, it was very clear that Radhika has attitude problem and racist too.

    she is asking too much, MAS should kick her out of the plane.

    the crew did the right thing by calming down the man and handled the man quite well.

  191. Dear John Low,

    It is just a minor incident and it does not warrant any arrest of the passenger.

    Radhika and her husband were too much, they were asking for the sky….

    MAS had offered an apology and service recovery to them, but they wanted the moon and the sky…..

    MAS should stop entertain such nuisance couple….

    just ignore this useless couple

  192. Looking at the scenario, it is clear that MAS is basically managed to serve the BN brass and those Gomen workers who have the chance to say ‘yes Sir! Yes Sir! 3 bagful’.
    Many years ago, there was a case where the station manager of SIA removed a son of a senior staff from the flight in order to allow a full paying passenger the last seat. Of course, he took the trouble to take care of the boy as well as knowing that his flight wasn’t urgent.
    If this were to happen in Bolehland, the poor station manager would have had his skin peeled of!
    At MAS, it is likely the reverse would have had happen!
    The other day, my son came back with a leather wallet, his mother asked why did he buy another wallet? he said that SIA had delayed his flight and having bought them food they also gave him the wallet as a gift for the inconvenience!
    An Aussie who flew with him from Melbourne commented that even Quantas had never been so considerate. Business requires business attitude and business sense!
    By the way, cintanegara and melurian, our neighbour has splashed s$20.5 billions from their coffer to take care of those badly affected by the current economic downturn. What say you both??

  193. Lemme tell ya a story:

    This scene took place on a British Airways flight between Johannesburg, South Africa & London.

    A white woman, about 50 years old, was seated next to a black man.

    Very disturbed by this, she called the air hostess. ‘You obviously do not see it then?’ she asked. ‘You placed me next to a black man.. I did not agree to sit next to someone from such a repugnant group.

    ‘Give me an alternative seat.’

    ‘Be calm please,’ the hostess replied.

    ‘Almost all the places on this flight are taken. I will go to see if another place is available.’

    The hostess went away and then came back a few minutes later. ‘Madam, just as I thought, there are no other available seats in Economy Class. I spoke to the captain and he informed me that there is also no seat in Business Class. All the same, we still have one place in First Class.’

    Before the woman could say anything, the hostess continued.

    ‘It is not usual for our company to permit someone from Economy Class to sit in First Class. However, given the circumstances, the captain feels that it would be scandalous to make someone sit next to someone so disgusting.’

    The Hostess turned to the black guy, and said, ‘Therefore, Sir, if you would like to, please collect your hand luggage, a seat awaits you in First Class.’

    At that moment, the other passengers, who’d been shocked by what they had just witnessed, stood up and applauded.

    This is a true story.. If you are against racism, please have your friends view this.

    WELL DONE, British Airways!!

  194. John Low’s response doesn’t surprise me. Very typical Malaysian. I am referring to this:
    “The Inflight Supervisor made a judgment call to provide Mrs Iyer-O’Sullivan with an alternative seat, instead of that passenger, because they needed to remove her from that environment. This was aimed at ensuring that the crew could keep a closer eye on her, and to prevent any reoccurrence of the earlier incident.”

    It is the unruly passenger that should be removed. Not removing Ms. Radhika from “that environment” because “that environment” itself is still not safe. Because of such poor judgement by the inflight supervisor, there is always a possiblity of another passenger being harassed. That environment had been made hostile by the “deportee”. See, they are not solving the cause but just providing panadol… Rewarding poor performer and punishing those who do the right things. So, I am not surprised if some people will even warn Ms. Radhika “jangan buat hal”, etc…

  195. I had the facts of this case examined by my paralegal class to find if there is any cause of action against the airline. With a little editing by me this was what they came up with.

    FACTS OF THE CASE

    Radhika: One male passenger boarded, showed his boarding pass to a stewardess and she pointed to seat beside me (36K). The man looked at me and said, ‘She’s a Hindu, I cannot sit beside her.’

    Apparently, he was telling the flight attendant from some distance but apparently within the complainant’s hearing, declaring his faith to the flight attendant and his request to be assigned another seat – an unusual request considering the reason given. This was evident from the response from the flight attendant.

    Flight attendant: ‘So what? What’s wrong with Hindu?’

    Radhika: The man then began to yell and shout that he would not sit next to a Hindu.

    Clearly he didn’t like the idea of being deported. Who does?

    Radhika: Then this passenger sat down but began to verbally abuse my faith and the crew members.

    Hearing derogatory remarks about one’s faith is not that uncommon except for the unusual circumstances of this case. Note the sympathy she was showing to the crew.

    Radhika: I sat in my seat but was physically cringing away from him.

    This goes to the complainant’s state of mind. Her state of mind is relevant in view of her claim that she was in fear for her personal safety.

    Radhika: The flight supervisor was summoned and until then the man was still seated next to me. Imagine my shock, horror and fear in being next to a hostile, abusive person.

    Again her state of mind. Was the passenger being hostile and abusive at this point?

    It is not clear if the passenger was in fact being belligerent at this point assuming he was earlier. By her own admission the appearance of the flight supervisor on the scene did give her some assurance that nothing untoward would happen.

    Radhika One steward did stand next to me but did not offer any help and I did not feel safe or reassured. I reached out and told that steward that I did not feel safe anymore.

    At this point the complainant thought the crew could have done more and was disappointed.

    Radhika I said this to him (male steward standing guard over her) softly in English ….

    This goes to her state of mind. She thought she was a Pakistani but it turned out that she was wrong. Could that have been the cause of her fear? After all it fits the racial profiling of Pakistanis i.e. that of being Islamic radicals and potential terrorists.

    Radhika: I then told the stewardess in Malay that this man should not be seated beside me after what he had said about me.

    Note the complaint confirmed that the passenger did not do anything to her more than just being rude and obnoxious. Any belligerence shown earlier had dissipated by this time.

    Radhika: Finally, the flight supervisor, ‘SB’, approached the passenger and after an angry exchange, the passenger said, ‘Move her then!’ and SB replied, ‘Yes, we will move her’.

    We are not told the details of the “angry exchange”. But apparently he refused to be moved to another seat after having been forcibly seated there.

    Radhiska: More angry words were exchanged and it was revealed that the passenger was actually a Malaysian. When this news was revealed, the passenger actually stood up with his fists up …..

    We are not told what those angry words were which would have given a clue to what was actually happening. But obviously he was feeling aggravated by what the flight supervisor was saying to him.

    Radhiska: I was then hauled out of my seat and taken to the back of the plane. I was kept in the kitchen.

    Apparently the complainant didn’t like having to give up her seat either.

    Radhiska: By this time I had gone into shock and was crying uncontrollably. I was shaking with rage because I was in a position where there was nothing I could do to defend myself. No one else seemed to be doing anything too.

    The complainant was apparently dismayed, appalled even and disappointed and angry no longer at the passenger next to her (who was not doing anything to her or saying anything to her at that point) but at the crew and their handling of her request that this passenger be seated somewhere else. She was also disappointed that no passenger came to her help.

    Radhiska: After the plane took off, the flight supervisor, SB, came and sat beside me. He explained to me that they could not put him off the plane ….

    OPINION:

    The complainant has a cause of action against the passenger though it is not clear what that may be – but not against the airline and its crew who had taken reasonable steps to make her comfortable considering the circumstances of the case.

  196. Usual or unusual it may be, there ought to be at least one nuisance passenger on board. The decision-maker (in Radhika’s case the flight supervisor) should have been held responsible for causing this matter by encouraging the nuisance passenger to stay on his seat rather than moving him away from Radhika’s seat (as he did mention ‘I cannot sit beside her’)

    Perhaps the passenger was looking forward to sit beside a Jew (who knows). I feel rather sorry for this awkward situation you’ve been through Radhika. It is very disappointing to see the way a ‘world class airliner’ have dealt this matter.

    May i suggest you to follow the footsteps of Datuk Seri Dr. Khir Toyo in which he had rewarded a broom for non-performing staff. Hence instead, please reward the GM of MAS for their ‘best practices’ with a toilet bowl brush.

  199. Sotong,

    The complainant was very annoyed and hurt. This is completely understandable. She was also disappointed that the MAS crew had not done more.

    That is obvious if you follow her narration.

    If you plan to sue someone you would sue the party that has the deep pockets. That would be MAS. But her chances of winning is zilch, nada, nought! I’m sorry.

    Worse incidents happened on MAS flights and got the publicity they deserved. This one is nothing. But if MAS wants to play ball, go ahead. A free return ticket for two to Haadyai would do the job.

    I wouldn’t do more.

  201. Radhiska

    Take Jeffrey’s advise for now and deal with MAS. expecting to move is reasonable but to business class is asking for more. But in your case if I were MAS crew, I’d moved you there. Your story is already doing MAS enough damage.

    Now Mas – they should have cuffed the guy cos he was being abusive. and they should have the cops waiting for him when he landed. he should be told in so many ways even if he was not charged that his behaviour was unacceptable by the cops.

    Now MAS you should ban this guy from every flying on MAS or Firefly be it international or domestic. That is the least you could do after this not very well managed situation. it will be great if other airlines like Air Asia also ban him.

    what a jerk…gives muslims a bad name.

  202. It’s shocking. We may have people here and there who dislike and abuse one another. But having someone sitting next to you on a plane to abuse and intimidate you is something unacceptable. I’m perplexed how MAS could let a deportee harassing and abusing a fare paying passenger throughout a journey.
    I would suggest Radhika to sue MAS for failing to protect her and for all the mental anguish and intimidation she had to endure throughout her journey.

  203. Don’t we all love to bash MAS?? At least to make up for all the wrong done by the government?

    In this case hasn’t MAS taken all reasonable steps to ensure nothing untoward could happen to a passenger who was understandably embarrassed or even humiliated and angry, hurt by the comments of a passenger who had shown a belligerent attitude at the crew?

    You need to sift through and separate the emotions from the facts. Only the facts matter when we search to find if there is basis for a law suit. An honest lawyer would advise this complainant to accept whatever offers of sympathy etc to make up for the inconvenience suffered by her. There is no sense in sending good money after bad money. I’m assuming of course that the lawyer expects to be paid his fees. The complainant should find out to see if her lawyer is confident of winning the case by proposing that he would get his fees and a fraction of the compensation (by way of agreement) from the defendant only if he wins his case.

    To MAS, it is a self-inflicted ‘injury’ and the crew who said, “So what if she’s a Hindu” should know better especially when the passenger was a deportee. This flight attendant appears arrogant and insensitive – not insensitive to the passenger who refused to take his seat, but to the passenger he would be sitting next to. To that extent MAS has to accept blame.

    The airline’s policy of how it treats deportees on its flights needs to be scrutinized and re-examined for flaws. Airlines have little control over such non-fee or fare paying passengers in the sense it cannot refuse them and when you have ‘criminal aliens’ being booted out of a foreign country, it requires special handling. I’m not surprised if MAS staff is not trained to handle deportees – especially very angry ones. In the post 9/11 world the crew needs to be trained to handle such passengers.

  204. “From an immigration standpoint, if a passenger fails to provide adequate documents, they can be turned away by the arrival country, and airlines are still to treat the person as a passenger. As such, he was not assigned to a separate seating area.” Manager Customer Response, MAS.

    That is not hard to understand.

    This visitor was declared inadmissible by the immigration of that country. For a person to be a deportee, he would have first to be admitted, given a lawyer, appears for his case in court and have a deportation order issued by the immigration judge. The handling of deportees would be different. Here the visitor was declared inadmissible. A visitor in that position is the sole responsibility of the airline without more. He is not the responsibility of the airport security of the country he is seeking admission into.

    However, when the passenger concerned, forced to return to the place of his last embarkation, is a belligerent one, don’t you think your staff could have done more – like swapping seats with another willing passenger if there were no vacant seats available? Couldn’t he be seated temporarily on a seat reserved for the crew until one is available – and when he is finally seated properly a close watch be kept on him?

  206. I would say the MAS crew has done it’s best to resolve the problem & make everyone on board as comfortable as they can in their effort do. I bet it is hard to ever find another airline that can provide the same quality as MAS cabin crew. Facts does not lie. Being the Best Cabin Crew voted by Skytrax, an international benchmark, the whole world bows to Malaysian Hospitality.

    In my view, besides the extremist passenger, I also blame the ground staff in KLIA. During check-in, why do they give a boarding pass to someone who does not meet the travel requirements to enter Pakistan?

  208. “In my view, besides the extremist passenger, I also blame the ground staff in KLIA. During check-in, why do they give a boarding pass to someone who does not meet the travel requirements to enter Pakistan”

    Let’s not be too quick to point the finger – like a certain sour grape we know.

    They do check if you have a valid travel document like a passport not about to expire within six months. Malaysians don’t need visas to enter some countries.

    If you have an international passport meeting the biometric needs of the post 9/11 world, and a visa to enter the United States, it does not mean the U.S. Customs and Immigration will let you in. If their records show you left on an earlier visit to the U.S. on an expired visa or were known to have violated the condition of that visa, then you join the ranks of the inadmissible and you’re banned from entering the country for the next ten years.

    We are told that this passenger was categorized as ‘inadmissible’ and did not have the right to enter the country and would have to go back to where he came from. If he was not declared ‘inadmissible’ then he would be ‘deportable’ i.e. he would be allowed to enter, would be given a lawyer and served with a notice to appear in court on a later date. We call this the right of due process.

  209. so sorry to hear of your such bad experience with our very own ‘Malaysian Hospitality’. Guess MAS only reserve hospitality to foreigners and we locals are treated like dirt. Btw Radhika, I am your ex-colleague in Pusat Matrikulasi Kuala Pilah, Ong. I am in the same staff room with Nirmala, Shikhin……

  210. this is from a personal experience just to compare the difference in policy between MAS and thai airways in handling unruly passengers.i was travelling alone last year to bkk and i sat next to a pakistani passenger who looked drunk.he was travelling with his buddies who were seated in front of us and they were discussing about alcoholic drinks served in flight.after the flight took off and as they were serving food, he started to caress my thighs.i was shocked and screamed.the crew came immediately to my aid and after explaining what just transpired, the crew reprimanded the unruly passenger and told him that no alcoholic drinks would be served to him.i was moved to business class.
    when we landed i noticed that police officers were waiting to escort him.
    maybe MAS should review their standard operating procedures when dealing with unruly passengers.u should remove the possible threat and not to punish the victim instead.

  211. I only wonder what would have happened if it had been the reverse situation, that the passenger abused was Muslim. Perhaps it has become commonplace that religious discrimination has been institutionalised and drummed into our people as acceptable as long as it is the other religions that are abused. I was at a computer shop last month and i was horrified when a Malay customer told the proprietor that he was happy to find a Muslim computer shop, as he didnt want to give his money to “those other…” and that was when, perhaps, the boss signalled that I was sitting just beside him and presumably non muslim. That was a lesson indeed on the kind of society the current administration has created. I would have lodged a police report instantly against the abusive passanger and MAS upon arrival, and sent carbon copies to all the media. That is the only way to put a stop to this nonsense.

  212. Dear Radhika,

    My suggestion is to email to Idris Jala about this. If this nonsense ever to take place, then it must stop. Anyway, this is the first time I heard such tragedy . MAS is known for its hospitality . Rather unfortunate for you to suffer this insult. I am sure that MAS will do the necessary.

    AS forAlenath, for decades UMNO had been chided , termed as “sinful” by PAS for accepting alliance with Chinese and Indians. And you would not believe this. One PAS member, in his sermon in Tamanm Kosas Ah Zahra surau , several years ago condemned Dr Khir ( when he was then MB of Selangor) for having Sunday instead of Friday as public holiday. The termed used is “munafiq” , a very heavy charged for Muslims.

    I questioned the person for saying rubbish. PAS changes its principles on slightest wimp. THey distributed “risalah’ in surau in Pasir Panjang, calling Malays not to vote for Dr Vasan in Pasir Panjang. When they won, they emraced non Muslims.

    And this is the party that DAP is courting now.

  213. There is nothing wrong about the man sat beside Radhika, PAS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, whatever Jihad groups, Husam Musa, Zulkifli Hassan or any true Muslim. What they have acted are what they are taught to fulfill in Qur’an.

    Throughout my life as a Non-Muslim citizen for 54 years in Malaysia, I have never encountered a Non-Muslim friend of mine who told me that he/she has ever read the Qur’an before. So go by my experience and the fact that I have at least 2 thousands Non-Muslim friends, I would accurately presume that not even 0.05% of the Non-Muslim population in this country have ever read Qur’an before. This is really cynical as there are more than sixteen millions Muslims in this country whose thinking and ways of livings are closely influenced and governed by Qur’an.

    The total population of Non-Muslim in this country is about 35%. It is amazing to know that 99.99% of them do not realize how the Muslims think about them. I think this phenomena not only occurs in Malaysia but its prevalence applies to the rest of the world. Whenever there is issue related Islam surfaces, most Non-Muslims would often come out with a query or rather a puzzle: “Why such thing happened?”. Well, if one would have read the Qur’an in depth, then he/she will know why.

    I think it is utmost beneficial for all Non-Muslims being a minority group in this country to take the effort to read and understand the contents of Qur’an. Probably only in this way, a Non-Muslim will know how Muslims would think about or treat him/her in our society of multi-cultures and religions.

    In order to instill some interest, just read the 3 following verses extracted from Qur’an, you might get a starter hint why you should start reading and understanding Qur’an:-

    Surah Ali-‘Imran

    151. We will cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers since they ascribe divinity side by side with Allah to other beings (which they worship) for whom no sanction has been revealed by Allah. And (for that reason) Fire shall be their final home; and wretched indeed is the dwelling place of the evil-doers.

    Surah At-Taubah

    5. Then, when the sacred months are over, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, take them captive, besiege them, lie in ambush everywhere for them. But if they repent (of their disbelief) and perform the prayer and pay the almstax, let them go their way (do not disturb them). For Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.

    123. O believer! Make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Let them find firmness (and perseverance) in you. And know that Allah is with those who are conscious of Him (by rendering them His aid).

    Finally, one can buy a translated version of Qur’an in English language titled as “Tafsir Ar-Rahman – Interpretation of the meaning of the Qur’an” published by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia from MPH or any prominent bookshops for a price of RM58.

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