Author Archives: Ahmed

The news of arresting ten men earlier this week, i…

The news of arresting ten men earlier this week, in what was described as a part of the efforts to crackdown on terrorism, was really disturbing. It is hard to see the link between these men, most of them are well-known academics and reform activists, and the allegations against them: funding “suspicious bodies” and “luring Saudi citizens.” As usual, the government is not releasing much information, but many speculate that the terrorism charges are a pretext and that they were arrested for their political beliefs.

Khaled al-Dakhil, assistant professor of sociology…

Khaled al-Dakhil, assistant professor of sociology at KSU, was a guest on the Washington Post Live Discussions on Monday to answer questions about his new research into the ascent of Wahhabism and the Saudi state in the early 20th Century. I asked him a question and he answered:

Hofuf, Saudi Arabia: Last year you were speaking during a cultural event in Riyadh and you were fiercely attacked by a religious man when you described the Shiite minority as a part of Saudi Arabia and that the rest of Saudis should understand and accept that. Do you think this attitude toward Shiites in the Kingdom will ever change? How do you see the future of Saudi Shiites?

Khalid al-Dakhil: There are indications that change is taking place here. I think it will change, although this will take time. The govt. should play the leading role to promote such a change. The Shiites in SA are citizens just like everyone there, and should be taken as such. But, at the same time, the Shiites themseleves should not behave as Shiites. They should behave and act as citizens, and insist on their rights first and foremost as Saudi citizens, and not as Shiites. This does not mean that they should abandon their beliefs. NO. But these beliefs should be enriching part of the the cultur and politics of the whole society. In other words, the Shiites should promoters of religious diversity in the country.

The C Word

In a recent post I noted that despite the large spending, healthcare remains one of the weakness points when it comes to governmental performance. I believe that the majority of citizens are not satisfied with the services they receive at Ministry of Health’s hospitals, and I think many of them are more than willing to tell you all kinds of stories from their experiences at such hospitals, from misdiagnoses to surgical errors and everything in between, the list can go endlessly.

Why do citizen have to put up with poor services in the same time when a very large part of the national budget is supposedly directed at healthcare? Whenever I compare the billions of riyals spent and the kind of services in the governmental hospitals I can only think of one word to describe what is going on here: “corruption.” Oops! Have I said that out loud? It is puzzling to me how “the C word” has become such a taboo that you can rarely find it in the local press. When the press try to point out to such thing in the government they would usually use the term “administrative reform,” a vague hollow expression that you probably never heard of before. Talk about “alkhossusiya al saudia”!

But when I talk about corruption at the government’s healthcare sector I’m not simply talking about comparing the poor services at hospitals to the large spending, but also about how things are run at MOH as I have come to learn some stories from few insiders, and they are not pleasant at all.

I have recently met with a gentleman who once worked at MOH, and he is one of the country’s top professionals in his field. The man was called to join a committee that was responsible to review offers by companies to provide tools, equipment, and services for all hospitals owned by the government. The estimated value for the contract in hand was about one billion riyals (~ US$ 266mn). The man told me he was shocked at how the competing companies were competing to give bribes, not to win the contract, I meant in order to win the contract. Actually, a representative of one of these companies had the nerve to visit the man’s office with an envelop chocked with hard cash! Needless to say the representative was kicked out right away, and after a brief time our gentleman was told that this was simply “business as usual” at MOH, and he had to live with that if he wanted to keep his new job. He could not, so he was shortly replaced. “At least I didn’t get my hands dirty,” he said.

Some friends have visited Qatif last week to exper…

Some friends have visited Qatif last week to experience Ashura Commemorations. I wanted to be there as well, but unfortunately my final exams this semester coincided with the occasion so I had to stay in Riyadh until the 15th of Muharram. Shiites in Qatif, unlike their counterparts in Ahssa (aka Hofuf), enjoy more freedom when it comes to celebrating religious occasions like Ashura. This is probably because Ahssa is a mixed area while Qatif is amlost purely Shiite. Although some say Qatifis are enjoying this freedom because they are more rebellious, but that’s another story.