Smoke away if you must, but responsibly

Last Friday I was having lunch at Prangin Mall in Penang when I caught sight of one of the teenage boys sitting at the table across from me lighting up a cigarette.

Should I go up to him and tell him to put it out or should I just yell "Oi, No Smoking!" from where I was seated. Or should I report to the food court operator?

Instead, I sat where I was, conspicuously took out my phone and snapped a picture of the boy. I edited the photo, put a sticker on his face and posted it on Instagram.

Why do so instead of making a complaint or talking some sense to the person? If everyone did as I did, when will we ever get rid this problem?

First of all, I did feel that any attempt to educate this person would have resulted in an altercation, which I was in no emotional state to handle.

Secondly, not smoking in an enclosed mall is what I'd like to think is "common sense" and a "universal code of conduct", and should a person fail to understand that then what else is there to be done? Slap a fine and make them pay, that's what should be done.

Not all that astonishingly, this was not the first time I have witnessed people smoking in that third floor food court nor is it an isolated incident.

Almost on a daily basis I pass by people lighting up in Komtar, which is the administrative centre in Penang - local, state and federal government offices and agencies are situated there.

The Chief Minister's office is in Komtar and so is the Penang Island City Council and all the State Excos.

Yet, people light up in the enclosed public areas of Komtar, and its adjacent ICT Mall and Prangin Mall.

These three malls have its own management and have security guards and personnel guarding almost every floor. And yet, they seem to be ineffective in enforcing the strictly "No-Smoking in Enclosed Areas/Buildings" policies that we have in Malaysia.

Witnessing the boy, most likely a secondary school student or at most in his first year of college, lighting up in a packed chicken rice shop in a busy mall in the heart of Penang island mirrors the state of affairs in our country.

We have all sorts of laws, policies and regulations, but how effective are our authorities in enforcing them to maintain order?

We see people at the top blatantly breaking the law and getting away. We have the police and traffic police and yet our crime rates keep increasing and traffic offenders going about terrorising others on the road.

We have Moral Studies in school and yet our schools tend to be an antagonising place for many children.

We claim to be religious and yet we seem to get news of murders, rape, abuse and corruption on a daily basis.

We say we have among the best education systems in the world and yet our graduates are unemployable.

We claim to be protectors of our nature and yet rampant deforestation does not seem to worry us as a nation.

We post "No Smoking" signs all over the country and yet find people smoking right in front of them.

I do think it is important for us to keep in mind that these are all symptoms of a broken system.

When we see a school student smoking at a restaurant or people rushing into the lift before those who need to get off do so, it is because we as a people do not have pride and ownership of our public areas and facilities.

And then question and analyse why is it that we do not feel this ownership and the collective responsibility over what our tax monies have paid for.

Each one of us has a part to play in this collective responsibility, and the cracks are a sign that our system needs to be fixed. This means I might have to do more than Instagramming such incidences and writing about it in my column.

How about you? How are you going to take charge of your role in this collective responsibility we call Malaysia? – September 26, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.