The Malaysian Airlines Flight Stewardess: History, Uniform and Ranks

Flight Stewardesses and Their Uniforms 

Flight stewardesses are known for their glamour and elegance, partly because of their uniforms. Most flight attendant’s’ uniforms, either for ladies or gents, may seem reflect the culture of the country that owns the airlines. For example, the flight stewardesses of Air India, Sri Lankan Airlines and Biman Airlines all wear saris. It might look uncomfortable and even inappropriate to wear such traditional attire at the workplace, but like other uniforms, they are designed to be both practical and durable. 

Sri Lankan Airlines stewardess uniform 

Most commercial aviation pioneers were of military background. This is probably why most of the earlier stewardess uniforms were generally not made to be aesthetically pleasing. Instead, they were made up of berets, caps, nurse shoes, jackets, epaulettes and brass buttons. This tradition is maintained by many airlines like British Airways and Qatar Airways. However, the marketing significance of female flight attendants began to develop in the late 1930s and early 1940s. This was when many airline companies started to assign established designers to create their cabin crews’ uniforms. 

A Bit of History  

Even our very own former Malaysia-Singapore Airlines (MSA) in 1968 commissioned a foreigner to design its cabin crew’s uniforms. He was not Malay, nor was he Malaysian or Singaporean. He was the French designer Couturier Pierre Balmain. As part of incorporating the indigenous Malay culture into the design of uniform, Balmain decided the sarong-kebaya would be most appropriate as the uniform. Borders from the edges of traditional Batik fabric were added around the hem, neck and cuffs. Till this day, the uniforms are tailor made by Singapore Airlines’s domestic tailors. In 1972, six years after the separation of Singapore from Malaysia, Malaysia-Singapore Airlines was renamed Singapore Airlines (SIA). A brand new Malaysia Airlines (MAS) was created. Since most of MSA's international routes were flown out of Singapore well-established airports, a huge portion of international routes were in Singapore Airlines’ hands. Even MSA's headquarters was located in the highly developed Singapore and immediately became that airline’s headquarters. SIA also kept 10 out of MSA’s 13 Boeing 707s, along with some 737s. Just like most of the now defunct MSA’s possessions, Singapore Airlines inherited Balmain’s high-end design and uses it till today. SIA expanded overnight, while MAS had to generally start from scratch with nothing more than domestic routes to grown on. 

How an MSA aircraft might have looked like

The Iconic Sarong Kebaya 

Malaysia Airlines developed its own stewardess uniform. Malaysian designer Andy Chiew designed the first set of Kebaya uniforms for the' cabin crew. His design was said to be the best out of nine sets of uniforms submitted. There were originally two sets of uniforms, either brown or green. as shown below.

The original MAS uniforms for stewardesses. 

The uniform used before the current one. 

In 1986, Malaysia Airlines introduced its own original Sarong Kebaya uniform for female flight attendants. Designed by the School of Fashion at Mara University of Technology, it also incorporates Batik material with a bamboo weave pattern motif as the background. Malaysian flowers like the cempaka, jasmine and hibiscus leaves are superimposed on the design. Geometric Sarawakian patterns are used for the lapels of the top, sleeve edges and the sarong edges as well. Stewardesses wearing the hijab would wear a light green headscarf over their heads. Male flight attendants wear simple grey jackets. 

Just like all major airlines, both MAS and SIA have different uniforms for stewardesses of different ranks. 

Colour Code of MAS female flight attendants: 

1. Inflight Supervisors : Red with yellow flowers 

2. Chief Stewardesses : Green with pink flowers 

3. Leading Stewardesses : Green with pink flowers 

4. Flight Stewardesses : Green with pink flowers 

5. Ground front liners : Green with magenta flowers 

Uniforms for either chief, leading or flight stewardesses. 

The lady on the right is identifiable as an inflight supervising stewardess because of her red uniform.

Colour Code of SIA female flight attendants (Singapore Girls): 

1. Flight Stewardess     :Blue 

2. Leading Stewardess :Green 

3. Chief Stewardess      :Red 

4. In-Flight Supervisor  :Purple

The four different uniform types

Other Airlines with Stewardesses Wearing Kebayas

Royal Brunei Airlines

Malindo Airlines

Lion Air

Garuda Airlines

The Mount Matang Hindu Temple: Lost in Time and Revived Again

One day back in the 1960s, a Dayak hunter living in the outskirts of Kuching, Sarawak named Abi Benggali was walking through the jungle areas of Matang when he came to the slope of a mountain. To his surprise, he found a deserted but sturdy building structure there. The interior was made of belian wood, which strangely remained undamaged despite being abandoned for ages. From the relics he found inside, he finally realized that this was an old Hindu temple. He was most attracted to a carved wooden elephant and took it home with him. 

The very next day, Abi returned the wooden structure to the temple. His decision the day before to take it home with home proved unwise, as he suffered from terrible nightmares the night before. He talked about his strange discovery to the press. When the news of the discovery of a lost Hindu temple in the rain forest reached the ears of the local Hindu community, much effort was put in to unravel the mystery of this abandoned temple and to restore it to its previous condition.

A few elders from the local Hindu community revealed that the existence of the temple was not completely unknown to them. Their parents who first arrived in Sarawak in 1867 built the temple by using simple tools and belian wood from the surrounding jungle, dedicated the temple to the Mother Goddess Sri Maha Mariamman, or Amman. Some were even convicts from South India, banished to work in Sarawak in the mid-nineteenth century. The temple was mainly built by Tamil Hindus workers  from India and Ceylon recruited by the second White Rajah of the Sarawak Kingdom, Sir Charles Brooke through the Kangani system to work in his tea and coffee tea plantations on the mountain slope.

The Matang Coffee Estate was opened by the Brooke family t in 1867. The estate was managed in the same way as those more larger ones in Sri Lanka by a Superintendent, Mr. Anderson who had worked as an estate manager in Sri Lanka for many years and was specially hired by Charles Brooke.


Following the completion of the temple two to three years after the arrival of the Hindu workers, a priest from India was brought in to hold the consecration ceremony. More workers were brought in from India and Ceylon, and Brooke's 600 acre plantation employed more than a thousand workers during the height of his commercial success. The workers lived in barracks close by.

However, live was not all easy for the workers. They were oppressed by the foremen, also known as Kanganis, thus the name the Kangani system. The workers were very poorly paid. The local temple, like all other temples, functioned as the center of the community's social and religious activities.

It was later revealed through much research and interviews with the local elders that this Amman temple was not the only place of worship that the plantation workers built. There was another Murugan temple built as the number of Hindu workers increased. Some Catholic workers build a chapel for the Blessed Virgin Mary. There two prayer houses are yet to be located, though after almost two centuries, it is more likely that they have lost to the jungle.

The plantation was eventually closed in the early 20th century due to poor management and the workers were given a choice to either return to India or move to the now developing Kuching to work in road construction. Due to their bitter experience under the Kangani system, most of the older generation returned to India and Ceylon, while more than 50 families of the new generation, being born here and having lived in Sarawak all their lives, stayed back. The younger workers took the main bronze statue of Amman with them to a small shrine they had built near the Sarawak club in the city

As more Hindu workers were brought into Kuching to build roads, a small temple was build along Batu Lintang Road to serve their growing community. Decades later in 1991, a brand new Hindu temple was built in Road Rock, and the statue was relocated here permanently. Though the idol continued to be well-maintained, the temple in Matang was left forgotten. Had it not been built by belian wood, it would have completely collapsed.

As Abi's story went public, local Hindus in Kuching started to campaign to restore the colonial era temple. An expedition to its location in 1968 soon led to the path build by Brooke to be cleared. In its place, a proper road was built.

The renovation was completed on December 4th, 1970 and the high mass was attended by more than half a thousand members of Sarawak's small Hindu community. The temple was then placed under the administration and care of the Kuching Hindu Association of Ban Hock Road. 

In 2007, the temple once again went through another major renovation. The new Mount Matang Sri Maha Mariamman renovation committee rebuilt the temple with belian wood from the mountain, thanks to the permission granted by the Sarawak Forestry Department. Craftsmen from South India were brought in to carve the belian posts and plaster decorations on the temple walls. Apart from being a colonial heritage, the temple is probably the only Hindu temple in the world made of timber and the temple committee intends on maintaining that position.

In 2011, the renovation was completed and wall attended by hundreds of worshipers  Strangely enough, most of the temple's devotees today are Chinese merchants who have contributed to the temple through various donations. The government granted announced a grant of RM5 000 for the temple committee to carry out general maintenance of the temple as it recognized the temple as an important historical building.

The consecration ceremony was also attended by James Lionel Brooke and Jason Desmond Brooke, the grandson and great grandson of the third and last White Rajah, Charles Vyner Brooke.

His excellency James Lionel Brooke

Today, the temple remains as one of the most unique buildings in Sarawak, and Malaysia. A special thanks to the local Hindu community of Sarawak, the Kuching Hindu Temples Association and the Sarawak state government for its recognition of an important part of our country's colonial history.

Though the temple has been successfully reconstructed, there is one more nearby building that is yet to be worked on; the Brooke bungalow. It has been recorded that the Rajah and Ranee of the Sarawak Kingdom have steyed in the Coffee Estate for about three weeks in 1870. Visitors to their grand bungalow in the area have described the gentle gradient of the road contrived by the superintendent of the place; “The Rajah’s garden is arranged on terraces cut in the slope of the hill; there the roses bloom magnificently and the jasmine attains a luxuriance I have not yet seen. All the different flowers we have in Sarawak seem to thrive remarkably well.” Sadly today, it is nothing more than an old wooden building. Something needs to be done to restore this place too. 

Tamil Pesum Kadhanayagi: Top 10 Tamil-Speaking Actresses

10) PRIYA ANAND

Despite being foreign educated and speaking English with a heavy American accent, Priya Anand is still very much grounded and knows her roots well. She is fluent in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, and has dubbed for herself in all three languages. Unfortunately, Priya Anand has not been seen much in Tamil movies this past year apart from the Tamil-dubbed Hindi English Vinglish which she dubbed for herself, which is quite rare since actors usually use dubbing artistes when dubbing for a film in a different language. Her previous Tamil film was the critically acclaimed average grosser Nootrenbathu, but she is geared up for Ethir Neechal opposite Sivakarthikeyan and with Dhanush at the producer's chair.

9) VARALAKSHMI SARATHKUMAR

Let's all first admit how skeptical we were when this young lady was all set to make her debut. Being the daughter of movie icons, she has definitely proved she is not just another child of the industry. With a more than decent debut in Podaa Podi, she has proved she is not only a good actress, but an amazing dancer. With a heartfelt performance that almost overshadowed STR in comedy, drama and dance, this is quite a rarity in Tamil cinema for a female lead actress. Her next movie will be Sundar C’s Madha Gaja Raja opposite Vishal.

8) ANDREA

Now here is a triple threat rare in Tamil cinema - an amazing singer, a more than average actress, and a good dubbing artiste. Although being English educated and coming from an Anglo-Indian background, she speaks Tamil more fluently then most Tamil actresses. Although being more famously known for her playback singing in movies, she has proven herself as an actress herself, having worked with big names like Gautham Menon, Selvaraghavan and Venkat Prabhu in the past. She has three big movies coming out way - Kamal Haasan’s magnum opus, Vishwaroopam. Pudhiya Thiruppangal opposite Nanda and Endrendrum Punnagai with Jiiva and Trisha.

7) PRIYAMANI

For a National award winning actress, she had done some rather less prominent projects such as the recent 

Charulatha and some other movies which did not fare well with critics and audiences. However, her critically acclaimed performance in Paruthi Veeran is still strong in audiences' minds, and that is powerful enough to remind is she is in no way lost in our industry. Despite being more appreciated for her character acting, she is not hesitent to take up glamorous roles as well.  Her future Tamil projects are yet to be announced, though she works actively in other languages as well.

6) SHRUTHI HAASAN

Another triple threat, Shruthi Haasan has always been an amazing singer and a good dancer. Despite her performance in 7am Arivu being badly received, she surely made up for it by giving one of the best performances from a female lead in Moonu, where she was delivered an equally powerful performance as her more mature male lead Dhanush. She is no longer known for solely being the daughter of movie stars and has made a name for herself. Being a pan-Indian artiste, it is only expected that she is busy working in movies in other languages as well, particularly Telugu. But she dubs for herself in Tamil and she is definitely much missed by the industry. Her future projects in Tamil are yet to be announced, but she has definitely raised the bar of expectations for herself this year.

5) ANJALI

Now here is one of the few actresses in the industry who have made it to the top merely by talent rather than glamour. Angadi Theru and Engeyum Eppothum allowed her to flex her acting abilities, and she has even proved that she can do sensational roles with projects like Kalakalappu. This talent powerhouse has a slew of projects like Vathikuchi, Madha Gaja Raja, Onbathula Guru, Kalakalappu 2 and Settai coming our way.

4) SAMANTHA

Nobody ever expected anything from this one, especially for her to dub for herself. Despite having lived in Chennai all her life, she is from a mixed Telugu-Malayalam household and attended English medium schools. Unlike her Telugu movie career, Samantha had a rather slow start in the Tamil cinema.  But thanks to her recent films like Naan Ee and Neethane En Ponvasantham, she has successfully overtaken more experienced Mumbai girls in the industry and established herself as one of the few top Tamil-speaking actresses. By dubbing for herself in Neethane En Ponvasantham, Samantha has waved goodbye to Chinmayi, at least when Tamil movies are concerned. She is all set to sizzle with a Suriya in two movies, one with Lingusamy and another with Gautham Menon.

3) NAYANTHARA

She is still one of the industry's top actresses despite not having made an Tamil movies for the last two years, proving that she has a loyal following among Tamil moviegoers. Though she has proven herself to be a talented performer, the sensationalized linkups and breakups has been the one responsible for keeping her relevant in an industry where for actresses, one day you're in, the next day you're out. It is unclear if she dubs for herself, though she speaks Tamil fluently. She has dubbed for herself in Malayalam, and it is rumored that she will start dubbing for herself in Tamil too. With the announcement of her comeback with her famous Billa team, the entire industry is abuzz with the return of the queen. We can see her soon in the Billa team's return, Surangani  opposite her former co-stars Ajith and Arya and an Udayanidhi untitled film with Prabhakaran.

2) TRISHA

She was once the Tamil girl living in Chennai who is English educated and is not fluent in her own mother tongue who people love making fun of. But not anymore. Post Manmadhan Ambu, she too has waved goodbye to her string of dubbing artistes including Chinmayi and Savritra Reddy and is committed to dub for herself now and in the future. Despite no releases in 2012, her performance in Mankatha, Manmadhan Ambu and of course, the classic love story Vinaithandi Varuvaaya has kept the industry and fans alike well-informed of her talent and beauty. We can expect to see her next in Samar opposite Vishal, Endredum Punnagai opposite Jiiva and Boologam opposite her former co-star Jayam Ravi.

1) SRIDEVI

Bet you never saw this one coming, did you? So did we. After a two decade hiatus, Sridevi is unarguably the most successful former female movie star to make a comeback after such a long time. There was once when she conquered all the major movie industries in India and was at the top of her career. And true, English Vinglish is not strictly a Tamil movie, but Sridevi dubbed for herself, showing her commitment to act in any language movie as long as the right script comes her way. The last actress to make such a big comeback was Simran in Vaaranam Aaayiram, but that was only after a few years of taking a break. Sridevi still looks ravishingly beautiful and her acting skills are still topnotch, not to mention she has her producer husband to keep her going all the way. She is yet to announce any future projects, but we can expect big things from Sridevi.

Other names worth mentioning: Sneha, Asin, Bhavana, Meera Jasmine, Nithya Menon, Lakshmi Menon, Vijayalakshmi , Oviya, Padmapriya and Jasmine Michael

What is Thuppariyum Anandhan all about?

Now that superstar Surya has confirmed that he has signed his next movie with one of India's best storytellers, Gautham Menon, this has created quite a frenzy among Gautham-Surya fans. These two have a track record of being probably the best director-actor combo in the industry despite making only two movies together in the past. But those two movies are often cited as among the best to come out of the Tamil film industry, and every Tamil movie fans are definitely familiar with Kaakha Kaakha and Vaaranam Aayiram.

This news is sure to come as a relief to all Gautham fans after Yohan: Adhyayan Ondru starring Vijay has been cancelled due to unknown reasons. Also, Thuppariyum Anandhan was supposedly written for Ajith Kumar, who then left the project. Somehow, Gautham seems to not click with mass heroes, though it would have been amazing to see a different Vijay in a Gautham Menon movie. The whole premise of Yohan seemed exciting too as it was supposed to be an action thriller that would be the first in a series of prequels and sequels and each will be shot in different international locations such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Australia and many more. I must admit I was pretty excited. I like Vijay and he is a great actor, though I am not a fan of his masala movies. But this movie would have greatly showcased his talent as we have seen in his earlier movies. This was obviously planned to be a very urban, dark themed film - Gautham style. But as a mass hero, this definitely did not fit Vijay's fan base. So the plan was dropped altogether. However, the premise of Yohan sounds interesting and let's just hope Gautham continues the project with another actor, maybe Vikram! Can you imagine? Gautham and Vikram together? Epic! 

Now let's forget about Yohan. It is said that Surya will begin working on Thuppariyum Anandhan after the completion of his Singam 2. AR Rahman, who was earlier signed to work on Yohan will now probably move on to work on this film. The rest of the cast and crew has not yet been confirmed, which is why we are here - to speculate and anticipate the best! 

First, let's look at the story. It is said to be a mystery-thriller set in 80s, with Surya probably donning the role of a detective in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is like the Indian version of the American FBI. It is also said to have elements of an action-romantic film. There is a high chance we might be seeing Surya playing a CBI detective investigating a series of murders in Chennai. Like all Gautham Menon movies, we can expect an original story but with shades of strong Hollywood influences. The question is, which Hollywood movie(s) and how is Gautham planning to execute it? Will it resemble Kaakha Kaakha or Veetayadu Veelayadu more? 

I would really like to see it resembling Mystic River. Yes, that movie revolves only around one murder. But then, it does have the interesting character development subplot that we all love Gautham for! Not only that, the mystery aspect of it was pretty amazing too. It would be really cool to see Gautham give us an M.Night kind of twist ending! 

Or another fun idea would be to fashion it like Zodiac. This seems most possible since it is a about the authorities tracking down a serial psychopath after all. Like Zodiac, maybe Thuppariyum Anandhan is based on a true story as well. There was the Stoneman Murders which was made into a popular Hindi movie, The Stoneman Murders. In Chennai, there was the Auto Shankar case which shock Chennai back in the late 80s. It would be fun to see Gautham adapt it onto the silver screen. 

What I would really like Gautham to do is make an Alex Cross kind of thriller. We have already seen him doing that with Veetayaadu Veelayadu, which was much more critically acclaimed than all three Alex Cross films put together. Alex Cross is no Raghavan for sure. But it had a gripping mystery action-thriller main story line with a mature, touching romantic subplot with the Jyothika character. Now that would be completely amazing to see Gautham recreate the magic from Veetayaadu Veelayadu but with a fresh script and new premise. 

Now for the female lead, or as we call them, the heroine. Rumour also has it that Samantha Prabhu is at the top of the list to play Surya's love interest for the first time. Gautham has made it public that after working with her in four films, he is his favourite actress. She has also proved herself a decent drama actress with Neethane En Ponvasantham. It is easy to picture her giving an equally heart-rendering performance like Jyothika in Veetayaadu Veelayadu. She has also waved goodbye to Chinmayi, her loyal dubbing artiste and now speaks with her own voice, at least in her Tamil movies. So that is a major plus point for our Telugu Jessie! 

Next in line is Aishwarya Rai. Unlike other Indian actresses, marriage and motherhood has not stopped the queen of Bollywood as she is searching for a suitable comeback vehicle. Despite having her acting skills being overshadowed by her image as the most beautiful woman in the world, she is still a favourite among India's top critically and commercially acclaimed directors like Mani Ratnam, Shankar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It has been almost three years since we last saw her in Tamil movies like Raavanan and Endhiran, where she did much more than a good job. Her Tamil skills have definitely improved alongside her acting and she was almost considered to dub for herself. She has worked with Gautham Menon before back during his assistand director days in Kandukondain Kandukondain, where she delivered one of her best performances ever and he is surely well acquainted with her talent. 

Another actress rumoured to be considered to bag the role is newcomer Pranitha of Saguni fame, where she starred opposite Surya's brother, Karthi. Almost twenty years Surya's junior, it might not be an issue in Tamil Nadu, especially with Surya well maintaining his youthful looks. Having her in such a big scale project does seem risky, although more veteran movie makers like Mani Ratnam seem to be okay with that, as he is doing in Kadal. However, the very idea of it seems random and might quite possible start and end as nothing more than a rumour.

Whatever Gautham has in mind for us, it surely will be a treat. When he does romantic dramas, they touch our souls and haunt us for days. When he does action thrillers, they take our breath away and leave us stunned. And with AR Rahman handling the music department, we can rest assured that the magic the Gautham-Rahman combo created in Vinaithandi Varuvaaya will be reincarnated in the form of a different genre in this movie. I just can't wait. If you guys have any speculations or comments, do leave them below for me and others to read and share. Thank you! God bless you all =)