Maid injured in fall

Every week there are articles like this in the daily newspapers in Kuwait...

Maid injured in fall: A Sri Lankan maid has been admitted to the Mubarak
Al-Kabeer Hospital with fractures and bruises all over the body, reports Al-Rai
Al-Aam daily. It has been reported the maid fell to the ground while attempting
to escape from the second floor of the maids recruiting office in Hawalli. A
case has been registered against the maid. (my italics)

This was in today's Arab Times. As I posted the other day, a maid's recruiting office is often no better than a modern day slave trader. Often these agents hold a number of prospective maids locked up in a back room so they can't escape to their embassies, and then they have maids on hand to present to prospective employers who don't want to wait to import and sponsor a maid. And to show you where the power lies in this arrangement, it's the maid who is prosecuted for escaping her master.

This is not a isolated case... this happens daily, whether a maid is escaping from her her sponsor/employer, an agent or someone who has picked her up off the street and offered her a better life, only to drive her to a deserted place... If we can read about it in the papers everyday, what is the number of stories that aren't publicised?

And on a positive note...

Just to show that I can provide some good news, and it isn't really such a bad place to live... an ex-pat friend had a wee accident recently. She actually backed into her Kuwaiti neighbour's car and did some slight damage. Prepared for the worst she wrote a note claiming responsibility and in a rush left it on the car windscreen. Later she met up with her neighbour and very unexpectedly was told "no, no, please don't worry, you're my neighbour, how could I possibly expect you to pay for damage to my car." An example of the nicer side of Kuwaitis, and Arab culture in general.

Justice in the Gulf

Time to comment on some of the latest news in Kuwait and the Gulf.

Today's Arab Times brings the latest news on a case which shocked many last year, with 3 policemen getting off after raping a Filipino maid on a technicality... she was only sodomised, so she's still a virgin. Sick...

Court hears 3 policemen's petition against rape case

KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Cassation Tuesday looked into a petition filed by
three Kuwaiti securitymen who have been charged with raping a Filipina housemaid
at the Sabah Al-Salem Police Station. The court then adjourned the hearing to
April 19, 2005 to give chance for the defense to prepare its argument. Case
papers indicate, the housemaid was raped while in detention by the three men
after she had escaped from her sponsor's house. The three men have denied the
accusation before the Public Prosecution and the Detention Renewal Judge.
However, the Criminal Evidences Department report showed the woman was raped on the day of the incident. On June 20, 2004, the Criminal Court had sentenced one
of the men to 15 years in jail and the other two to ten years each. On Nov 30,
2004, the Court of Appeals overturned the verdict of the Criminal Court and set
free all the men.

Then the same article gives another case which sounds a bit fishy...

Murder verdict May 31:

The Court of Cassation Tuesday set May 31, 2005 to issue a verdict in a petition filed by a Kuwaiti man, identified as Y.S. Al-Rashidi, who was sentenced to death by the Criminal Court for murdering a Filipina woman, identified as Waida D.B. in 1999. The sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Court of Appeals, after the lawyer for Rashidi, attorney Dukhi Al-Hasban, submitted to the court a letter of forgiveness issued by the victim's legal heirs - absolving the man from legal responsibility towards them. During the session, attorney Hasban told the court his client did not intend to murder the victim because the knife used in the crime belonged to the victim. He added the victim had planned to murder his client by using the same knife. However, defending himself he took the knife from her and stabbed her. Attorney Hasban also said the witness who claimed he had seen the incident should be considered a defence witness because his client had called him to accompany him while the victim was with him in the car. "Is it logical that a person who plans to murder brings a witness along?" wondered Hasban.

The letter of forgiveness, a copy of which was obtained by the Arab Times, shows the three relatives of the victim - her brother Nasser and two sisters Mama and Suraida - have forgiven the accused and prayed that he should not be sentenced to death. The purported letter said the victims' kin are no longer interested in pursuing the Case No. 561/99 against the man who murdered their sister on June 29, 1999. They also waived their right to compensation resulting from the death of their sister. The letter states, "We are all Muslims, wherein forgiveness is preferable and our agreement to accept compensation from the accused and have received the same in full as per our agreement with him. "Likewise, we hereby clear him from whatsoever charge now and in future," added the document. They added, they are executing
the affidavit to attest the veracity of all foregoing facts and support the
immediate release of the accused.

On May 10, 2004, the Philippines Embassy attorney Mashael Bouriky presented a letter to the court saying that victim's only heir was another woman and not those three mentioned in the letter submitted by the suspect's attorney to the court. The case papers show Rashidi had an affair with the victim. On the day of the incident he drove her and his friend J.R. Mohamed to the desert in Salmi. On the way the victim asked Rashidi to marry her because she was pregnant and the man refused. At driving some distance in the desert, Rashidi drove to an isolated place, about 500 meters from the main road and ordered the victim to get out of the car. He led her away from the car and subsequently stabbed her several times. When Mohamed saw his friend stabbing the victim, he rushed to the spot to help the victim but the
accused prevented him and stabbed the victim until she dropped dead. Rashidi
admitted in court that he killed the victim. Mohamed also testified in court
saying Rashidi stabbed Waida to death.

Rashidi must have made the pay-off to the wrong relatives! We'll wait with baited breath for the conclusion of this case on May 31.

Yesterday's Arab Times has the latest news about the trial of a man that murdered his daughter to “rid his shame” after completing the Haj.

Judge renews killer's detention until April 18

KUWAIT CITY: The Detention Renewal
Judge Monday renewed the detention of a Kuwaiti man, identified as A.K.
Al-Enezi, who has been charged with murdering his 11-year-old daughter, Asmaa,
on Jan 25, 2005 until April 18, 2005. Case papers indicate on the day of the
incident, Enezi had just returned from the Holy City of Makkah after performing
the hajj pilgrimage. The man then, suspecting his daughter's behaviour, is said
to have tied her hands behind her back and slit her throat as she begged for her
life. It is believed the victim was a clever student and excelled in reciting
the Holy Qur'an. During initial investigations, the man appeared embarrassed and
kept saying 'I don't know.' Sometimes he also cried while replying to
investigators' questions as if feeling sorry for what he had done.However, at a
later time, he admitted to committing the crime and said, "Yes, I killed her and
now my conscience is clear." He added he had washed the shame she had caused him
and his family. A reliable source told the Arab Times the man's Kuwaiti wife has
filed a case against the man, who had divorced her 50 days before committing the
crime, demanding alimony for her and their three children - Mohamed,
Ibrahim and Fatima. The 'wife' has also requested for custody of her three
children saying their father can no longer be considered trustworthy, after
committing the ghastly crime.

Mercy killings as they’re known are still prevalent in the Gulf as in other parts of the muslim world. And if the upsetting horrific details of this case aren’t enough, what about the last sentence in the article.

I’m probably talking out of my a*** here, but from what I understand, a woman can’t easily divorce her husband – he has too divorce her – and then he always gets the kids. So even if he in this case has already cut the throat of one of the kids, the estranged wife still has to go through the legal system to get custody of the other children. I wonder how the 3 remaining kids are getting on… just think what they’re going through… when Dad gets off through some technicality we could be next!

Thanks to a link from eMoodz I picked up on this story where a Saudi princess has been charged with forcing her Indonesian maids to be slaves… no, not in Saudi itself where it’s common practice, but in the good ol’ USA. It seems that it’s illegal to treat people as slaves in the West – novel concept. I wonder who got the biggest shock - the Saudi princess, or the USA media and public.

This got me thinking about the domestic problems in Kuwait and the Gulf, and a timely article in the GDN discusses the problem in Bahrain. Now the Philippines is studying the possibility of banning the deployment of housemaids to Bahrain and other Gulf countries, after Bangladesh and Indonesia have already imposed a ban on housemaids in Bahrain. By all accounts, the situation is worse in Kuwait – with hundreds of runaway maids being housed in the Sri Lankan, Filipino and Indonesian embassies at any one time, waiting for their paperwork to be processed so they can leave. This was also the situation at the Indian embassy until the Indian Government imposed a ban on housemaids coming to Kuwait. This raises the question – when will the Indonesian, Sri Lankan and Filipino governments ban housemaids coming to Kuwait? Presumably the Indonesians have banned them going to Bahrain already, as there is no embassy there (consular matters are handled from Kuwait).

Without addressing the fundamental issues of slavery, physical & verbal abuse, rape and non-payment of wages - which are the major reasons for maids running away from their employers/sponsors - when countries start banning workers coming here, the problem will just shift to other countries. So expect sometime soon we will have the Kuwaiti Government announce that citizens are allowed to employ housemaids from Sudan or Ethiopia… if it hasn’t done so already! And then there’s the issue of many so-called “housemaids” effectively being trafficked to supply the prostitution rings.

So, apart from educating locals on how to treat other people with respect… (this is rather reminiscent of one of the issues in my workplace!), why isn’t more being done to crack down on the intermediaries, the firms that deal with this international trafficking of housemaids/prostitutes to the Gulf? Not really in the Government’s interests I suggest. (And limited interest being shown by developing world countries that let the workers come here as they’re an important source of income back home).

Like the booze black market, it’s probably controlled, if not by the Royal families (as rumoured) which are beyond the law, by influential businessmen. No one is going to take on this establishment. Therefore, the only action we will see is the odd Employment Agency having its license revoked. It’s like the drug runners being paraded in the daily media after being caught trafficking their contraband. Their masters/clients are never caught, there’s no resolve to go after the big guns. They accept the odd arrest & eventual hanging of some poor Pakistanis as the cost of doing business, at virtually no risk, as these poor guys won’t know who their end-employers were anyway.

Molester freed after verdict overturned by Court of Appeals

Well if you're a woman and you're seeking justice - the Court of Appeals ain't the place. In today's Arab Times we read...

Appeals overturns verdict, 'molester' freed

KUWAIT CITY: The Court of Appeals citing a letter of forgiveness and
willingness to withdraw the case, Sunday overturned the verdict of the Criminal
Court and refrained from passing a sentence against a Kuwaiti man, identified as
M. Khalaf, who was convicted of molesting, holding captive and torturing his
wife. During a previous session, lawyer for the man, attorney Riyadh Al-Sane,
told the court his client did not intend to 'molest' his wife as the Prosecution
had charged him. He added the man became furious after learning about his wife's
relationship with other men.
Attorney Al-Sane also said attempts were being made at reconciliation
between the two parties to begin anew their family life and bring up their
children in a family atmosphere.The lawyer pointed out modern studies show the
charge of molestation is accompanied by a bodily desire of the molester;
however, this desire did not exist in the case of his client who wanted to take
revenge for his wife's behavior unlike as has been charged by the Prosecutor in
his report.At the end of his argument, attorney Al-Sane had requested the court
to give the couple a chance to begin a new life.
Case papers indicate between Feb 25 and 29, 2004, Khalaf locked his wife
inside the kitchen of their home after he suspected her of having illegal
relationships with 'strangers'. During that period, Khalaf also tortured his
wife and beat her. He is also said to have inserted a large iron rod in her
private parts.On Nov 20, 2004, the Criminal Court had sentenced Khalaf to 15
years in prison. The session was presided by Judge Anwar Al-Enezi. Judges Sobhi
Al-Far and Hussein Al-Heraiti completed the panel. Registrar Ahmed Al-Shardan
also attended the session.

So assuming what's reported is accurate... (yeah, I know, fat chance) and reading in between the lines here, a guy tortures his wife and then gets off scot free! (... I don't know where that saying comes from - must be something in my scottish ancestry). I wonder if the wife, or her legal representative, even got a hearing from the Court of Appeals to present their side of the case! What pressures were put on the wife to withdraw the case? Maybe, just maybe, ....she's glad to get back with her husband. As always the cynic, I doubt it somehow. Get away from this guy when you can, my dear.

Hey, at least they could get a case heard in a Criminal Court. Unlike the hundreds of Indonesian & Filipino maids that are beaten and/or raped by their employers/slave masters.

Kuwaiti academic gets one year for disparaging Quran

Ya gotta watch what you say in this part of the world. From yesterday's Kuwait Times...

Kuwaiti academic gets one year for disparaging Quran
KUWAIT: A leading liberal academic has been handed a one-year suspended
jail term by Kuwait's appeals court for writing an article deemed offensive to
the holy Quran, he said yesterday. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, a university political
science professor and columnist, was convicted of "disparaging the Quran" for
criticising plans by the Ministry of Education to increase the number of Islamic
education lessons in schools. The court, which passed its verdict on Saturday,
told Al-Baghdadi to pay KD 2,000 to suspend the jail term and ordered him to
keep good conduct for three years. In an article he wrote in his daily column in
Al-Siyassah newspaper last June, Al-Baghdadi said he sent his son to a private
foreign school to escape the "backwardness" of public education and because he
thought "learning music is more important than learning the holy Quran." "The
sentence is a harsh one. I only expressed my opinion. I did not degrade the
Quran," Al-Baghdadi, 54, said. He said he would pay the bail and later challenge
the sentence in the court of cassation, the country's supreme court. Al-Siyassah
editor Ahmad al-Jarallah was also fined $170 for allowing the publication of the
article. The two were acquitted by the criminal court a few months ago because
it considered the criticism as part of freedom of expression. The case was filed
by three Islamist activists on the grounds that the article contained an
accusation that Islamic education in Kuwait teaches students to be terrorists
and hate women and non-Muslims. The appeals court said in its verdict that the
article "linked between learning Islam and the Quran and terrorism and
backwardness." Baghdadi was sentenced for one month in prison in October 1999
for offending Islam in a 1996 article in which he claimed the Prophet Mohammad
(pbuh) failed in at least part of his mission. But he was pardoned by the Amir
after serving 13 days. "It's painful and bitter to receive such sentences. I
will start seeking political asylum in any country," Al-Baghdadi said.

Good on ya mate for speaking up. Clearly the quality (or lack of it) of the Ministry of Education's syllabus for Islamic studies is a problem. In fact, from all accounts it's totally crap! Why else would a reputable foreign curriculum school's Islamic education teachers actually clamour for resources they can use to teach children, outside of the Ministry's enforced syllabus. And then there is the way the Ministry of MisEducation enforces a syllabus that attempts to teach classical Arabic to children that are learning Arabic as a second (or third or fourth) language. I'm all for my children learning Arabic. I welcome it in fact. What a shame that most ex-pat children are turned off Arabic because there is no recognition of how a language can & should be taught.

And isn't that a nice touch, giving the paper's editor a slap on the wrist for publishing someone's opinion. Freedom of the press? Forget it if it can be alleged that you've disparaged the Quran.

Free Mojtaba and Arash

Don't have the time to delve into all the details, but there's a blogging campaign on to free Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad - two Iranian bloggers who are currently in prison because of their blogs. Chan'ad has all the relevant links on his blog.

American paranoia

Last chance to post something before I'll be pretty much incommunicado for 10 days backpacking around Iran. Time to travel there before the Americans bomb the place... interesting what Seymour Hersh claims in the New Yorker. I guess this is what you'd term running an idea up the flagpole and ensuring that Iran gets the message that if you don't back down on developing nukes we're coming after ya. Of course, Pentagon officials have termed the article full of fabrications, rumours, blah blah, ... but where there's smoke...

After the latest big shootout incident in Kuwait on Saturday, where security forces busted a terrorist cell in Umm Al-Haiman district, I was extremely pissed off to find an event I was going to that evening was cancelled as the American Embassy had notified all their citizens to stay indoors and not go out. Really guys, get a life!! To put this in perspective, the Kuwait Prime Minster can see fit to inspect the site of the terrorist bust, but all American citizens are advised to stay indoors. I wouldn't be surprised if the advice mentioned warm milk and cookies, and cuddling up with their favourite teddybear too.

[I'd really love to just link to relevant Kuwaiti newspaper articles but they don't archive the pages... and I'm getting sick of cutting & pasting, as the formatting in Blogger doesn't work to well when you use quotation marks - can anyone advise me on this one?]

And now it's even safer to venture out. According to today's Arab Times they've let out all the bad cops - is this to put them in the front-line for further terrorist cell busts (where the security forces seem to be coming off second best), use them as informers, or put them back on the beat to waste their days idly sipping tea at the police station? Actually, the latter is kinda like prison anyhow.

Jailed policemen to be freed: Upon instructions of the First Deputy Premier
and Minister of Interior Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Lieutenant-General
Nasser Al-Othman, Undersecretary of the Ministry recently issued a decision to
release all police personnel who are serving time in a military jail, reports a
press release issued by the ministry. The decision is taken on the occasion of
Eid Al-Adha.

Anti-monarchy protests in Saudi

I'm sure there's lots of other country leaders that wish they could do this to anyone that protests against their regime, and get away with it. In today's Arab Times, we get a glimpse of life in the Magic Kingdom next door:

Saudi to jail, lash 15 for anti-monarchy protests

RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi
court has sentenced 15 people, including a woman, to prison terms and lashings
for taking part in an illegal street protest against the royal family, Saudi
media said on Wednesday. Newspapers said the 15 were put on trial for
participating in rare anti-monarchy demonstrations in Jeddah on Dec. 16.
Government officials were unavailable for comment. The demonstrators were given
jail sentences ranging from two to six months and ordered to receive between 100
and 250 lashes apiece, newspapers said. A further six defendants are awaiting
trial in the Jeddah court. The state prosecutor called the sentences too lenient
and said the government would appeal for stiffer punishment.

Me thinks the State Prosecutor would like to see heads roll. Well if you stifle opposition & suppress the people it's going to get worse, a lot worse. And then, before you know it, it's you're head that's rolling, a la Nicolae Ceausescu in Roumania. [insert appropriate proverb...] Why do I get the sense that Al Qaeda appears to be winning this war? No indications in this story that there is a spirit of reform in Saudi... I don't think shwe-shwe (arabic for slowly-slowly) is always the answer.

And we're now up to more than 30 suspects in the Hawalli shoot-out, according to today's Arab Times...

KUWAIT (Agencies): Kuwaiti authorities have detained more than 30 Kuwaiti
and Saudi Islamists for questioning about a deadly shootout this week between
suspected militants and state security forces, security sources said on
Wednesday. "The authorities have arrested at least 30 Islamists, most of whom
are Kuwaiti as well as several Saudis ... for questioning over the shootout," a
security source told Reuters. He said state security officials had previously
questioned most of the detainees over suspected "extremist activity" and that
some of the men had spent time in Afghanistan...

..."The interrogation is ongoing with 30 suspects," the Interior Minister,
Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, told Al-Anba newspaper, after Monday's
gunbattle. The minister did not rule out that the perpetrators of the incident,
a rare occurrence in Kuwait, could be among those detained. The arrests came as
part of a major crackdown by security forces in areas used by suspected Islamist
militants following the gunfight, which triggered a new US warning to its
citizens in the country. Those arrested include the assailants' alleged
ideological mentor, who is a former mosque preacher and a hardline Islamist, a
security source told AFP.

And here's a gem from the paper earlier this week:

2 held for indecent signs: The Mubarak Al-Kabeer police have arrested a Kuwaiti
man, with past criminal records and a compatriot woman for allegedly making
indecent signs at a camera monitoring traffic. The suspects have been referred
to the authorities, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Wow. Big brother is everywhere!

The saga continues - Hawalli 5 O

The newspapers today have various eye-witness accounts of the shootings in Hawalli and naturally none of these tally with the official statements issued by the Ministry of Interior. Did we expect them to? No, of course not. One of the eye-witness accounts seems to indicate that a gunmen stalked and shot three plain-clothes policeman. I guess we'll never know the truth, suffice to say it appears as though the Ministry of Interior "police" stuffed up.

Here's a copy of what appeared in today's Arab Times:

Blood everywhere ... it was over in 5 minutes
KUWAIT CITY: There was blood everywhere and people were fleeing the scene
of the shoot-out in Maidan Hawally, say two men who were at the scene where
three people were killed including two policemen on Monday. While both of them
paint a similar picture of the shoot-out, both of them differ on the actual
sequence of events. "There were loud bangs. At first I thought children were
bursting crackers but when I saw a man holding a gun, I knew something was
wrong," said the first witness to the shooting. The witness who works at a shop
close to the scene and who refused to be identified said he saw two men entering
a shop and asking the address of a car rental shop and as the manager was
explaining them the direction of the shop, a policeman in mufti allegedly opened
fire.The source added that the two men then ducked behind a table and started
returning the fire, saying the gun battle continued for some time and that the
policeman was badly hurt. "The two assailants were also injured and one of them
was lying on the floor in a pool of blood." He said the policeman received three
bullets - two in the chest and one in the abdomen and later succumbed to his
injuries. According to the witness all the policemen were in civilian clothes.He
showed these reporters the spot where the policeman breathed his last, adding he
also saw two more people lying dead in a pool of blood. Bullet marks were also
seen on the ceiling adjacent to the shop with two bullets piercing the glass
door of the car rental shop. A source showed the Arab Times four bullet marks in
the shop where the gun battle took place, two of the bullets pierced the leg of
a computer table while one hit a floor tile. Meanwhile, another eye witness of
the shoot-out Basha, an Indian driver at a neighboring car rental company, said,
"I was making tea in my office, and as I was feeling cold, I went to my car,
parked just outside, to switch on the heater and warm myself."Basha's narration
continued: "That's when a group of men pulled along in a black car and three of
them got out. One of them went to my office, and the other two went to that
office," he said pointing at a glass door in the extreme right of the same
building. The men were asking directions to Caza Rental, which is situated in
the same corridor. "Just then another car pulled up and a man from the car
walked past my car brazenly holding what looked like an automatic rifle. But
since he was wielding it so openly, I thought it must be a toy gun," he said.
But the drama that followed soon after shocked Basha. A flurry of rat-tats made
him look up and he saw the man, who was asking for directions, lying in a pool
of blood right in front of his office. Basha pointed at a hole in the middle of
cobweb-like cracks on the glass door of his office saying that was one of the
many bullets sprayed in the encounter. "Meanwhile," he added, "the other two men
at the far end of the corridor became alert. One of them ran inside the office,
while the other flicked out a gun from his socks and attempted to return fire.
But he was also shot at and subdued." The shooter then hounded the third man,
who was inside the other office, and shot him as well, Basha said. "The whole
incident was over in less than five minutes, and the shooter walked back to his
car and sped away. There was total mayhem. I lay ducked in my car for a while,
not knowing what was happening." If he had not gone to his car, leaving the
water in the kettle to boil, then he too could have been killed, he added
looking calm and composed, narrating the incident alongside washing his car. A
person from his office informed the police, who arrived at the scene within a
few minutes. People crowded shocked by the dramatic turn of events. "The first
man who was shot, I think died on the spot. The other man who was lying at the
end of the corridor seemed to be alive and was struggling for life. I don't know
about the third man." "A team of police made quick enquiries and went to chase
down the getaway car. Soon after that I retired, feeling nauseated and shocked
by the blood that ran down the corridor."

The same paper also has a follow-on story:

Kuwait collars 10
KUWAIT CITY: Security forces Tuesday arrested at least 10 Islamic
extremists, including three persons from one house in Jaber Al-Ali area, when
they conducted raids at several locations all over Kuwait, say sources. Kuwait
securitymen took this action after two policemen and a wanted suspect, who they
were chasing, were killed Monday in a shoot-out in Maidan Hawally. A reliable
security source said, "some key persons, who are suspected to be involved in the
killing of two police officers in Monday's shoot-out, may be among the
arrested."
He said the arrested suspects are being interrogated, adding "security
forces will continue with the raids until all the suspects involved in the
killing of the two policemen are arrested to know their future plans." "The
Interior Ministry is cracking down on suspected militants across the country," a
source told Reuters. He, however, had a lower figure of arrests. "State security
is now holding a minimum of six Kuwaitis, who will be questioned on the
whereabouts of the gunmen who carried out the crime," the source said....

At least 10, minimum of 6, whatever... maybe they should get the Ministry of (dis)Information involved. The Ministry of Interior is doing themselves and the country no favours by not coming clean on what's going on

Putting it into perspective though, safety in Kuwait isn't really a worry. You're still more likely to get bowled crossing a road (or be caught up in a criminal shoot-out in the USA) than being involved in a shoot-out with terrorists in Kuwait.

The dangers of blogging

Another blogger loses his day job over what he wrote in his blog about his boss - this time in the UK. No wonder it pays to stay anonymous. So much good material to write about if I start writing about work - maybe that deserves another anonymous blog...

So after the shoot up in Hawalli the baddies are still at large. The Arab Times newspaper had the following write-up if you missed it:

Officers, gunman killed after US warns Westerners of drive-by shooting
threat
KUWAIT CITY: Two policemen and a wanted suspect they were chasing were
killed Monday in a shootout in a suburb of the capital, the Interior Ministry
and state media said. The suspect, Fawwaz Tlaiq Al-Otaibi, was injured in the
shooting and died of his wounds in the hospital, state television reported.
Al-Otaibi allegedly shot at police chasing him after he entered a shop in the
Hawally suburb of the capital. He was wounded but escaped into a waiting car
with a number of his "colleagues" in it, according to an Interior Ministry
statement quoted by the television station. "One of the suspects in the car"
shot at police as it left the scene killing the two policemen and injuring two
others, it said. Within an hour, the Kuwait News Agency announced that Al-Otaibi
had been arrested. Later the television said he had died. The reports did not
specify what the men were wanted for, nor if any others had been arrested along
with Al-Otaibi. Unconfirmed reports, however, quoted securitymen as saying a
second suspect had been arrested and was in Mubarak Al-Kabir Hospital after
being wounded. Interior Minister Sheikh Nawwaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah told state
television he had visited the injured policemen, who were in stable condition at
the hospital. He said Al-Otaibi had entered a car rental shop to return a
vehicle when police attempted to capture him. The minister said Al-Otaibi and
his friends in the car used pistols to shoot at police. "While fleeing, one of
the persons in the vehicle fired at the policemen killing Lieutenant Hamad
Mohammed Al-Ayyobi and Sergeant Ayman Al-Rushoud. Sergeant Bader Al-Methen was
shot in the abdomen while Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan was shot in the elbow," a
security source told the Arab Times. He also said suspect Al-Otaibi was shot in
the head in the exchange of fire. "All the suspects are known to us and we know
they had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq," the source said. "They are extremists
and we will arrest them within hours." Meanwhile, a medical source at the
Casualty Room in Mubarak Hospital, Hawally, where all the injured were rushed,
said, "we received three persons with gun shot wounds around 7:00pm." "We tried
to resuscitate Al-Otaibi, who was shot in the head, at the ICU. But our attempts
failed and he died," he added."A bullet had penetrated Sergeant Bader
Al-Methane's abdomen from the right side and gone out from the other side. We
operated on him immediately and he is in a stable condition at the ICU," the
source continued. He went on to say, "Sergeant Fahd Al-Samhan, who was shot in
the elbow, was operated on and later rushed to Al-Razi Hospital for further
treatment." Authorities have been cracking down on Islamic militants opposed to
the presence of US forces in Kuwait. The Hawalli incident happened a day after
Kuwait lifted a high security alert imposed two weeks ago. Under the measures,
security personnel in armoured vehicles fanned out in key areas, especially
around vital oil installations and Western embassies.

In another article in the paper, the well-respected reformist Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah, an ex-Minister of Information (before being ousted by an Islamist campaign for allowing controversial and banned books to be sold at a local book fair) and ex-Minister of Oil had the following to say:

Describing the security situation in the country as "fire under ash," Sheikh
Saud said, "sleeper cells are still present in Kuwait. Sadly some of them
are in
the military and security forces. We have been warning of this danger
for many
years and we expect more sleeper cells will be uncovered in the
future."

He's also been qouted in international media recently as well, referring to how Kuwait is being hijacked by Islamist groups - see this and this.

Breaking news

Talk last night from expats & a flurry of embassy warden notices was about a black Nissan Cherry looking for expats to gundown, and a shooting in Hawalli. In this mornings Gulf Daily News:

Two die in Kuwait
KUWAIT: Gunmen killed two state security personnel pursuing them in Kuwait City yesterday, the Interior Ministry said.
Security sources added that one of the suspects, a wanted
Kuwaiti man identified as Fawaz Al Otaibi, died later in hospital of his wounds. Two state security officers were wounded in the shootout.

Will wait to see what the Kuwait papers have...

Keystone cops in Kuwait

This week’s excitement has been the full security alerts, the arrest of several suspected Al Qaeda agents in the security forces and subsequent release of most of them with two remaining to face charges, and the arrest of a journalist who allegedly got his facts wrong. The Arab Times sums it up in yesterday’s paper:

Arabiya correspondent charged, freed on bail; 'Harmed national interest' KUWAIT CITY (AP):

An Al-Arabiya satellite television network correspondent was released
on bail Saturday after prosecutors quizzed him for hours over a disputed report
on an alleged shootout between militants and police, his lawyer said. Adel
Eidan, a Kuwaiti, was detained Wednesday on charges of spreading false news that
harmed national interests following a report about a shootout. The Interior
Ministry denied the report less than half an hour after Al-Arabiya went to air
with it, saying the report was "not true and caused panic." A Kuwait News Agency
(KUNA) journalist and a security official were also detained for investigation
and released on bail. Lawyer Nawwaf Al-Mutairi said Eidan was investigated by
prosecutors and released on 300 dinars ($1,000) bail, but added that his client
could face trial or authorities could close the case. The others detained face
the same charges as Eidan, Al-Mutairi said. The reported shootout came amid
increased security fears in this country, which has recently stationed armed
military and police vehicles at street junctions, near hotels and embassies.
Last month, the US Embassy warned its citizens of possible attacks against them.
Two Kuwaiti military personnel will stand trial in a military court for
allegedly planning to attack "coalition troops," in the country, which is a
major US ally in the Gulf. Al-Mutairi said he hoped security concerns would not
become a "justification for limiting press freedoms." Eidan also had broadcast
the official denial of the shootout, proving "the matter was nothing more than
his getting information from sources he believed were credible," the lawyer said
in a statement…

So it looks like it was a fake report then – poor journalism, not checking sources, etc. Maybe poor journalism deserves imprisonment after all (tongue in cheek). No, no, proper response is for Al-Arabiya to give Eidan his marching orders or, as anyone can make a mistake, give him another chance to make amends for stuffing up.

Shame it’s not a big cover-up – nothing like a good conspiracy theory in this part of the world. The article goes on.

…Al-Mutairi did not say if the KUNA reporter and security official were Eidan's sources, adding the correspondent had no intention to harm Kuwait. Al-Arabiya, which broadcasts from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, condemned the Kuwaiti
government for detaining one of its correspondents. "We respect the law, but the detention of a journalist for investigation instead of talking to him in a more civilized way is saddening," Al-Arabiya General Manager Abdul-Rahman Al-Rashed said after Eidan's release. "It is saddening because it is happening in Kuwait."The US-based Committee to Protect
Journalists had also called for Eidan's release. Kuwait has less press restrictions than other Gulf countries, but its government has the right to close newspaper or TV stations. It shut the
offices of Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station in 2002, accusing it of being biased against Kuwait.First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Saturday announced that the security authorities would not be reluctant in taking the required measures against any person who may try to target the security and stability of the country. In response to questions by journalists on referring the correspondent of Al-Arabiah television station to the public prosecution, Sheikh Nawaf said "We won't be reluctant in taking the proper measures against anyone who broadcasts
false reports that harm Kuwait and its security," stressing that the security of the homeland is the top priority.

Duh, how are journalists harming Kuwait and its security? You’re certainly doing more to harm Kuwait’s reputation by arresting journalists – don’t you get it? Notice the American-speak slipping in there, going on about "security of the homeland." Yawn.

Sheikh Nawaf said the correspondent and a number of persons were bailed out, adding that the judicial authorities would determine possible further action concerning this case. The national security is solid, being safeguarded by the faithful security forces, he said.

… yeah, right, he would have to say that wouldn't he. It’s some of the faithful security forces that that were arrested by police for plotting to commit terrorist acts in the first place.

And finally, Zahed Matar in an Arab Times editorial provides a good summing up over the journalist issue...

Wrong move by the Interior Ministry

Denying a news report doesn't necessarily mean it is wrong. Some denials are true, some are not. The same is the case with news. Some reports are accurate while some maybe wrong. But no reporter purposely files inaccurate news. The Interior Ministry was wrong to stop Adel Al-Eidan, a reporter of Al-Arabiya TV channel from working. Instead it could have denied the report filed by him. We don't want to hear accusations that Al-Eidan was involved in a big conspiracy because these are old tactics.Denying a report published by a reporter is in itself a punishment for the latter. Newspapers and TV channels are reporting news, not registering history. They may retract any news report if they find out it is untrue. It was a wrong move by the Interior Ministry to stop the Al-Arabiya reporter from doing his duty. The ministry should have some other explanation for its action.

The age of no consent

When are you old enough to have control over your own life? Obviously, if you're female and 23 years old that's not old enough and you can never be completely free, as indicated by this article in today's Arab Times.

Missing girl held: Police have 'arrested' a 23-year-old bedoun girl, on whom a missing persons report had been filed by her brother, reports Al-Watan daily. At the time of the arrest the girl was in the company of another bedoun girl and three youths at a camp in Julaia. During interrogation, the girl said one of the youths helped her to escape from her home and had sex with her several times. The 'lovers' have been referred to the Public Prosecution.

I'm not condoning what she did, ie. sex out of wedlock, etc., and obviosuly there is more to the story, but the facts here are that in the Gulf, if you're an unmarried woman, forget any notion of having control over your own life - if you bring shame on your family then they can always resort to getting you punished one way or another. Basic human rights issue here: if you are a 23-year old female in Kuwait, you don't have any freedom or the right to make your own mistakes.

That's a real mindset change from where, and when, I grew up... I left school and was pretty much independent at 16, even if I did choose to board at home for a few years to save money, to then leave home proper and attend University in another city. At 16, my wife (to be) spent a year away from her home as an exchange student... a different world.

Kuwait information minister resigns

I guess we'll hear all about it in Kuwait's press tomorrow...

Kuwait information minister resigns
(Reuters) 2 January 2005

KUWAIT - Kuwait’s Information Minister Mohammad Abulhasan, who is due to face public questioning in parliament, resigned on Sunday, the state news agency KUNA said.
Abulhasan handed in his resignation to Prime Minister
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, KUNA said without giving details.
Abulhasan was scheduled to be questioned on Monday by some Islamist MPs over several allegations including negligence of social values after he approved music concerts in the Gulf Arab state, seen by Islamists as violating sharia law.

Another win to the Islamists. No parties on New Years eve - soon to be no parties full-stop.

Merry Christmas?

According to the Arab Times a few days ago, Islamists in Jahra objected to a local supermarket supplying Christmas paraphernalia as they deemed it ‘haram’. The supermarket backed down and removed the said items. This is just plain silly for so many reasons. Where did they get this ‘haram’ ruling from? Presumably these same Islamists aren’t aware that Islam actually recognises Jesus Christ as the most important prophet after Mohammed. Quite rightfully though, most Kuwaitis, and other residents of Kuwait, have no problem in Christians celebrating Christ’s birthday.

As a Christian I can accept objecting to the crass commercialisation of Christmas, but then there are traditional elements which it would be a shame to miss out on. You certainly don’t see any complaints about the crass commercialisation of Eid Al-Fitr or other Islamic celebrations. What’s lacking here is any sense of tolerance of anyone with a different view, let alone a different religion. I’m certainly not going to protest if the local supermarket wants to sell “Ramadan Kareem” cards, wherever I’m living in the world.

But, just to show I’m not picking on Islamists here, the very same edition of the newspaper carried an article about some small town in the good ol’ USA objecting to a Muslim cemetery in their backyard. What’s the problem guys… I’m sure they’re not going to be burying those terrorists shooting up the good guys in Iraq!

In every country around the world there are those who just don’t get it! Result: racism, intolerance of others with a different view, lack of understanding of how things really are versus what’s portrayed in the media, etc. I guess that’s the scary part of ever returning to my home country to live – small world view.

And for something completely different, the Ministry of Planning (sounds like some Soviet-era institution - maybe they should rename this Ministry of Statistics, as that’s all it is), issued a press release about numbers of people employed in the private sector…

Kuwaitis make up just two percent of the workforce in the private sector, the majority of whom are businessmen.

Wow, less than I thought. If I’m reading this correctly, it means an astounding 98% of eligible-to-work Kuwaitis are working in the public sector! (assuming there’s no unemployed Kuwaitis). How does this fit with the Kuwaitisation targets in the private sector then? I know banks, for one category of private sector employers, have to have 45% Kuwaiti staff now, rising to 47% by September 2005.

Kuwait - the utopian welfare state

On a regular basis, there are calls to wipe electricity & water debts - this is just the latest in yesterday's Arab Times:

Panel exempts citizens from paying accrued utilities bills
KUWAIT CITY: The National Assembly's Legislative Affairs Committee has
given its approval to exempt citizens from paying their accumulated electricity
and water consumption bills, sources told Al-Seyassah. The committee said
although citizens should pay the electricity and water fees, which is subsidised
by the government, the concerned government departments had failed to collect
these bills on time causing the dues to increase to an extent that citizens are
now unable to pay. The committee urged the government to implement a new
strategy to collect these bills from citizens on time to ensure they don't
accumulate again. After approving a suggestion to exempt citizens from paying
the accumulated electricity and water consumption bills, members of the
committee decided to put the suggestion in a law and leave details on the amount
and period of exemption to a special technical committee. Members of the
committee also decided to adjust the amount already paid by some citizens for
the exemption period against their future consumption.

Further encouragement not to pay your bills. If every now and again, your bills are wiped because you haven't paid them, then why would anyone in the right mind pay anything for electricity and water? Amazing.

Funnily enough, the same edition of the Arab Times features a school children's walkathon aimed at conserving water and electricity and titled 'My rights and obligation towards best life (sic)'. Why conserve water & electricity if it's free? No wonder, Kuwait is a world leader in electricity and water consumption per capita. And, of course Kuwait is one of the world's poorest areas in terms of water resources, with virtually no renewable fresh-water supplies. This article back in 1994 is a little dated but shows Kuwait having the lowest annual renewable water supply in the region... and I don't think this will have changed much. What a shame we can't make more use of the rains that caused flooding the week before last!

Here's an article from earlier this year referring to water rationing in Kuwait.

Oh, and by the way, it seems as though making internet telephone calls are illegal in Kuwait... news to me! According to the Kuwait Times (and also reported in the Arab Times)...

Asian held
A Pakistani was arrested at Khaitan on charges of selling international
calls at 50 fils a minute using a computer. The Pakistani was well known in the
Kheitan area for this operation. He was apprehended when one of the security men
approached him for a call. Net phone cards where found in his person which is
illegal in Kuwait.

As if the phone companies (effectively a duopoly with the 2 mobile phone companies, or cartel when you include the Ministry who control land-lines) don't screw you enough already, charging for all incoming mobile calls, and if you happen to live in a new residential area you can't even get a residential line, 15 months and we're still waiting... so I can't even use internet telephony if I wanted to, and have to rely on a flaky GPRS conncetion through the mobile phone to get internet / email access. Satellite TV providers have yet to get their act together either. Showtime can only do satellite download and you still have to use GPRS for the upload, which will only compound the problems using GPRS. Orbit has been promising 2-way internet access since I subscribed in July, but each time I ask when it will be available I get the typical "don't know" brush-off. Yeah, yeah, I know, I chose to live in a new area to avoid exorbitant rent... you get what you pay for.

And on the subject of reform...

Today's Kuwait Times:

Firm steps soon to stamp out corruption, says Sharar

KUWAIT By A Saleh: The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Mohammed Dhaifullah Sharar has reiterated government's commitment to stamp out corruption in high places. Speaking at the diwaniya of MP Awwad Barad, the minister acknowledged that all government establishments were plagued with corruption and said that appropriate legislation would be brought in to eliminate the all-encompassing social malady. The government is currently pursuing a three-pronged strategy, fighting corruption, economic reforms and providing basic services, Sharar said, pointing out that Kuwait is already lagging 12 years behind other countries in the region and it is time to march ahead. He added that corruption is the primary concern when pursuing reforms and the government was aiming to improve its services with the help of modern technologies in the ministries. Sharar mentioned that the Prime Minister had requested his ministers to meet people and find out their problems and suggest solutions. He urged the citizens to discuss with their MPs the issues and grievances, adding that the National Assembly is capable of enacting necessary legislation. He said the government was fully aware of the shortfalls in health and education sectors, and that necessary steps are being taken to remedy them. He observed that most of the existing laws were counter-productive and they hampered progress. "They were issued in the 60's and were hugely influenced by political situation typical of those days", said Sharar, urging that a 'revolution' was necessary in the Kuwaiti laws to put the country on the track of economic revival.

Is there some substance here, or just words?

Arab Human Development

After a recent post by Zaydoun on Arab reform, I thought I'd download copies of the 2002 and 2003 Arab Human Development Reports. After a bit of searching I managed to locate free download copies, rather than pay the UN or booksellers... really this should be free, particularly to all readers in the Arab world!

In my search I also came across an Economist article from a couple of years ago that came out at the time of the first report. I probably read it at the time, but of course it's still extremely relevant. A couple of excerpts from the article follow:

The barrier to better Arab performance is not a lack of resources, concludes the report, but the lamentable shortage of three essentials: freedom, knowledge and womanpower. Not having enough of these amounts to what the authors call the region's three “deficits”. It is these deficits, they argue, that hold the frustrated Arabs back from reaching their potential—and allow the rest of the world both to despise and to fear a deadly combination of wealth and backwardness.

•Freedom. This deficit, in the UNDP's interpretation, explains many of the fundamental things that are wrong with the Arab world: the survival of absolute autocracies; the holding of bogus elections; confusion between the executive and the judiciar (the report points out the close linguistic link between the two in Arabic); constraints on the media and on civil society; and a patriarchal, intolerant, sometimes suffocating social environment.

The area is rich in all the outward trappings of democracy. Elections are held and human-rights conventions are signed. But the great wave of democratisation that has opened up so much of the world over the past 15 years seems to have left the Arabs untouched. Democracy is occasionally offered, but as a concession, not as a right.

“The transfer of power through the ballot box is not a common
phenomenon in the Arab world,” the report says politely. Moreover, senior public servants, from ministers down, are seldom appointed solely on the basis of merit. People are given jobs not because of what they know, but because of whom they know. The result, all too often, is an unmoving, unresponsive central authority and an incompetent public administration. Freedom of expression and freedom of association are both sharply limited. The report quotes Freedom House, an American-based monitor of political and civil rights, in recording that no Arab country has genuinely free media, and only three have “partly free”. The rest are not free.

Civil society, in the Arab world, has a terribly long way to go. NGOs are hobbled by legal and administrative obstacles laid in their path by authorities deeply suspicious of what they might be up to. But they also suffer from internal weaknesses, often getting their money either from foreign sources, which adds to the suspicions, or from the government, which defeats the object of their creation.

•Knowledge. “If God were to humiliate a human being,” wrote Imam Ali bin abi Taleb in the sixth century, “He would deny him knowledge.” Although the Arabs spend a higher percentage
of GDP on education than any other developing region, it is not, it seems, well spent. The quality of education has deteriorated pitifully, and there is a severe mismatch between the labour market and the education system.

Adult illiteracy rates have declined but are still very high: 65m adults are illiterate, almost two-thirds of them women. Some 10m children still have no schooling at all.

One of the gravest results of their poor education is that the Arabs, who once led the world in science, are dropping ever further behind in scientific research and in information technology. Investment in research and development is less than one-seventh of the world average. Only 0.6% of the population uses the Internet, and 1.2% have personal computers.

Another, no less grave, result is the dearth of creativity. The report comments sadly on the severe shortage of new writing, and, for instance, the decline in the film industry. Nor are foreign books much translated: in the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun, say the authors, the Arabs have translated as many books as Spain translates in one year.

•Women's status. The one thing that every outsider knows about the Arab world is that it does not treat its women as full citizens. The report sees this as an awful waste: how can a society prosper when it stifles half its productive potential?After all, even though women's literacy rates have trebled in the past 30 years, one in every two Arab women still can neither read nor write. Their participation in their countries' political and economic life is the lowest in the world.

Governments and societies (and sometimes, as in Kuwait, societies and parliamentarians are more backward than their governments) vary in the degrees of bad treatment they mete out to women. But in nearly all Arab countries, women suffer from unequal citizenship and legal entitlements. The UNDP has a “gender-empowerment measure” which shows the Arabs near the bottom (according to this measure, sub-Saharan Africa ranks even worse). But the UN was able to measure only 14
of the 22 Arab states, since the necessary data were not available in the others. This, as the report says, speaks for itself, reflecting the general lack of concern in the region for women's desire to be allowed to get on.

Why it all went wrong
A country can have one or two of these deficits, says Clovis Maksoud, a respected Lebanese involved in the report's preparation, and still surge ahead. Singapore, for instance, manages to prosper without offering much political freedom. It is when a country or a region suffers from all three deficits that it is in such a bad way.

and...

Do not search or question
The most delicate issue of all, again carefully skirted by the authors of the report, is the part that Islam plays in delaying and impeding the Arab world's advance towards the ever-receding renaissance that its intellectuals crave. One of the report's signed articles explains Islam's support for justice, peace, tolerance, equilibrium and all good things besides. But most secularists believe that the pervasive Islamisation of society, which in several Arab countries has largely replaced the frightening militancy of the 1980s and early 1990s, has played a significant part in stifling constructive Arab thought.

From their schooldays onwards, Arabs are instructed that they
should not defy tradition, that they should respect authority, that truth should be sought in the text and not in experience. Fear of fawda (chaos) and fitna (schism) are deeply engrained in much Arab-Islamic teaching. “The role of thought”, wrote a Syrian intellectual “is to explain and transmit...and not to search and question.”

Interesting aside about Kuwait societies and parliamentarians being more backward than their governments! Some good fodder for the reformists in Kuwait. Of course, this is the Economist's view (i.e. Anglo-saxon liberal economist establishment view) and like everything written needs to taken with a 'pinch of salt', but it's usually one of my favourite reads.

Further on this theme of reform in the region, Dubai last week held a 3-day Arab Strategy Forumn, which I only found out about after the event. A friend attended though and offered the following insights (which I hope he doesn't mind me reproducing here):

• The involvement of women in society, economics and politics was a given by all speakers. It wasn't even an issue. About a third of the attendees were women including some leaders and speakers.
• Everyone sees clearly that society gives the mandate to leadership they just don't know the best way to do it in their society (i.e. they are sure that Western Democracy is a wrong road).
• The Westerners speaking were often blind to the sins of the West even if Arabs have the same sins. E.g. the American World Bank rep (who is supposedly a specialist on the Arab world) praised Palestine for having low levels of corruption because it has almost no bribery. He doesn't realise that whilst bribery is a gross sin in Palestine, power is still used to distort due process (it is just that no money changes hands). A common sin in the Arab world is "wasta" - the use of influence to change something into your favour. Arabs recognise it as a sin & would translate it into English as "Access to Government" or "Lobbying" But of course the World Banker sits amid lobbying and can't see it as designed to distort the use of power, and therefore he missed the fact that the Palestinians themselves know that their authority needs radical cleaning!
• The definition of an Arab was unclear. It was assumed that all Arabs are Muslims, but sometimes the Arab world was restricted to the rich Gulf states, sometimes to the Middle East. I wonder how the Algerians / Moroccans / Tunisians / Sudanese felt. The Libyan foreign minister was even asked on the platform whether Libya was Arab or African (the answer was something like "We are both, but African has been more loyal to us"). Of course, the Lebanese don't think they are Arab anyway, as one person said to me, "Don't ask me what an Arab is. It certainly is not defined by language because my mother tongue is Arabic and I am not an Arab. I am Lebanese." Thus at this forum to discuss where the Arab world is going, there was not even a clear view of who "we" are, let alone where we are going? I guess it was like all the English speaking nations meeting to discuss "our strategy" when we are too much aware of our differences. The difference is that Arabs expect unity. As one Arab said, "If Europe can achieve unity, despite its differences why is it that the Arab world with one common language, one common religion, one common value system, can't achieve even a 10% of the unity. If any region should be able to achieve unity it is us and yet we are still where we were 100 years ago." Unity involves trust. Trust involves loyalty (rather than conspiracy) & no one is ever more loyal than the top guy. In the Arab world, "The Top Guy" is fundamentally a law unto Himself. In order to trust you have to promise & "The Top Guy" makes no promises.
• Why are the Arabs so self-critical of themselves as a group but not self-critical of themselves as individuals. "We are a mess" seems much easier to say than "I am a mess." Do we have this same tendency too?

On this last point, this seems to be the same theme I'm trying to teach my children. You've got to take responsibility for your own mess / life / decisions / circumstances, etc. You have to acknowledge and take accountability for your own life. Bottom line is you're not a victim, you're creating your own experiences - the situations you are in and the way you feel about those situations. So don't blame others for your situation. I guess in simpler language the message is, "grow up, and get a life".

Waiting for the post

An interesting rant in today's Kuwait Times newspaper...

Kuwait postal system works at snail's pace

KUWAIT By Celia Al-Manea: It's a well-known fact that mail is Kuwait is slower than the coming of Christmas when you are a child. The bureaucracy-ridden, inefficient and poorly managed postal service fails to deliver anything of value to its customers. Letters sent locally can take weeks, even months to arrive. Packages sit in the Shuwaikh post office for days and days while the notice sent to inform their owner of their arrival suffers the same time-consuming delays as all other letters. Most businesses and organisations that need to send letters or packages and ensure that they arrive on time, send them by courier. Because of this, privately owned courier services are flourishing in Kuwait. But the government is still funding a national postal office and spending millions every year to pay salaries, provide offices, electricity, computers, stamps, paper, uniforms, etc. Why then the service is no service at all? Why, when postal systems have been developing since the use of pigeons and are now complex, efficient and functioning organisations around the world, is Kuwait so far behind? Why when the country earns more than $40 billion GDP can't it fund an efficient and reliable postal service? Kuwait is renowned throughout the world for its innovative, efficient and clever use of water desalination processes. It is also respected for encouraging the scientific development and research of oil lifting and pumping processes. And yet, it can't send a simple letter from Salmiya to Shuwaikh. Why? Does the government think that communication among people and businesses is irrelevant? Are the people who run the postal system incompetent? Lazy? Corrupt? What prevents the government from turning its attention to something vital to the health and growth of a flourishing economy? Why do members of parliament have time to bitch and moan about mixed gender concerts but can't be bothered to ask why it takes two weeks for a letter to come from Hawally to Rawda? The postal system in Kuwait falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Communication. The problem with this arrangement is that the Minister of Communication Mohammad Abu Al-Hassan is so busy defending himself from the internal threats of grilling that even if he wanted to, reforming the postal services would be impossible. I would send him a letter of complaint, but who knows if he'd get it.

[I won't bother putting in hyperlink as newspaper doesn't
archive web pages.]

What more can I say. I always have a laugh when I receive mail that has made it's way to my office desk. The first thing I do is check the Post Office's date stamp to see how long they've had my mail for... 1 week, 1 month, 2 months... incredible. And, that's if I receive it. Many things posted to me from NZ or the UK just don't arrive at all (including kid's birthday presents which is a pain). So basically I inform any company / person I deal with internationally, either deal with me via the web or email, or forget it. I guess this is how most Kuwaitis feel too.

The cynical view is, forget reform... too difficult. Accept that it's just another non-value adding employment scheme. Just don't make the mistake of expecting that it will work..., move on and use the latest technologies, and if you have to deliver physical documents, letters, things, well that's what courier companies are for.

But that's the problem in this country and why nothing works as well as it could. What happens is that even the courier companies have low standards, as anything will beat using the postal system. No one is willing to grasp the opportunity to reform... it's too difficult, it'll take to long, nobody cares enough to change things, as long as the place is awash with petrodollars we can afford to live with inefficiencies (rather than take steps to invest in infrastructure, people). Crickey, this is turning into another rant.... deep breath, calm down... So, what do I suggest. Don't settle for poor quality services. Lobby Government. Publicise the problems. Educate the wider public. Take whatever action you can - don't lie down and accept that change can't happen. Sure, we're talking about the complex changing of people's mindsets and attitudes, but we have to start somewhere.

Actually this reminds me of another failed state in the former Soviet Union I had the pleasure of living in - Uzbekistan. The telephone system was so crap, that when the market opened up around the same time as an alternative technology became available, mobile telephony (at extortionate rates to the consumer) took off. I doubt whether they've invested much in their fixed line telephone since. I do know that the country has continued to sink in the economic mire of institutionalised corruption fed by a despotic regime. But that is another story.

The big advantage here in Kuwait is that you do have a tradition of a ruling political class that listens to its people. It's just that implementation is the tricky part and most of the energy is going into rhetoric, and playing of political games, rather acts of service to the country. But, hey, that seems to happen everywhere in the world. Depressing.

Is there danger from depleted uranium in Kuwait?

Yesterday we headed to the “tank graveyard” at Um Al Kwaty. This is in a restricted area where the remains of several thousand Iraqi tanks, weapons and other destroyed vehicles have been dumped or parked up after the 1991 war.

It’s almost a year since our last visit and this time there are a number of “no photography” signs around… as the light wasn’t that great I didn’t take any photos this time out anyway. Trying to stop the kids climbing over the tanks and trying to find munitions was difficult – how can you explain depleted uranium (DU) to kids, other than stop them going there in the first place. After this trip I thought I better get more informed about the dangers of DU and in particular the danger from all the destroyed tanks and other vehicles at the site. Was I being overcautious, or should I really be worried about radioactive contamination and its effects on myself and the kids.

Good on google for helping me find the IAEA’s report on DU levels in Kuwait. In summary, for most of Kuwait there is no real danger from DU contamination, unless you have long term skin exposure to DU fragments or munitions. However, the 1.5t of DU in the Um Al Kwaty area and the 105 tanks contaminated with DU would indicate that you shouldn’t really be touching this stuff! The report mentions segregating the contaminated tanks off from the rest and burying them… I’m not sure whether this has happened or not.