What's the end result of negligence, of carelessness? What's the cost of not doing one's job properly?
Life, apparently, is what it may eventually cost. And the bigger the scale of laxness, the bigger the loss.
Towards the end of last month, a piece of horrifying news came from Khon Kaen province when a woman's body was found in the middle of the road with her throat slashed. Near her body, the police found her motorcycle and a long line of internet cables that dropped to the ground from the utility pole. Surveillance footage and evidence suggested that the fallen cable strangled the woman as she was riding on her motorcycle, killing her on the spot.
Since the incident, the Khon Kaen governor ordered for all cables that hang above the streets in the province to be properly wired and managed. The company that owned the problematic cable has visited the deceased's family. Locally, the problem seemed to be solved.
In the bigger picture, following the accident, the Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) decided to step in last week by announcing that it will be giving away 4,500 free power banks for people who send in reports of tangled wires and messy, broken cables in their neighbourhoods. Rallying for public help in exchange for freebies? How is that for a solution?
It seemed almost a nice solution in the first few seconds we heard the announcement. Then, when we began to process the information, we began to ask ourselves if it's really something we should be doing?
Don't get me wrong. Keeping a lookout for problems in our community is good. But, hey, why aren't the people who are paid to do the job the ones, you know, doing it? Why are you giving out power banks to people on the street to do the job you're supposed to be doing, NBTC? Are we missing something here? Isn't it your job to monitor those cables -- or at least the companies that set them up -- and make sure they are well managed in an orderly fashion?
Judging from several street junctions we pass daily and the sight of entangling, falling and breaking cables, I think we already have an answer. Year after year we see them, threatening the already non-existent safety of street commuters, but the mess is rarely fixed. No work is done unless someone is killed. And until someone is really unfortunate enough to be the sacrificial lamb for the uncaring, we continue to fend for ourselves. When news go quiet, things will most likely go back to the way they were.
From power banks, we continue to another drama surrounding beauty and weight-loss products. The names Magic Skin and Lyn made up the latest scandal in the country, with one company faking a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) certificate while the other sold products containing harmful chemicals linked to four deaths.
Blame the companies for their misdeeds. Blame the celebrities and medical personnel that endorse them. But where is the FDA in all of this? Don't think they can walk free and blameless when part of the problem lies in their loose certification protocol. They've vowed to tighten control in the future, but it seems the same story is repeating here. No action is taken unless there's a scandal. And if news of Magic Skin and Lyn never broke into the public consciousness, then nothing would ever change and the FDA would stay inattentive to the many harmful products that are being sold right under their nose.
At the same time, what happens when government agencies and staff actually do their job? What's the cost of doing one's job properly? If we learned anything from the black leopard case and the forest rangers that apprehended the poachers next to the wildlife carcases, it seems very discouraging. Hard work goes unrewarded. And there's also a rumour that our bad guy may eventually walk free.
Hopeless? Sometimes it is so. But what else do we expect or hope for? Or maybe we should feel glad that at least they're not abusing and exploiting their position, as in the case of the welfare assistance fraud that has been going on across the country, with over 200 civil officers reportedly involved in corruption and document forgeries to steal money intended for the destitute.
And what about the person who could exercise control with the Infinity S44? Too busy riding big bikes and shaking hands with celebrities and singers perhaps. It goes bottom to top, and then top down to the bottom again. And don't start about the election since 70 million people apparently don't want it anyway.
Do your job well. Or don't. You'll get paid at the end of the day anyway. The rest of us have been living and getting used to it long enough. Like anything, we'll have to watch our own back and fend for ourselves since we can't count on the people who are hired to do it.
Melalin Mahavongtrakul is a feature writer of the Life section of Bangkok Post.