Last month, an American family staying in Singapore visited Malaysia in hopes of spending a lovely beachside holiday. On entering the highly publicised second link, the immigration officers highlighted to him that his youngest daughter did not have any more pages on the passport.

They then did the 'time-honoured thing' and asked the American to 'help' them. Not fully understanding what they wanted, he began looking through the passport for pages with enough space to stamp.

At every space, the immigration officers said it was not possible. They kept insisting he 'helped' them. Finally, after talking and amusing themselves with interjections of "orang putih...", one of the officers stamped the passport.

The other told my friend to say "thank you" to his colleague for stamping it in the end and not sending him back to Singapore. My American friend who is not as used to such unprofessional behavior complied hesitatingly.

My friend said he felt humiliated and that incident somewhat spoiled his holiday.

Now, from such anecdotes, doesn't it make one wonder why some government officials in public service think that they are doing the people a favour by being there?

There is no sense of the rule of law. If my friend had been stopped for a reason, then follow through by either sending him back (if there's something wrong with his passport) or letting him go (if there's nothing wrong).

I also think there is a lack of respect for individuals in our society. It does not matter if a person is white, black or red. He is a human being worthy of our respect and service.

The excuse from the government is that a few bad eggs spoil the good name of the entire force. This rhetoric is not acceptable anymore. One bad egg shows the indiscipline in the entire force. The chain is as strong as its weakest link! With government officers like that, no wonder, our tourism industry is still struggling to gain a foothold.