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Published on September 7, 2007

For a country that relies heavily on tourism as one of the main sources of its national income, Thailand continues to perform poorly in terms of enforcement of law to ensure public safety. When such a lack of public safety is so prevalent, it is inevitable that international visitors who come to this country either for work or for pleasure will suffer their share of man-made mishaps. Such things happen all the time and repeat themselves. The same pattern applies; it is only the places, times and names of the offenders and victims that are different.

It goes like this: someone neglects to maintain the safety measures required by law, and innocent victims get hurt or killed. The public expresses outrage. Compensation is paid to the victims or their relatives and the police then take legal action against the "small fry", letting the real culprits - usually wealthy, well-connected business operators - off the hook. Government agencies responsible for public safety then promise to tighten safety measures and legal enforcement. The public sustains its outrage for a while, but then everyone slips back into complacency - and that's where it usually ends, until another disaster strikes.

The two incidents that happened over consecutive days earlier this week are but variations of the same theme.

A boat capsized off Krabi's Maya Bay, killing one foreign tourist and seriously injuring another. The accident could easily have been avoided if the boat operator had not allowed the vessel to be dangerously overloaded with the number of passengers being well beyond its capacity. This was done in violation of the law.

The other incident, a fire at the Mandarin Hotel in Bangkok during the middle of the night, apparently also reflected the same lack of scruples and respect for safety regulations. Fortunately, all of the 300-400 hotel guests escaped with their lives with several being injured. The hotel may have been equipped with a fire alarm system and sprinklers but it was not clear whether they were in working order. Many hotel guests told reporters that they were not alerted by either the fire alarm system or by hotel staff.

It remains to be seen whether police investigators will do their utmost to get to the bottom of the matter, to find out who was responsible for the failure to keep the fire alarm system and the sprinklers in working condition. Or whether the owner of the hotel had made the best effort to ensure the safety of his property. If negligence is proven, how should the hotel owner be punished so that other operators will learn to respect both the letter and the spirit of the laws that govern public safety?

Business operators must be made to understand that skimping on public safety measures does not pay in the long run. Judges should order business operators found guilty of failure to observe public safety to pay large amounts of money in compensation to victims or their families, in addition to serving jail terms in cases of criminal negligence causing deaths and injuries. Insurance companies should not have to pay for damage to properties of those business operators who fail to maintain public safety as required by the law. For example, they should not be required to pay for fire damage to a hotel or other property whose fire safety standards do not meet the legal requirements.

The "life-is-cheap-in-this-part-of-the-world" attitude should no longer be tolerated. Indeed, ensuring safety for foreign tourists and local people should not be taken as a separate agenda. To be effective, any attempt at improving public safety must be made on a comprehensive society-wide basis. Thai people must shed their complacency and learn to put pressure on politicians and government regulators to demand nothing less than the minimum standards of safety for all public places.

Government offices, office buildings, hotels, entertainment establishments and public transport vehicles must be periodically checked by the authorities to make sure they comply strictly to safety regulations. Any operator that fails to live up to the standards required by the law must be made to face up to the certainty of criminal action and a heavy fine. The authorities do not have to wait for disasters to happen before they take action. It is no use putting in place well-thought-out laws and regulations if the government and the police have no will to enforce them.