AirAsia passenger consumes 'nasi lemak cicak', mulls legal action

Waseem Abbas will never again savour nasi lemak in the same 'oh-so-yummy' manner like he used to in the past.

The 27-year-old Pakistani's gastronomic preferences were drastically altered when he discovered a cooked lizard in a nasi lemak meal served on board an AirAsia flight on March 27.

When contacted by Malaysiakini yesterday, Waseem was willing to divulge the details of his stomach-churning ordeal.

“During the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching with my Malaysian wife, we ordered and shared a serving of nasi lemak.

“As I’ve always had a craving for fried ikan bilis (anchovies) served in red-hot sambal, I immediately helped myself to that portion (of the nasi lemak),” said Waseem.

Chewing on his meal, the smile on Waseem’s face suddenly turned sour when his palate encountered a peculiar taste amid the ikan bilis. It was totally unlike any ikan bilis Waseem had consumed before.

"It was crunchy," he said.

Waseem and his wife stared at their meal, and spotted an unusually shaped ‘ikan bilis’.

Once they cleared the sambal away with a spoon, to their horror, the peculiar morsel was no ikan bilis. It resembled a half-eaten fried lizard.

Waseem’s stomach churned and he lurched into the airplane toilet.

According to Waseem, the projectile vomiting which occurred in that cubicle was an epic spew of mind-boggling proportions.

Later, the flight attendant offered to replace the now pale-faced Waseem’s nasi lemak with a fresh serving, but he refused.

“In Islam, it is not right to serve contaminated and possibly poisonous food to your fellow men,” said the outraged man.

Police report

Upon arrival at the Kuching International Airport, Waseem and his wife disembarked the plane, still holding on to the particular nasi lemak packet.

They lodged a report at the police station.

“The police suggested that we bring up the incident with AirAsia personnel at their (office) centre.

“So we went to the nearest AirAsia centre and shared our ordeal with the (airline’s) staff,” added Waseem.

However, the couple later left AirAsia’s office feeling disappointed with the officials’ response.

“They (AirAsia officials) said they would look into the matter,” said Waseem.

Despite visiting a clinic soon after arriving in Kuching, and being prescribed a set of medication by the doctor, Waseem claimed that he still continues to throw up at irregular intervals until today.

However, Waseem’s wife, who consumed some of the nasi lemak had not suffered from any illness.

“I’m thankful that my wife is fine.

“As for me, I still can’t look at nasi lemak and sambal without visions of crawling lizards engulfing my mind,” the former nasi lemak aficionado lamented.

Waseem also mentioned that an AirAsia official contacted him by phone on Wednesday and offered, as compensation, a return flight ticket from KL to Kuching.

“I refused to accept their offer. Do they think my life is only worth as much as an air ticket?” wondered Waseem.

“I hope to bring my case to the court of law,” he added.

Malaysiakini has contacted AirAsia for a response. -Mkini