Category Politics

Craving Driving

Craving is one of the common symptoms of pregnancy. Usually, women during pregnancy tend to crave certain foods not normally considered a favourite. Those cravings are not completely understood, but many doctors think they are related to hormonal changes. However, they are not limited to foods, and in our local culture pregnancy cravings are taken very seriously due to the belief that if a craving is not satisfied the baby will be born with a skin mark that resembles the craving.

Now, why am I talking about this? Well, this is why…

A policeman was patrolling the ring road in Hofuf, east of Saudi Arabia, when he noticed a car that was being driven in a strange manner. He asked the driver to pull over. To his surprise, the driver was a woman, and her husband was in the passenger seat. The husband tried to convince the policeman that he had to let his wife drive because she is pregnant and has been craving driving the car for days. The husband said he knows it is illegal for women to drive, but he allowed her to do so because she was craving it so badly and he was afraid his baby would be harmed. The policeman handed a ticket to the husband and warned him not to repeat the offense.

Moral of the story? Pregnant or not, Saudi women should not crave driving because they will simply be asking for a ticket. Unless, of course, they have a big fat wasta, but that’s another story…

Nothing Changed

In November 1979, Juhayman al-Otaibi and his fellow zealots occupied the Grand Mosque in Makkah. After a bloody siege that lasted for two weeks, they were eventually captured and shortly beheaded. Following this event, Saudi Arabia experienced a scary rise of conservatism and the social liberalization that had begun in the 60’s and 70’s was halted or even rolled back. Women were no longer allowed on national TV, and restrictions on their employment and participation in public life became so harsh.

It is July 2009, more than 900 suspects were charged with participating in terrorist attacks in the country over the past few years. In landmark trials, more than 330 people in 179 cases had been tried and one given the death sentence. While these trials are still in progress, several restrictions to a freer access to culture and entertainment have been put in place, including a ban on cinema and cancellation of the Jeddah Film Festival.

What a difference 30 years make?

Aramco the Builders

When King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was announced about two years ago, one of the interesting aspects about the project was the way it was planned to be developed and built. From the beginning it was clear that KAUST will be independent and not under the umbrella of the Ministry of Higher Education, and instead of relaying on a real estate or a construction company to build the university, the project was handled by Saudi Aramco, the national oil company.

Choosing an oil company to build a world class university seemed strange to many people, but to me it made some sense. The King’s bold vision meant things must be done differently. There are only two construction companies in the country that can handle a huge project like KAUST: Saudi Oger and Saudi Binladen Group (SBG). Both companies are already developing major megaprojects, and both companies have been linked to corruption allegations related to government contracts before.

To turn the King’s vision into a reality in the short time span that was announced, he needed people who are efficient and trustworthy. Many of those people can be found in Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. Now that the KAUST development model has been a success, I guess the King wants to use the same model to pull off another megaproject that has been delayed for years.

I previously wrote about King Abdullah Stadium. The Ministry of Finance repeatedly refused to allocate a budget for the project because proposals made by the General Presidency of Youth Welfare seemed so exaggerated and so… fishy. Rumors have been flying during the past few weeks that Aramco will build the new stadium, but honestly I found that hard to believe. I know that they have done an impressive job with building KAUST, which should be ready to receive students this fall, but I thought that was an exception. Well, I was wrong.

Aramco distributed a statement last week saying the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals have entrusted them to build the new King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. According to the statement, the project will include a big stadium, an 18-hole golf course, a hospital and a sports academy.

Is it right to hire an oil company to build a university and a sports city? It is probably not the most conventional approach, but from a pragmatic point of view it is effective and working. This way of thinking says that if this is what it takes to get the job done, then we will go for it. I really don’t mind such approach, but I think it should not make us overlook the problems and circumstances that got us here. Also, this makes me remember some questions and concerns that I have about Aramco, but that’s another post for another day.

Rights: Home and Abroad

Summer is here, and thousands of Saudis are getting ready to depart the country to spend their vacations away from the insane heat. Swine flu has certainly affected tourism around the world, but some people insist that they won’t let infectious diseases and global pandemics ruin their holidays. “I’d rather die of Swine flu somewhere nice than die of this hot weather in Riyadh,” a friend of mine half-jokingly said a couple of weeks ago.

With the large numbers of Saudi nationals traveling, the Ministry of Foreign affairs issued information guidelines of the varying nature of legal procedures abroad and how best to protect their rights when traveling or studying outside the Kingdom. The guidelines advise Saudis involved in legal cases to only speak in the presence of a lawyer and ensure attendance at court hearings to avoid in absentia rulings.

Sound advice, no doubt, and it is a commendable effort by the foreign ministry. But this piece of advice should also apply equally to citizens inside the country, and it is important that people here know their rights before the law. Unfortunately, little has been done to promote these rights among citizens. I believe that the government is responsible for protecting their citizens abroad and home alike.

Worth mentioning here is the Know Your Rights series published by the National Society of Human Rights. I personally don’t leave the house without a copy of this Rights of the Suspect (PDF) booklet. An English version of the booklet is available here (RTF).

Excuse You?

The cartoon in my previous post from al-Riyadh daily has apparently caused some controversy and attracted many angry comments from their readers who thought the cartoonist has crossed a red line. Today the newspaper published an apology, and said the cartoon did not attempt to mock the religious police. “We would like to stress that the point of the cartoon are those who invade people’s privacy and question their behavior without a justification in a conservative society,” the paper added.

Invade people’s privacy and question their behavior without a justification in a conservative society? I’m sorry, but isn’t that what the religious police exactly do? Hmmm…

Scurrilous

The sorry state of traditional media in the country has encouraged some Saudis in recent years to start news websites aka electronic newspapers. Some of the most well-known names in that field today include Sabq, Alweeam, and A’ajel. I have no idea what is the size of competition between such websites and traditional media, but considering that the likes of Turki al-Sudairi don’t miss a chance to attack the news websites you can probably guess they are not exactly thrilled about their existence.

Traditional media people try to attack the news websites by suggesting that they they lack professionalism and credibility, but I believe the same thing can be said about the traditional media in Saudi Arabia. So let’s not even get into this.

There are two advantages online news sites here enjoy over traditional media: speed and scandals. They can report news as they happen and don’t have to wait until the next day. They can report on scandals that traditional media would usually avoid for reasons related mostly to their red lines and sometimes to their standards. Scandals sell, and in a conservative country like ours they carry more weight due to the conformist nature of society.

You could be someone who enjoys reading scandals and celebrity gossip. Or you could be someone who hates the whole thing. But in this case that does not matter much because I think that these online websites should do their best to use these advantages to deliver a better service to interested readers.

Earlier this week Alweeam website reported on what they called a “missionary party” sponsored by several Saudi and foreign companies to celebrate St George’s Day. Alweeam said the British Ambassador and his wife attended the party, as well as “many women and businessmen, and they partied wildly until the morning.” The site added that the party violates the country’s laws, which calls for punishing the Saudi companies that sponsored the event.

It is obvious from tabloid-like reporting and pictures published with the story what Alweeam are trying to do. They are screaming: A missionary party in the heart of Saudi Arabia! How scandalous!

Now this story could be actually scandalous, except for one thing: Alweeam have added one little, but significant, false detail which is the word “missionary.” The Robin Hood-themed party has nothing to do with missionary work, and the St.George Society Riyadh (SGSR) describes itself as a “charitable and social organization, set up in September 2006 with the aim of promoting England and Englishness.”

You could argue that St George’s Day has a religious origin, but it is also England’s national day, and like Christmas and other holidays is no longer seen in that context. More importantly, there is nothing on SGRS website that suggests that the organization and its activities are missionary or related to religion. Unfortunately, the website is no longer accessible. It seems to me that after publishing the news about their party they decided to take the website down in order to avoid more controversy. You can still view a version of the website using Google’s cache.

Please note that I have no comment on the event itself. I’m only commenting here on the coverage of Alweeam which ignored obvious facts, included false information, and did not bother to talk to pretty much anyone from the people involved. They had a chance to make a real scoop here, but they miserably failed. The only aspect that will be worth watching from this rather ridiculous story is how those Saudi companies that sponsored the party will deal with their PR nightmare.