Yes that was a silly proceedure indeed but your memory is failing you, it was the early 90's and 1990 to be exact.
It's not just Aussies that make an easy thing hard, most large Airlines modify their own procedures as to how the current CP FTM think.
So you were one of those Euro heroes we had in KL, mmmmm I remember you guys weren't all Top Guns either....
Have you heard the term "people that live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"