LETTERS: My partner and I arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 3.15pm on Jan 23 via an international flight.
I went through Immigration clearance using the autogate, which was quick.
However, the hall for foreign passport clearance had a large crowd waiting with not many officers manning the counters.
My partner is not a Malaysian, so I had to wait while he queued for his turn. He had his passport stamped at 4.40pm.
An unpleasant incident occurred while a few foreign visitors were waiting to get their passports stamped.
Obviously, they were anxious to get out of the airport after a long flight, and were tired and frustrated with the slow-moving queues.
Just after 4pm, the silence at the Immigration hall was shattered.
Apparently, the line for counters 21 to 25 was not orderly enough for the officer serving that those counters.
He got down from the counter, went up to the front of the queue andstarted shouting at the people.
"Form a single line! I said single line! You know what a single line is?"
He berated them for a few minutes before returning to his seat. Even while processing the passports, he was shouting at the people to form a single line.
I was shocked at the rude attitude of this government servant. The way he treated our visitors was appalling and totally unacceptable.
It's tragic that this was the first impression they got of Malaysia! Weren't Malaysians supposed to be welcoming and hospitable? It makes me so ashamed to be Malaysian.
He should not be on the front lines with such an attitude. He should be reassigned to desk duties.
Surely the Home Ministry and the Immigration Department have standards for their officers to follow?
I have been to many countries, but I have never seen an officer shouting at foreign visitors.
L. TAN
Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times