When China's quality watchdog chief Li Changjiang resigned over the melamine-tainted milk incident some two weeks ago, the quest for accountability among Chinese officials has upgraded to a higher level; however, we believe holding officials accountable is not the end for investigation into the truth.
Though the government has officially admitted there was delay in acting and cover-up among responsible businesses and officials, the public remained in the dark over how the industrial chemical melamine found its way into dairy products. Did the incident involve organized crime through which the substance was systematically added into the milk? Details remained fuzzy.
Meanwhile, confusion and chaos arising from the tainted milk scandal continue. Residents in southern China's Shenzhen have reportedly poured into nearby Hong Kong en mass to buy dairy products.
In addition, some unknown brands have become the preferred choice of consumers, simply because those products were not inspected, thus not listed as tainted; the milk-scare has also reportedly drive up the sale of soy bean grinders, as consumers opt for soy milk as substitution.
We believe an investigation into the truth is necessary, resolving the mystery surrounding the scandal is the premise for preventing and curbing similar incidents from recurring.
A lack of self-discipline in the dairy industry, coupled with a superficial monitoring mechanism have led to the collapse of safety net for consumers. Come to think of it, anyone of us could have been a victim.
Yet we also have to ask ourselves, as an individual and a part of a larger society, have we all shouldered individual social responsibility and exercise our civil duty? In reality, are we the victims as well as the perpetrators who victimize others?
Each individual represents a part of the society as well as the economic chain. Consumers at this end of the economic chain may also become suppliers of products and services at the other end of the chain.
Self-discipline among every individual has thus become the front line in defending product quality. As we look back at public health and safety incidents in the past, we realise that deficiency in official supervision and administration mechanism was often accompanied by a lack of collective self-discipline.
With this in mind, when reflecting on the tainted milk scandal, we should also check ourselves when pointing fingers at immoral milk-collecting stations, companies and irresponsible government officials.
We should ask: if we were a member of the industry, would we become a conspirator in the scam? The answer may not be as straight forward as it seems.
We reckon that it takes an individual great courage to stand up and persist with doing the right thing when pressed under a larger negative environment; but it is this quality that differentiates human from animal.
However, in the tainted milk incident, it is rather hard to pin down the actual intentional "murderer".
What those running the milk-collecting stations wanted were to sell more milk and boost the quality reading of their supplies; while the companies concerned overlooked the problem in their eagerness to gain higher profits and lower costs.
Government officials resorted to cover-up because the Beijing Olympics was approaching and they should "consider the overall situation" - if they had exposed the incident, they might be removed from their posts.
However, because of such seemingly insignificant evil conduct, several babies died, and tens of thousands fell ill. In this case, natural individual choice to maximize personal interest has caused serious damage to others.
Following that line of thoughts, we, as a member of the society, should check ourselves - have we in our daily life exercised our civil duty and uphold the standards? Have we abide to good professional ethics at work? or have we embraced the negative environment and turned into one of the perpetrators?
As an ancient Chinese maxim goes, “Never fail to do anything good which you deem as petty; and never dare to do anything evil which you consider as trivial.” Have we become insensitive to such maxim and regarded it as worthless?
We are not trying to exaggerate the moral power that guides the citizens to conduct good deeds. However, if the whole society has lost a common recognition for basic moral ethics, guiding principles and values, no matter how a supervision mechanism is strengthened, it would still fail to deliver.
A moral-degraded nation will lose its foundation for an orderly society. If there is no distinction between the good and the evil, the scandalous incidents that we so despise will be bound to recur time and again.
