The
story of a bus driver and his assistant forcing a passenger to kneel down on
the floor before letting him get off has stirred public anger.
From a legal perspective, their act of
humiliating another person amounts to a crime punishable by law as stipulated
by article 121 of the penal code. Not to mention the fact that they have also
abused their position and authority to cause difficulties to passengers, which
is also considered a crime, according to article 48.
From a social perspective, we may wonder: How
could such a crime happen? How is it possible that someone with a little bit of
power, such as pushing a button to open the bus door, can humiliate another
person?
Everyone knows that the bus operator is the
Hanoi Tramcar Enterprise, a governmental division, and the public bus system
nationwide is managed by the State. The incident happened right after the
Minister of Transport called on the public to take the bus and limit the use of
personal vehicle.
This is not the first time a government leader
has issued such a call to the public, entreating them to use the public
transport system, but the number of people using it has not risen much. Why are
there still seven million empty seats in Ho Chi Minh City’s bus system every
year? Why are thousands of billions of dong spent to subsidize the bus fares
and still it remains just a means of transportation for students and poor workers?
The answer is simple. No one wants to step
into a place where they know their dignity can be violated at any time.
It is not difficult to find and punish bus
drivers who assault or maltreat their passengers.
What is difficult is to cleanse the bad images
of this form of public transportation in the public eyes, to rid the drivers
and their assistants of their offensive and rude behavior, to put an end to
their violations of traffic laws and to stop the pickpockets from making a
living on the bus.
As long as surveys still show the public lack
of trust in the buses, it is hard to talk about using public transportation as
a solution to traffic congestion.
NGUYEN VY DU
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