We made society corrupt

Institutionalised corruption has become a foundation stone of our society. We fuel it daily by defying the law

Vaqas March 28, 2011
Picture this:  it’s 2:00 am at a traffic signal somewhere, anywhere in Islamabad.

A car makes its way to the red-light and slows down. From this point on, everything seems to be out of a fantasy world.

That’s because it is unlikely for a car to stop on an empty street and on an uncrowded intersection at any time of day. Even though a mere traffic violation can hardly be compared to serious offences, the reactions of some people to being ticketed are often hilarious when put into the context of their general behaviour.
“Sir, it’s my first offence”,

“Sir, I’m late late for work”

“How much will it cost to settle this right here?” and

“Oye, don’t you know whose car this is?”

The typical Pakistani loves to provide their two cents on corruption in the government, but will quickly ignore the fact that he (or she) is at least partly guilty of contributing to the institutionalised corruption that plagues our society.

Take the example of any high flyer when stopped at a chowk. He will lie, then plead ignorance, then try to negotiate using a blue or green bill, and then be on his way to complain about the corrupt system.

Then, there is the case of the prodigal son offered a job — not out of merit of achievement. Look under a rock and you’ll find a qualified individual overlooked because of the lack of strong ties within an industry.

Institutionalised corruption has become a foundation stone of our society and we fuel it daily by defying the law. Why else would we feel offended when penalised for an obvious infraction of the law?

We’re not hypocrites, are we? Scratch that, we are.

If all this doesn’t make any sense, just recall the last time you had work at a government office with a long queue waiting ahead of you. What did you pay to be bumped forward? Or, whose name did you take to receive preferential treatment? Thought so.




 
WRITTEN BY:
Vaqas
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (10)

Suhail Sadiq | 12 years ago | Reply After reading this i can feel just sorry for our people who only write about problems while we all already know all about these kinda bad stuff in society but nobody comes up with a solid solution and with proper work and ideas how to make our police more good and well equipped and as i know 90% of people don't know the law so they cant know about their rights and duties as a civilian. we all should start teaching about the things that others don't know instead of just writing on problems just give some sorta valid solutions please. i can ask to people if they know how to eridate poverty they willl say its the job of gov. offcourse not its not only the job of gov. we should also contribute in providing the good ideas to our gov. and instead of only protests we should do something practical.
Grace | 12 years ago | Reply People are more corrupt than the poor police but they love to point fingers at others. This is the problem with Muslim people; They think they are perfect but everyone else is corrupt. This is the reality of all Muslim societies where they all curse police, politicians, teachers and authority but they themselves are equally corrupt.
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