Kuwaiti Blues

Sociologists and politicians claim that underdevelopment and less poverty can be overcome by money. This is not true, at least in the Arab countries at the Persian Gulf. The Arab oil rich countries; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, are a case in point. For more than half a century now these countries have been awash in petrodollars. Yet they are still underdeveloped, in particular their human resources.

The Gulf Arab countries have a wonderful infrastructure in term of roads and malls. The local population drive the latest models of cars like Mercedes, BMW, and Cadillac. Yet driving in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, for example, is an act of adventure. The locals drive recklessly. They do not respect the simplest traffic rules. Besides, it is common scene to see locals throwing their soda cans and trash out of their car windows. Both roads and malls are cleaned by Bangladeshi men for $ 90 a month, if they ever get paid.

The infrastructure has been built and is maintained by expatriate engineers and workers. Hospitals, banks, and the oil industry are all run by expats. The majority are underpaid. Institutions where the locals have the say, are ill-managed. Very often medical doctors are beaten and assaulted if locals are not served immediately. Just recently, on 10 December two doctors were severely beaten and injured at Al Jahra hospital. The most frequently used word in the Arab Gulf countries is "bsur'a" (quickly), (do it quickly). If what they want is not done "quickly" they start shouting, use physical force, or complain to the minister concerned, like a child complaining to his mother. The majority of hospitals are run by locals and deliver poor services. Ali told me, "Unless you have a "wasta" (connections) you do not get a decent medical treatment."

Ali Al Baghli, a columnist at Al Qabas newspaper in Kuwait wrote on November 13, "We Kuwaitis are spoilt. If our children are called to discipline, we interpret this as harsh treatment and rush directly to the Minister of Education and complain. We are very good at making of little incidents scandals." An American teacher at the English school of Kuwait who undressed in front of her female pupils in the change cabins of a swimming pool was accused of delivering a strip-tease show and therefore was fired.

Katharine Philip who used to teach at Al Bayan school, a private school in Kuwait was not allowed to leave Kuwait for her summer vacation 2006. Her "crime" was she sentenced the son of a rich Kuwait, Al Marzuq, to discipline detention for three hours after school because he was fighting with other pupils. The teacher acted in accordance with the school's rules of which the father was aware.

The local population at the Arab Gulf are well-connected. They get what they want through "wasta" (connections). In Kuwait, for example, they meet in the evening in Diwaniyas (private guest houses) and exchange "favors". Most of these favors go against the law. A local, for instance, does not need to take a driving test. He/she gets the deriver's license home delivered.

Over 90% of locals are employed by the state. They cash lavish salaries for doing almost nothing. The job, most of the jobs, are carried out by expats. Mohammed Al Saleh, a columnist at Al Qabas in Kuwait complains about this. He wonders whether the government should not remove Kuwaitis from their jobs. They simply hinder the flow of jobs. They are detrimental to executing job properly. They should stay home and get their salaries. Being on the job, especially in official institutions, like the Ministry of the Interior, and migration department, they are obstacles than facilitators on the job. He suggests that the government employ only expats to do the job.

Ahmed Al Baghdadi, a columnist at the Kuwaiti newspaper, Al Siyasa, also wonders, "What do we actually produce? Our oil is produced and marketed by expats. The vegetables we produce in green houses in Al Wafra are cultivated and looked after by expats. The Kuwaiti owners of these houses get huge amounts of subsidies from the government for products which if we imported would cost one tenth of the price produced locally. We Kuwaitis are parasites. We produce nothing, we import everything, and consume a lot."

The locals lack discipline and work ethics. On top of that they are under-qualified. They get the job by wasta (connections). Ahmed is almost illiterate. He works at the airport. His work, if you can call that work, consists of stamping the date on customers cargo receipts before they collect their shipment. Ahmed cashes a salary of bout $ 4500. Al Saleh criticizes Kuwaiti employees for abusing their job. He says, they often show up late to work. Half an hour before the midday prayer, they disappear claiming they went to pray. In fact they have gone home.

According to the latest report of the UN Arab Development Program (October 2006), the productivity of a Kuwaiti worker is not more than 15 minutes a day. Once appointed in job, Kuwaitis cannot be dismissed. "That is why employers in the private sector would hesitate a hundred times before they employ a Kuwaiti. They are right." Al Saleh asserts. A recent law imposes fines on Kuwaiti employers whose work force of Kuwaitis is less than 15%. The Kuwaiti employers prefer to pay the fine than employing a Kuwaiti.

Ahmed Al Sarraf, another columnist at Al Qabas newspaper has written numerous articles on those "charity" organizations in Kuwait, more than 150 of them. They have collected millions of dollars and allege that they spend the money on development programs in Africa and Asia. All these organizations are not subject to any financial control. Al Sarraf and many in the American administration believe that most of the money goes to finance radical Muslims across the globe.

Among the local population you do not find one single man or woman who does a manual job. They depend completely on expats. Besides, they abuse expatriate workers, especially their maids and servants. They make them work for 24 hours, seven days a week for a meager wage of $ 90, if they ever pay the money. Lots of Arab Gulf employers abuse their maids. They beat and rape them.

Racial discrimination is also widespread in Arab countries at the Persian Gulf. The oil Arabs look down at expats from Asia and Africa, but feel inferior to Westerners. Yet locals are treated like VIPs, which for many expats stands for "Very Ignorant Person". As an Indian expat was taking a driving test and was asked, "If you are driving in a round-about who has driving preference, you or the one trying to drive into the round-about? The driver's license candidate answered, "The Kuwaiti."

Foreign investors are not allowed to establish their own businesses in the Gulf Arab countries. They need a local business partner. These partners are usually members of big families, rich and influential and dictate their own terms. Al Ghanim, Al Sultan, Al M'osharji, Al Sane', Al Saadun, Al Qadhi, etc. are just a few examples. These families have exclusive operation licenses Mercedes, BMW, MacDonalds, Burger King, and other trade marks.

In the name of Islam, predominantly "Wahhabism", a rigid, simplistic, dogmatic interpretation of Islam, a vocal local minority is terrorizing the majority. They harass women to wear the hijab, head and face scarf. Public music and singing are forbidden. Gender-segregation is a must from kindergarten to university. The so called Mutawas (morality) police beat and detain people who are spotted on the street during the daily five prayer times, including non-Muslims.

Façade Islamization is everywhere. The Finance House of Kuwait claims that it does not take interests on loans. Interests in Islam is "riba" (usury). In fact it does, but it calls it "murabaha" (shared profit). Al Saleh says, "This is hypocrisy". It is fake wine in genuine bottles. Alcohol and prostitution are forbidden in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But according to the World Health Organization, 23% of the local population is alcoholic. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch excoriate annually the Arab countries at the Persian Gulf for human trafficking and slavery practices. Women are imported as domestic workers from Asia and beauty experts from East European countries and abused as sex objects.

Members of the ruling families in the oil Arab countries are awash in huge sums of petrodollars. They regard the wealth of their countries as their own and shove it into their accounts. They are plundering their countries. According to the latest report of the World Bank, Saudi Arabia has debts of around 1400 billion dollars. The private investments of members of the ruling families in the West amounts to over $ 2000 billions.

Every local in the Arab oil countries is trying to snatch his own share of their states' wealth and squander it on conspicuous consumer goods, like cars and vacations abroad. They make huge debts and ask the government to waive them by hook and by crook. This is specially the case in Kuwait.

Over the past 6 years several private universities have been established in Kuwait, for example, the Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST), a fancy name, and the American University of Kuwait. GUST claims that it is affiliated to Missouri University to attract students who pay around $ 15000 of fees a year. Graham Collins who used to work for this university told me, "This is deceitful. These universities are in reality diploma mills".

Like all Arabs, the Persian-Gulf Arabs learn Standard Arabic as a second language. It is the official language across the Arab world and the medium of writing. Local dialects are not allowed to be used in writing. Standard Arabic is like Latin to the Italians. Nobody speaks it as a mother tongue. Like all Arabs, the Gulf Arabs use their own local dialects for daily verbal communication. The local dialects, however, are simple and limited means of expression, especially when it comes to expressing abstract concepts. Today most of Arabs are unable to express sophisticated ideas. As thought and language go hand in hand, Arab contemporary thinking is limited and very often incoherent. They sound like children trying to use a language.

Unfortunately, the West and the whole developed world does not care much about the dismal human rights records, social injustice, exploitation and abuse of foreign workers, and lack of democracy in Arab countries at the Persian Gulf. They are more interested in marketing their products in these rich countries. George W. Bush and others want to establish democracy in Iraq, but they have never mentioned Saudi Arabia, for instance, which is not only despotic but medieval and very repressive, at best. It is totalitarianism par excellence.

Kuwaiti blues.. 27 Jan 2009, 01:02 - Report