We need to get the basics right

 MANY of us think that we are not getting the big picture right, that corruption happens in some imagined high offices by high-flying politicians, civil servants or business executives, that crime is perpetrated by a special breed of evil people.

Actually, that is totally wrong. 

Everything that has gone wrong in PNG is because everyday, ordinary individuals are not doing the very basic things right.

Service with a smile no longer happens. People are met in an almost hostile manner across many counters, be it in the public or private sector.

Customers pay for service but are often treated with contempt by those who are meant to serve them.

The lines stretch forever wherever one goes – be it at the bank, at the clinic, at the Lands Department or Immigration and Citizenship Services.

There is a letter writer in the paper today whose experience at a Tokarara clinic in Port Moresby is a very familiar story for most of us.

People turn up late 

for work. 

Once they turn up, they go through the motions, doing nothing even when there is a long line of people waiting to be served. Those standing in line are fearful of demanding that they be served lest they be sent away or are served last.

With the exception of a few places, provision of quality service across the entire public and private sector has become a luxury that seems to have eluded PNG .

This is no small issue. It is part of a national malady that contributes to the disrespect and contempt we hold for each other. 

This attitude leads to the dramatic failure by members of PNG society to respect each other and each other’s properties. 

It leads to the corruptive atmosphere that is pervasive in this country. It leads to the crimes of violence that are now an everyday occurrence.

Make no mistake. If people cannot raise the bar in their everyday conduct, if they cannot dress well for their office work, if they are not time conscious, if they procrastinate, if they do not work an hour for an hour’s pay, then all is lost.

These are the basic actions that keeps a society functioning smoothly and civilly. 

Do not look for the person who schemes to rob the state of millions of kina. 

The big robbers are few and far in between.

The thief lurks in everyone who wants to cheat the bus driver by paying him less than the stipulated bus fare. 

The thief lurks in the person who wants to stay out an extra 30 minutes after lunch when he or she should be taking themselves back to work. 

Failure to live by the terms of a contract or to obey the simplest law such as not spitting betel nut gob onto the pavement or not throwing garbage in public places.

All these lead to more and more lapses until we have a society that is quarrelsome, that is dirty and disrespectful of others, that is spiteful, greedy and violent.

Once we pay attention to the small details and get the basics right, we will have placed ourselves in a position to attend to the 

bigger issues and get them right as well.