By LIM SUE GOAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE

By the end of 2008, Malaysia's biggest initiative is not the rescue operations to deal with the global financial tsunami, nor is it the action taken to dredge and clear rivers and canals before the rainy season. Instead, it is to make it a compulsory to use seat belts by rear passengers.

The penalty for the enforcement has been increasingly "ridiculous", from issuing those who are caught not using their seat belts a compound of RM300 ($124SGD) to directly charge them in court and once they are found guilty, they would have to pay a fine of up to RM2,000 ($829SGD), serve up to one year's jail or both.

Related senior officers simply said whatever that came to their minds without considering the consequences, including whether there are enough judges to handle such cases. If they fail to pay the compound and summons, would there be sufficient space in jail for these non-criminals?

The imprisonment sentence is also violating the fairness principle of law. Those who do not buckle up only violating the Road Transport Act, it is not even a minor offence. The authority should step up efforts to deal with increasingly rampant Mat Rempit (illegal racers) who attack and rob passers, instead of wasting time in the wearing seat belt issue.

Of course, we cannot deny that the Road Transport Department and the Road Safety Department are well-intentioned, but they must ensure that no official should take the advantage to develop various new measures in order to tell their superiors and the public that they are doing their works.

There are many similar examples, like the proposal of black box installation for lorries to stop speeding has ended up with nothing definite.

The Transport Ministry has enforced a few measures years ago, including the installation of the third brake light, warning jackets for motorists, lights on during daytime for lorries, and even Operasi Sikap during festive seasons. And now, we remember only the excitement scenes when these measures were introduced but no one care about the effectiveness of the measures.

When something happens, officials will just rush to make remarks and take actions, just like the recent Bukit Antarabangsa massive landslide incident, hillside housing projects were all suspended, but we may forget about the risks later.

Therefore, the mentality of civil servants should be shifted from "telling the public that I'm doing my work" to "doing a good job everyday". The former mentality is based on impulsiveness and achieving goals by taking punitive measures, making things difficult for the people. Meanwhile, the latter mentality is the professionalism to improve public services.

Professionalism is required to resolve problems facing by the country, including local public health, river blockages, public security and economy crisis. Hopefully, 2009 will bring changes.

-- Sin Chew Daily / Asia News Network