Reading Signs

No, this post is not about astrology, fortune reading or anything remotely connected to Prof Trelawney.

This is about Malaysians, and their inability to read signs. I was shocked today, when I encountered 2 incidences of our typical Malaysian aversion to signages.

In incident 1, we had enclosed off an area, because we were managing a patient who we suspected had a highly infectious air-borne disease. So, we cordoned off an area with the red-white tape to make sure that nobody could come near and risk getting infected. No sooner was that done, that we had people crossing over and under the tape, totally disregarding the cordoning-off action. Mind you, this wasn't on a main walk-way at all; but it did cut off a commonly used short-cut. I was astounded at the lack of importance paid to that red-white tape. As I'm sure this is the case most of the time, how in heaven's name do we cordon-off any area ? If I had a man-eating lion, or a life-threatening hazardous material breech or a pandemic causing virus in that cordoned off area, how la if our main approach toward cordoning off is to step over or under the tape ? Gosh !

In Incident 2, we had a parking space sign that said "Jabatan Kecemasan Doctors Only". We had placed individual signs on each of the car parks alloted; at driver's eye level, in clear capital letters; just to ensure that only ED doctors would park there. Lo and behold, a Honda Accord swoops in, and parks at the very spot. Fella was coolly taking his stuff from his car when I stopped him and told him that he needed to park elsewhere. Indignantly, to show that he thought I was a bloody kay-poh, he puts on a face, grumbles but drives off .... to park illegally at the ambulance lane ! Ayoyo !

How to manage these fellas la ? How to manage a country where nobody wants to follow any rules ? How to we create good systems, effective services if methods are not followed ?

I have come to the conclusion that Malaysians, of all colour and creed, love SHORTCUTS ! They love being able to do things a shorter way, with less hassle, with less effort, with less input. Why read instructions when I can just simply have a go at it ? Why follow signs when I don't have to ? Why do it the proper way when there is another simpler shorter solution ?

Here, the fault lies with the AUTHORITIES ! Yup, the fellas sitting behind tables, totally disconnected from reality; drawing up the policies ("rules") and procedures ("time-consuming processes") that are just ridiculous; rules that are meant to be broken; procedures that are meant to bypass. Along the way, the fellas will put up lots and lots of signages that either don't provide information, provide information that was only useful 5 years ago or that say things that they don't mean. [don't you love those doors that say "Dilarang Masuk Tanpa Urusan Rasmi" where it keeps on opening and closing with all Toms, Dicks and Harrys walking in and out all the time ? ]

So, in school, we learn that most signages don't mean anything at all; on our roads, we learn that signages are only to be followed when the police are looking; at work, we learn that signages are .... what signages ??? we didn't even notice that there were signages there in the first place. So is it really a surprise that we now pay no heed whatsoever to signages ?

What can we do about it ? Well, I think it falls back on the authorities again. Yup, the fellas sitting behind tables, totally disconnected from reality. [Gosh ! We are in trouble, aren't we, if we have to rely on those fellas ?]

This is what needs to be done. Remove ALMOST ALL signages. Only keep the ones that you mean to enforce ! Or the ones that you cannot do without. Otherwise, everything else goes ! This will at the very least, re-sensitize our Malaysians to pay heed to signages again.

In schools, stop spoon-feeding our students. I know they learn much faster if they are spoon-fed [heck, they may even score better for the exams] but in reality, two weeks after the exams, they have forgotten half of what they had learnt. The problem with spoon-feeding, is that they forget how to learn on their own. They don't know how to read instructions manuals, how to research topics, how to look around and gather information.

Lastly, the authorities must relinquish their authority. Empower the people, engage with them, working together to come out with better systems; that everybody will accept and follow. Then your signages will be followed whole-heartedly.


And I can cordon-off areas and have car parks back ..... Sheesh !!!