Briton loses his cool - that's illegal!

Someone lost his cool recently when running into officialdom...

Briton vents fury on govt, Kuwaiti laws

KUWAIT CITY: A British citizen working for a local company allegedly abused and bad-mouthed a staff member of the Hawalli Pollution Testing Center after the latter told him that his car needed repairs.

Reportedly, the British man, accompanied by four semi-clad women, went to the Hawalli center to get his car checked. A staff member after checking the car told him that his car needed repairs and that he should come back after getting the repair job done.

This infuriated the British man and he started abusing the staffer, Kuwait and Kuwaiti laws loudly in public. Sources say the staffer warned that it was illegal to speak in such a manner but the accused did not heed him and drove off angrily.

The staffer noted the number plate of the car and reported the incident to his higher-ups. Securitymen found that the accused was working for a local company and sources say due legal action will be taken against him. 'Nobody is above the law and everybody should respect the laws of the country,' they added.

By Munaif Naif
Special to the Arab Times

Nobody is above the law... Yeah right. When the whole country runs on wasta it means that if you have the right wasta you are above the law. Period.

I don’t know any of the players in this incident, so this is just pure speculation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was nothing wrong with the car in question, and the Pollution tester was just being an ass and picking on someone to justify his existence. How many times in Kuwait do you see that? Maybe he was jealous of the four scantily clad ladies... what, they didn’t have abayas on? Maybe they were showing off some flabby white-skinned arms?

What exactly did the Britisher say that was illegal? That the jobsmith’s mother wore combat boots in bed? That corruption is so pervasive in Kuwait that you now have to bribe someone to pass a car pollution test? That Kuwait is a hell-hole, and that the Kuwaiti laws are an ass? Yeah, well there are probably lots of westerners that would agree with him on that. Not many would waste time on taking legal action... all it means is that the side with the biggest wasta wins. For the Britisher it means he better have a really good relationship with most senior Kuwaiti in his organisation if he wants to stay on in Kuwait. So either the Britisher will be fined/imprisoned/kicked out of the country, or it will be quietly swept under the carpet.

Round up all the expats and test 'em

That's right, blame the expats for the nation's ills. This was reported in the Arab Times, 18th September...

Rise in disease seen; ‘Check expats for AIDS, hepatitis’
KUWAIT CITY: The Ministry of Health (MoH) has instructed all ministries to send all their expatriate employees to the General Medical Board to ensure that they are free of AIDS, Hepatitis B and C and Pulmonary Tuberculosis, say reliable sources in the ministry. Reportedly, this precautionary measure is being taken to protect citizens and expatriates from contagious diseases as ministry employees come in direct contact with thousands of people daily.
Statistics compiled by the ministry show that there has been a rise of expatriates suffering from the aforesaid ailments despite the fact that they undergo necessary medical check-ups in their respective countries. Sources suspect that many expatriates produce fake medical reports before entering Kuwait.
By Abdul Rahman Al-Shimmari - Special to the Arab Times

What is this brainfart by the Ministry of Health? All expats coming to Kuwait for work undergo these tests on arriving in Kuwait anyway, even after they’ve already done the same tests in their home countries. Furthermore, the same tests are often undertaken if the expat changes employer. So whether or not the medical reports in the home countries are faked or not is irrelevant.

Do Kuwaiti staff have to undertake these tests??

I don’t disagree that there may be a huge problem with these diseases in Kuwait, but you have to look at the underlying reasons why that is so. The fact is that Kuwait is addicted to importing cheap foreign labour to do all the menial work in the country. The vast majority of this forced labour live in unsanitary conditions in labour camps, more akin to concentration camps - not really conducive to keeping a clean bill of health. And then as they are unable to lead normal family lives as they scrimp and save to send their earnings home to their families, if they get paid, many single men (or married men without their wives) may get involved in spending their spare dinars on “professionals” when they can’t resist their sexual urges, which would certainly not help the cause of restricting HIV cases. (And there’s always a ready supply of runaway maids that are eager to better their lot, or are forced into it – but that’s another issue).

So let’s see how we can solve this problem. Providing high quality labour accommodation is a start. Allowing foreign workers to bring their families is another basic human right. In fact, improving human rights of all imported workers and stopping the unscrupulous companies and agencies in the human trafficking trade would be beneficial in many ways. It would reduce the need to resort to crime for a start. How many labourers are either left on the streets to fend for themselves, or are treated from their employers in such a demeaning manner, that they don’t feel too bad at getting their own back on the employers or the country/system that allows this to happen!