Good governance?
On 15 April 2008, I was in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) waiting for my return flight to Dhaka- MH 196.1 was standing in line to check in where the people in front of me were Bangladesh government officials which I got to learn from their conversation after standing beside them for about 30 minutes. They came to Malaysia for a weeklong trip to know about different measures of good governance. The person in front of me who was also a government official was halted in the security check due to his cabin baggage. The security personnel asked him politely to open his bag. I could see bed sheet, cups and an electronic kettle and other things with HILTON KUALA LAMPUR written on them. When the security personnel pointed out that it was prohibited to carry an electronic item on board and, secondly, the things the passenger was carrying belonged to a hotel in Malaysia, our government official had a reason which was valid to him, that he paid USD 150 per night and he could take away all the things in the hotel room. This scuffle went for about 20- 25 minutes, until he finally surrendered reluctantly the items collected from the hotel. I was thinking while boarding the plane that a responsible government official should have the common sense to understand that you cannot walk away with towels, bed sheets, etc from your hotel room. The Bangladesh government can always verify this matter with the Malaysian customs authorities as I am sure they keep record of all such events.
To make matters worse, the plane was one hour and ten minutes late as two of our government officials didn't board on time and were probably shopping in the huge Kuala Lumpur Airport.
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