When I read the article entitled “Setting Priorities Straight” by Ignatius Stephen earlier this month I felt pretty disgusted with the way things got settled.

“Mr. Ambassador, sir, your car is being locked. Hurry, hurry!” cried the head waiter who came running. “Talk to the officers, please. Quick! Mr. Ambassador!”
….
“Sorry, I parked here. But mine is a diplomatic vehicle. Ours is a new mission here and meanwhile I am waiting for a diplomatic car number plate,” the emissary explained to the arms of the law.

Point on contention being that it seems that just because the person is an ambassador they think they can get away with the wrong doing of parking in a place they are not supposed to park. I for one am utterly disgusted with this. Just because the person is of a high social rank, he/she can get away with their actions despite being in the wrong, and in this case breaking the law. Laws are in place to maintain order. If we break it, we deserve punishment. I believe there is room for leniency, but in this situation that does not apply.

On a side note, what use is a law if it is not enforced? I sure many of us remember the raid of the kedai komunis (translated to “communist shop” (if anybody knows the origin of this do leave a comment)), that sold nothing but pirated CDs and VCDs at the time. There was a major operation to rid the country of these pirated materials. It happened once or twice but and after that, it seemed that they did not seem to care about piracy anymore. The kedai komunis is still there, selling the same old pirated goods. More recently last year they raided an IT computer school (I would give links but can’t seem to Google search within brudirect.com) for usage of pirated software and the typical non enforcement after that.

The most recent law in place is the prohibition of smoking in specific places according to the Tobacco Order 2005 and it was finally fully enforced on 1st February 2008. A friend of mine happened to be in a situation where she had to suffer the negligence of smokers smoking in an area where it was prohibited. She gestured towards the non-smoking sign and was given a sour face by the smoker. Who didn’t even stay to finish the meal but got up and left. Also reported in the papers:

One patron said he warned them about the new rules, but they ignored him. (source)

People need to learn to be less selfish and more socially responsible. If you want to smoke and decide to put yourself though the health risk, you may but let it not harm/effect the lives of those around you.

The order also makes it an offence to smoke in certain public places and vehicles and anyone found guilty of violating the order will face a fine not exceeding $1,000.

I for one would love to see the Tobacco Order to be enforced so we can leave in a cleaner Brunei. We as a people of Brunei need to do something. Let us not be innocent bystanders suffering at the hands of others. Let us do something.

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