KUALA LUMPUR — Opposition Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) yesterday urged Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to stop serving alcohol on all its flights after a security scare on a Kuala Lumpur-bound flight, when a passenger claiming to have a bomb attempted to enter the cockpit.

The Islamist party’s youth wing claimed that alcohol is a “threat” to flight safety, and Malaysia must make Middle East countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain, as well as neighbour Brunei, role models in this matter.

“PAS Youth urges the Malaysian government to make a drastic policy change in Malaysia Airlines by halting immediately from serving alcoholic drinks that can threaten flight safety,” the wing’s vice-chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said.

Passengers and crew on Flight MH128 tackled a 25-year-old Sri Lankan man and tied him up with seatbelts, after he fished out a large object and claimed it was a bomb before attempting to force his way into the plane’s cockpit.

The flight returned to Melbourne Airport following the incident shortly after it took off late on Wednesday.

The man was detained by the Australian police who said they did not believe the incident was linked to terrorism, instead citing mental health issues.

The man was charged in a Melbourne court yesterday with making threats, false statements and endangering the safety of an aircraft.

Mr Ahmad Fadhli yesterday lamented the situation of thousands of the airline’s Muslim staff, claiming that they were “forced” to serve alcohol, which is contrary to their religious belief. “Peace and order can only be attained with elements of blessing. As a country led by a Muslim prime minister, this is the time to make a change if we really want to,” he said.

He commended the national carrier’s decision earlier this year to stop serving alcoholic drinks on short-haul flights, claiming that the move was “praised by many in the public who are its passengers”.

MAS stopped serving alcohol on flights under three hours long starting Jan 1 last year to accommodate the preference of most of their customers who are Malaysians, but did not publicly announce it until April that year.

Politicians from both PAS and rival ruling United Malays National Organisation (Umno) have made repeated calls to ban alcohol on MAS flights, especially after two tragedies that struck the national carrier in 2014.

That year, Flight MH370 went missing in March, while Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine four months later.

Flight MH370 was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it disappeared in the early hours of March 8, 2014, with 239 people — most of them Chinese nationals — on board, sparking the greatest aviation mystery in modern times.

The deep-ocean hunt for the jet in the southern Indian Ocean has been suspended after nearly three years without results.

And in October last year, Dutch air accident investigators concluded in the final report that MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile in July 2014, killing all 298 people — including 43 Malaysians — on board. MALAY MAIL ONLINE