Security Charades

Little's changed since last May when I whinged about the form-without-function bag checks at the entrances to the MRT stations. I bet nobody in the upper echelons of the MRT even remembers the original raison d'etre of this inane exercise, if indeed one ever existed. In any case, whatever the obviously bored to distraction security "guards" are looking for--or more aptly NOT looking for--could never be found during the millisecond of scrutiny they devote to the bag checking procedure.

Yet woe betide anyone who attempts to bypass the bag check for the sake of convenience. A few times when schlepping a computer-laden daypack I tried striding purposefully past the "guard" rather than laboriously taking if off and on. But I only ended up feeling guilty because my blatant violation of protocol utterly discomfited the poor guy whose job depends on casting a pseudo glance in the direction of each passenger's bag.

So now, with the speed of a flasher undoing his raincoat, I unzip a section of whatever reticule I happen to be carrying and present it for inspection. Both the "guard" and I know he would no more rifle through my bag than I would carry anything illegal. All that matters is that we dutifully play our parts in this futile exercise.

I much prefer the approach to passenger security adopted by the BTS Skytrain pooh bahs. At each station they've set up an umanned "Security Check" table near the ticket machines. Like a surreal art installation, the white formica-topped table epitomizes the actual Thai attitude toward transportation security.