Mail from Malaysia - Berjaya Megamall

Two big openings in the last week, and I'm not sure which one appealed to me most, or will have the most affect in my daily life. Here in Kuantan the newly completed Berjaya Megamall has finally opened, so I'll give you all the thrill of reading about that first. A lot of hoo ha about nothing in my opinion, and now there are 300 more shops that are looking for tenants to rent them, as that is the number in the Magamall.

The anchor tenant is the 'Jusco' supermarket & department store, and it becomes the fourth of it's type in town, creating an over supply. On the opening day there were only four of the speciality shops open apart from Jusco, so it had heaps of people wandering about spending nothing, and seemed quite flat with none of the usual hype that you expect with a grand opening. But there was definitely a lot of noise from 500 watt speakers in the main lobby entrance to entertain the customers, and also those living in a 50 mile radius. Yes folks, it was boom, boom, boom, all day long, and I only lasted about five minutes before I left with a ringing in my ears that had me checking my mobile phone needlessly for the next three hours.

I jumped on my bike, (no, I lie, I only ever jumped on it once, and that raised my voice to a high pitch squeal for a few hours, so I have never done it again), and when I roared off, I was unable to hear the roar of my engine for the ringing in my ears. There was a display by one of the new car dealerships in the entrance of the Megamall, and I pitied the staff as they were unable to escape the din for the whole day. But, perhaps they might not have noticed it, they may be totally immune to what I know as noise pollution. Most disappointing was the fact that they never even gave away a free set of steak knives, or 100% plastic imitation glasses.

The new KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport) also opened, it was an entirely different kettle of fish I can tell you. It had all the pomp and ceremony of a Royal Coronation, with the King of Malaysia officiating at the opening ceremony which was an invitation only event, a great fire works display, live broadcast on national television, (but I think they had to broadcast it or else), why even the Prime Minister, the recalcitrant Dr Mahathir, was invited, although I have it from reliable sources that Paul Keating was not on the list.

Of course with the postal service being the way it is, there is no doubt in my mind that my invitation will turn up after the event. Oh, hang on, the posty is outside now, let me check……… Damn, just another bill, the invite will probably be in tomorrow's mail and too late again. Wont it? Hey, this new airport is what we Aussies would refer to as "The Ducks Guts!" The most modern in the world, the most up to date computerised total management system in the world, with the tallest control tower in the world.

Of course the planes must file a new flight plan every time they fly near the tower because it is so high. The problem all you lot out there are going to face when you arrive at this magnificent monolith, is that it is not quite within walking distance to the city. The cab fare into KL is a mere A$ 40, and that is only one way! You don't even want to know what the limo fare is, although you could always take a bus at A$ 10, not too bad from the airport to the city. But in the city you must first get to the one bus terminal where they will be departing from, to go to the airport, and that is no mean feat I tell you!

By the way, the bus terminal at the airport is a little behind schedule, like about three months, after the original contractor decided he would not do any more because it was going to cost too much, therefore the Government had to step in to take over completion. Here are a few facts to amuse you; The control tower is 130 metres high. There are 6,000 covered car parking spaces. 83 escalators. 69 travelators. Over 83 glass lifts. The Main terminal Building alone covers a massive 241,000 square metres. A Contact Pier covering 95,000 square metres. A four arm Satellite building with 144,000 square metres of floor space from which international flights depart.

An Aero Train that can transport 250 passengers around the airport every few minutes. Sensor driven escalators that only operate when passengers move close to them. 216 check in counters operating 24 hours a day. Queue time at the 69 immigration counters is expected to be only 7 minutes. 30 restaurants from a small cafeteria to an 850 seat A-La Carte. The food and beverage floor space covers 82,000 square feet. It could possibly be similar to Changi Airport in Singapore where it is worthwhile just to go for a look, whether you are travelling or not. Interestingly, the first flight to arrive at the KLIA was from here in Kuantan, and arrived at 7.05 am. And then the nightmare began!

MALAY MALAISE (yes, pun intended)

You see, I was on that inaugural flight from Kuantan, as I thought it would be a great thing to do and a once in a life time opportunity to be on the first flight to land at the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport, (KLIA). What ever you may have read or seen in the media will be at best about half the truth of what problems passengers really had to face.

As I said, at 7.05 am the nightmare commenced. That was when the captain informed us that we were in a holding pattern over the airport, awaiting the first departing flight to take off, and the illustrious Prime Minister, (the ever recalcitrant Dr Mahathir), was amongst the passengers on that flight. The captain mentioned their were ten other flights in a holding pattern also waiting to land. We eventually landed, and then taxied toward the domestic terminal building, where the captain informed us there would be another "slight" delay whilst he waited to be allocated a parking bay. Eventually we alighted after 2 hours, from what was meant to be a 40 minute trip.

Exiting the plane we were given a small gift straight out of a cardboard box by two ground staff, which was a disposable Kodak camera. Wow! It was obvious that absolutely no expense had been spared in making our inaugural flight a memorable one. What happened to the welcoming committee and the fanfare and hoo haa I am yet to work out, but let's press on. It was about that time that I was very grateful I had only taken a hand held bag as I intended to stay only one night in Kuala Lumpur. Therefore I exited he airport with a minimum of fuss and headed towards the big city. Hang on! It was 75 kilometres away and the last hour of the 2 hour journey was spent in traffic jams in the city going to the hotel.

OK, let's go to day 2, when I returned to that airport to depart. My flight was due to leave at 11.40 pm, and I checked in at 10 pm to be safe. After a long walk to the departure hall and the correct departure lounge, I sat down to wait. Very shortly thereafter there were about 30 other passengers waiting with me, the plane could be seen through the window sitting with the aerobridge attached, but no staff in the attendance at the departure lounge counter. OK, never mind it was only 11.30.

By 12 midnight, we, (the passengers), were becoming a little concerned that there may be a slight delay. When a flight crew arrived it seemed to be a good sign until they said they were supposed to take the aircraft to Kuantan, (right destination), and then return to KLIA, and go to Kota Baru. Hang on, I said, (being the knowledgeable one there), the 11.40 flight to Kuantan remains at Kuantan overnight and is the 6.30 am first departing flight in the morning.

Shortly after some counter staff arrived and they had no idea what was happening, as they were not receiving instructions from their superiors, either by telephone or their hand held radios. Not looking good eh? By 2.30 am we were quite concerned that there was something amiss when the flight crews all took off and another flight crew came along and said they were taking that aircraft to Penang! Hold on a sec here buddy, there are people who have been in this place since 5pm the previous evening waiting for a flight to Kuantan, and the majority of us had been there since 9/10 PM.

Let me say here that the airport counter staff did all they could , but were receiving no response from their supervisors who had apparently abandoned ship! During this fiasco we were able to see groups of passengers moving from one departure lounge to another, as they were informed of the change of their flight to different departure gates. You had to be there to believe it, masses of people moving in and out of departure lounges like they were playing musical chairs. Several of the passengers in different groups were becoming quite irate by 3 am, and the few staff that were present were keeping calm and doing what they could to pacify them. Even I was unusually calm, and assisted to calm the irate passengers down by explaining to them that we had been waiting a few more hours than they were.

All that time there was no response to the repeated calls by the staff to their superiors, they had simply reacted in typical Malaysian style and run away from the problem. Now, I would like to point out to you that none of this has been exaggerated or embellished in any way, there is no need to when the truth is worse than fiction. At 3.30 am our view of the airport from the last gate in the departure lounge, was one of total desolation and loneliness, there was not another soul to be seen.

The flight did leave to Penang, even though the staff thought it would go to Kuantan like the sign at the gate displayed and our boarding passes confirmed. One of the passengers suggested that it was time we went to the administration office to confirm if our flight had been officially cancelled or not, so we could be given accommodation etc. The two remaining staff who should have finished at midnight, took us all up to the admin. centre near the check in counters where there were three other counter staff busily trying their best to arrange re-ticketing and food vouchers etc. for many other stranded passengers who had literally been left to fend for themselves by airport management.

It was a credit to the staff that remained, to see their untiring patience and effort to rectify something that was totally out of their control, particularly as the people responsible had deserted their post at the most crucial time and literally run away. It was obvious the remaining staff were there many hours later than they should have been, and they were just as exhausted and depressed as the stranded passengers. Bravo to them, and the golden finger award to the management.

We were taken to a nearby counter where we were issued food vouchers to go to the golden arches to partake of light refreshments, whilst the staff attempted to clarify the cancellation matter. At 4.30 am we finally met one of the supervisors who appeared to have only come in because he was on the morning duty roster.

Never the less, he informed us the flight was officially cancelled and we had two options open to us. One was to stay in the airport where we would be given a breakfast voucher for the golden arches, which would re-opened at 6 am, and we would be re-ticketed to the 7.15 am flight and issued new boarding passes. The other was to accept their offer of accommodation and return to get on the 7.15 am flight. One small problem with that though, was the accommodation was near the old airport at Subang which was over an hour away, meaning we would get about an hour in the cot before having to get ready to leave to return to KLIA. Naturally we all opted for the first offer.

By 6am we were all looking like zombies, but our spirits were high as most of us were totally insane by then and it didn't matter any more. We jokingly felt like actors in a 'B' grade disaster movie, where at the time of the incident we are all strangers just giving the occasional nod to each other, but after the disaster we quickly became very close and supported each other, the stronger taking care of the weaker ad infinitum. (don't laugh folks, this is really serious stuff).

At that time there were throngs of people arriving at the airport for the morning flights and rows and rows of baggage was lined up at the check-in counters along with the passengers.

Only one thing wrong of course, there were no counter staff to process any of it. Oh well, we went to McDonalds and had a greasy, hardly edible serving of something that they laughingly referred to as breakfast food! Most of us were hoping they had plenty of those little bags in the pocket of the seat in front of us, should we ever see another aircraft. 7am arrived and we all dutifully made our way to the departure lounge but that time down to the 'A' gates and lounge number 7.

Along came the captain about 7.15 and went to exit the lounge to board his aircraft and was quite taken aback that there was no aircraft there for him. I decided to go for a walk, (why I'll never know, we had all done so much walking in the previous 12 hours that total exhaustion doesn't quite aptly describe how we felt), and passing the captain I said "now don't go away, I'll be back about 9.30 and I know you will all be here". Ha ha ha, that got a few weary laughs, a tired audience are very hard to work, believe me. Okay at 7.45 we were informed that the flight would depart from the 'B' departure terminal at gate 4.

Yes, you guessed it, the 'B' terminal is in the opposite direction and about a 2 kilometre walk, not withstanding the travelators where one could get some respite for their aching feet. Hi ho, by 8.15 we were in the aircraft awaiting departure, of course the engines were off as they were still refuelling, and it was like an oven. Most of us got off and stood in the aero-bridge which was air-conditioned from the terminal. Being asked to board a few minutes later was okay, we went through the safety demonstration, had our complimentary plastic cup of liquid that was apparently meant to resemble fresh fruit juice, (but I have my own opinion on that one), and dutifully awaited the departure with as much excited eagerness as a bunch of school children on their first excursion.

Hang on! Did the captain just announce that the luggage that was at gate A7 has disappeared, and they are attempting to locate it and bring it to the aircraft? Yes he did, and there would be another short delay of about 20 minutes. All off! Was the cry from a hoard of disgruntled bodies that were the remnants of once happy human beings.

Again we all waited in the air conditioned aerobridge as Father Time merrily ticked away. 8.45 and we were being taken back into the aircraft, where the captain and cabin crew were most apologetic for the delays etc etc. Eventually we arrived here in Kuantan at 9.25 am, and not one happy vegemite amongst us, let me tell you. The second day of operation of KLIA had the newspaper headlines screaming, "much improved". What a goddamn lie, talk about press censorship. This Government has got full control of the press and the newspapers were full blatant lies, half truths, and cover ups. There are so many unanswered questions, but I will not bore you with them all here. But a couple of interesting ones go like this. Why was a computerised total management system used that had previously been rejected by Changi Airport in Singapore? Why did the said system collapse one hour before the first flight even left the ground, and why was it down for so many days? (and probably still is).

Why was there absolutely no apology to anyone from any of the management people?

Why did management desert their staff, and the airport, for so many hours during a time when so many passengers were left stranded, and to fend for themselves?

Any sensible person would understand and accept that there may be a hiccup or two on the first day of operation of such a large and complex airport terminal, but the total chaos that reigned whilst I was there, and the way the staff and passengers were (mis)treated by the management was unforgivable. Whether or not it improves over the next few weeks remains to be seen. Personally I can drive to KL cheaper than I can fly, and in the same amount of time, my petrol and hotel expenses for one night are cheaper than the return taxi fare from KL to the new airport alone. What do you think I will do?



Take Care,

ANTHONY. (Wherever I go, that's where I am.)
June 1998