Oooops Silap.....Sorry, I mean Ops Sikap

Ops Sikap or what some beginning to call Ops Silap has just ended. This round's Ops Sikap registered 261 deaths....over a period of 2 weeks. We've had so many Ops Sikap... practically every major festive season that I can't really recall when it was first introduced. But one thing has remained constant.. the number of deaths don't really seem to come down. Of course there are some who say it has, going by the increase in the number of vehicles on the road during these seasons.

These senseless deaths don't seem to be abating. And yes! Ooops Silap is a more appropriate name. Where have we gone silap (wrong)? We keep having these campaigns - be more considerate, wear your seat belts, etc. etc but we failed to enforce the law at other times. I drive to school every morning and along the way, I'd see students riding motorcycles without their helmets; sometimes going at breakneck speed. And when they arrived at the school gate without their helmets... nobody says anything.

Then there are those students as young as First Formers who ride motorcycles to school. The police should be making sweeps in schools - but nah! They're too busy with candle light vigils, 'illegal' gatherings to make sure these kids don't sprout 'wings' and become Mat Rempits later. Neither does the school take action on these kids... cos we want the kids to come to school; even if they are under aged and come on motorbikes. Parents close an eye to kids who ride without license. Some parents even encourage it. So what gives?

Then the issuing of license. Some say license can be bought. It's kopitiam talk that paying duit kopi for license is common. So, these half baked drivers are released onto the roads. Plus because some form of buying their way in is involved here, these people have a certain attitude. They think it's possible to buy your way out of anything.

And the long breaks... Raya, CNY come along. The gahmen can even announce extra hols for it. I mean it's good for families to get together and all that. But bending so much seems to imply that well, if it's for a 'good' thing, then it's okay to bend the rules.. even if in bending the rules you create a lot of not so good things... So, if you give it to the Raya people, you'd soon be bound to the CNY people... get everyone on board so that no criticism flies around. Sama-sama in the boat. The roads get congested with all these travels for a longer period.

The the police... they seem to become less visible now. Maybe they monitor it via cameras now... I dunno. But no presence, the compliance to traffic laws also goes down. It's like a classroom. No teacher, the noisier it becomes. Police presence must be felt.

So, Ops Sikap or Silap.. which ever way you want to call it. We've been doing this upteen years and still, there are many senseless deaths, mainly the pedestrians and the bikers. To which, a good public transportation system, not just connecting the cities but within every city, would also play a vital role in discouraging the use of their own mode of transport.... Ops Sikap, I wonder when he authorities will realize that it doesn't actually do much good.