A bureaucratic statement — “according to regulations” — has entered the lexicon of red-tape comments such as “come tomorrow.” The phrase “according to regulations” is now part of a series of hurdles imposed by officials to exert their hegemony over people. These statements are used mainly to delay work and are never explained what they actually mean.
The words “according to regulations” are the new cover used by government institutions when dealing with members of the public. The irony is that this bureaucratic statement has snowballed to become a fact of life in the Kingdom.
I do not believe that any rational person will refuse to abide by “regulations,” which would simply protect one’s rights and define what one is duty-bound to do. And if explained properly, the members of the public would get their papers in order “according to regulations.” However, this statement, which a number of officials utter, has become a tool to sabotage and a device to delay people’s business.
This leads one to legitimately ask: Is the aim behind the “according to regulations” statement is to delay people’s interests, and blackmail and frighten them? Are the officials who use this statement part of a mafia working against the directives of their leadership, which calls for people to be served speedily and without delays?
There are officials who take the “according to regulations” statement to mean a speedy service and punctual dealing with paperwork. Such officials, who are rays of hope, do not make the “according to the regulations” statement a hurdle to obstruct people’s interests, but rather a means to serve people and care for them.
The “according to regulations” statement, in its new distorted meaning, has caused a lot of damage and become a really scary phrase to hear. This has necessitated in the launch of an awareness campaign against this practice, which has sabotaged the true meaning of “regulations.”
When society takes the first step to confront the “according to regulations” statement in the context of it being a hurdle, then we may get a reaction. It would lead the officials to erase it from their lexicon.
