I refer to the letter Horror flight: MAS regrets incident.

Does it matter if the passenger was an ‘Ugly Malaysian’? MAS’ management of the problem was less than satisfactory. There was no assurance that future similar incidents would not recur and that procedures had been improved. From the victim’s account, the cabin crew procedures were shocking.

Reading the response from MAS, I am pleased to note that their staff have corroborated the woman's story and there is no reason for her to fabricate anything. It is a clear cut case of a difficult passenger whom MAS staff - if they were properly trained - could have managed better.

Once the problem was brought to the attention of the MAS cabin crew, they should have shifted the difficult passenger - it does not matter if he was Malaysian or a foreigner. Not shift the poor woman.

She was right in raising the suggestion that she should have been moved to Business Class out of the view of the man and a potential threat. MAS would have scored more Brownie points for this little act of good public relations.

For the poor woman to travel with this obnoxious man must have been a traumatic experience, and MAS has not answered the queries raised by the woman.

Knowing that the man must be highly-strung because of his unpleasant experience of being turned back by Pakistan immigration, MAS should have been more alert to the difficulty he would pose, as, in fact, was borne out by what subsequently happened when he was on the plane.

From the woman's account, the man had exhibited criminal intimidation as he had raised his fist and verbally abused a fellow passenger. That would be sufficient for him to be arrested and charged.

Some airlines would have arranged for the police to arrest the man upon arrival. But obviously, MAS is not one of those airlines.

Another culpable offence is drunkenness and loutish behaviour by passengers. I once travelled on a flight from Australia to Kuala Lumpur and throughout the flight, a drunken group of Australians created a nuisance.

Hollering and laughing throughout the flight, they disturbed the peace of other passengers but the MAS crew did nothing - not even a word to them to lower their voices.

Upon arrival at KLIA, a passenger exchanged a few words with one of the rowdy Australians who was jumping onto the luggage conveyor belt but he ended up with a bloodied nose for his civic duty.

A more responsible airline crew leader would have ensured the drunken Australians did not create any potential trouble on board under the influence of alcohol.

My opinion is that MAS has not properly trained its crew to manage difficult situations, especially in dealing with aggressive passengers. I am disappointed that as the country's national airline it is not more careful when serving alcohol especially when it is obvious the passengers are drunk.

A responsible response would be to stop serving any more alcoholic drinks to any obviously drunken passenger.

In the above letter, I don't see any apology from John Low, the Customer Response Manager, to the traumatised woman, or any explanation as to why MAS did not answer or return her calls. Nor did he answer any of her questions for the public's benefit.

And should not MAS require its crew to report any untoward incident occurring during a flight? Should they not then follow up with any aggrieved passenger?

Is the tidak apa attitude part of the ethos of MAS? I wonder what would have happened if the victim had not written her letter of complaint in the first place.

Come on MAS, you can do better.