TWO things made me pause and ponder before writing this article. Firstly, I was inspired by the discipline shown by the Singaporeans during my recent visit to Singapore and its strict implementation of the law. The second point of motivation for me was a conversation I had with a group of people who complained that there are no strict laws against bad social behavior such as smoking in no-smoking areas, throwing garbage on the ground, spitting on the ground and generally turning a blind eye to any sort of bad behavior. Their question made me think. They asked a simple but a pertinent question, how difficult is it to come up with a law and implement it? One painful fact is that we are known as people who are less disciplined when it comes to following the law. This does not mean that all of us are habitual lawbreakers, but the percentage of people who care a whit for the law is higher. There are people here, Saudis and expatriates, who follow the law and love to see it implemented, but there is a very good percentage of Saudis and expatriates, who lack discipline and find difficulty in respecting the laws on public property. Such people are seen in public places throwing garbage everywhere except in the bin even when garbage containers are just meters away. Such people are seen spitting on the ground in front of people without any feeling of shame. For some the use of the tambool (tobacco) or the paan (chewing betel leaves) is a regular feature and many do not care where they spit the residue. Another regular feature of such people is they do not see any reason not to light up whenever and wherever they want to. They are seen smoking in areas of no smoking. And of course they are ready to risk their lives and the lives of others by crossing roads from areas they are not supposed to cross and commit many other violations. We are eager to see laws implemented in public places to a level that we are impressed by the experience in neighboring countries in this field and wish to see it implemented here. We are impressed of the setting up and the adhering to basic laws. We are impressed by the obvious that should have been implemented inside each one of us as a value before it becomes a law. In all these states where the law is being implemented and abided by the people, there has always been a period set aside for trial and education. In each place, before implementing a law, there is a period of awareness campaign to educate people about the new law. I suggest we skip this step and let the stories of people paying fines and suffering from receiving many fines to be the awareness campaign. Generally violators have no intention of listening to awareness campaigns about something good because they are programed to violate the law. By enforcing a law and imposing fines on violators, we are doing a huge favor to society. Sometimes going surgical is much more effective than a long treatment. We used to suffer a lot from people smoking inside the airport. When the General Authority of Civil Aviation, GACA, came up with the law to fine smokers inside the airport, violators did not believe them until many of them were fined. Suddenly no one is smoking inside the airport and same in government buildings. Similarly when the traffic department imposed a fine of SR100 for not wearing a seatbelt, people realized the value of safety and started wearing the belt. When violating drivers started receiving fines for this violation, people started wearing the seatbelt before starting their car. There is a fine for littering in Saudi Arabia, but that's on paper only. People are comfortable throwing garbage from their cars and on the ground in public places, or leaving their garbage behind in the beach without any fear of being penalized. What I want to emphasize here is that fines should be activated and implemented strictly. We have passed the stage of teaching people basic ethics and manners. If families are not teaching these basics to their children then it is the government's job to teach them the hard way, by hitting them where it hurts most — their pockets. Begin imposing fines and violators will think twice before committing a violation. In my opinion we should not waste time on studying why people do not respect the law. Violators are a cancer in every society and they should be dealt with. A law-abiding citizen and expatriate would be demotivated when they see violators behave negatively and go unpunished. Some might even join them. For those who say it is impossible, I would suggest them to see a successful city-state enforcing the law. It is simple. Just see the transformation of Singapore to what they are now from what they were in the past. They had problems worst than us, but they worked to overcome them. They showed discipline, hard work and fortitude in tackling all issues. They unitedly built the framework for laws and implemented it dutifully. They relied heavily on educating people first and then they imposed fines. They also have a rule that every young person serves in the army and learns discipline, which I think if implemented here could also be effective. But for the immediacy, I believe in educating violators through fines. The more a violator pays fines the more he will realize that it is not worth breaking the law while respecting the law is much cheaper. The writer can be contacted at [email protected]. Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
