Security vs Convenience

Yesterday morning when we went to Takashimaya and entered from the Tower A rear entrance, there was this security guard there at the counter who stopped us and asked where we were proceeding to.

Me : 18th storey.
Guard : 18th storey ah? Must sign in first. (My guess is that this would have been his response regardless what reply I had given)
Me : Sign in this book here? But we may not exit the building from this entrance, you know.
Guard : No, you have to leave from this entrance and sign out here. (Yah sure, like this is up to you)
Me (sacarstically) : Wah, your security here very good, huh?

As YP proceeded to sign in for the both of us, in came a middle-aged woman. Just as she was dashing to the elevator, the very on-the-ball security guard stopped her and threw the same question to her. Of course, whatever she replied, she was told to sign in before she could proceed.

Woman (very loudly and impatiently) : Aiyoh! Late already still have to sign in !!

The woman's reaction must have stirred up something within me. All of a sudden, I found myself on the side on the security guard. So I said, in an equally loud voice, "Security mah. This is good, what." She ignored me.

I think the woman must have simply scribbled some nonsense inside that log book, 'cos it only took her a very very short time to fill in those fields, which included name, NRIC number, contact number, location of visit, sign-in time and so on.

This single episode showed up two areas of shortcoming.

The first is in the security system itself. While the INTENTION to get people to sign-in and sign-out upon entry/exit is soundly grounded from a security perspective, the EXECUTION bit falls way short. This wasn't a single entry-exit point, so a sign-in-sign-out book would absolutely not work.

The second, and more worrying aspect, is the woman's (which I would say can be extrapolated to a good portion of the general public) attitude on and reaction towards security issues. Too many of us are overly complacent with regard to the threats that we as a nation face from terrorism. Many are not aware of the severity of the threat, and naively think that such things would never happen in our own back yard. Yet others who acknowledges the threat often think that the government is bound to be on top of the situation, and that they would know what to do to keep us all safe.

The most exasperating thing is that too many people here, while outwardly proclaiming to be pro-security, have their convictions totally fall apart when their patience is tested and their convenience compromised. Just like that woman, they'd complain how these security measures have (a) wasted their precious time, (b) wasted national resources, (c) made a mockery with the lack of realism, or (d) all of the above. The recent Exercise Northstar V remains a good example of just how good people are at complaining.

Cannot stand them. If they can do the job better, then for goodness sake, come and do it instead lah. Who doesn't know how to TALK?

I often think that the only thing that can turn things around is an actual act of terrorism being perpetrated here in our own soil. That'd shake things up a bit and wake people up from their false sense of comfort and safety. Sometimes extreme measures are what it would take to solve problems that are so deeply seated.

By the way, we left Takashimaya from another exit yesterday, and we did not sign out on that very lame excuse of a security book.