Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Compañeros,
I hate goodbyes as WS said, ‘Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.’
Too many people to thank, too many things to say. Rest assured that all of you have touched my life in some and different ways and I thank you for that and for all the kindnesses I have been shown. I just hope I have given you all something in return.
ARAMCO and
I leave you all with a smile and some songs. Print out this e-mail, go home and put your feet up and hopefully enjoy the music.
Perhaps when you hear these songs you’ll think of me...... I know I’ll be thinking of you!
HASTA LA
John
Redemption Song – Bob Marley
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
This song reminds me of
Nkosi Sikelei –
Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
Malupakam'upondo lwayo;
Yiva imitandazo yetu
Usisikelele.
One of the most beautiful national anthems in the world. For all the South African nurses and doctors I’ve met in the
Guantanamera – Compay Segundo
Yo soy un hombre sincero
De donde crece
Song of the Cuban Revolution. This version is by Compay who was in his 90s when he recorded this. A song of hope and happiness in this cruel world. A man who loves his land and people, who wants to give the good things he has in life and his good luck to the poor of the earth. Inspirational.
Nancy Spain – Christy Moore
No matter where I wander I'm still haunted
by your name
The portrait of your beauty stays the same
Standing by the ocean wondering where you've
gone, if you'll return again
Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain?
Back across the oceans to
Habibi de mis amores - Alabina & Gypsy Kings
Don’t know why exactly but this reminds me a bit of Barraq and Abulgasim! The Arabs came to
Four Green Fields – Dick Gaughan
"What did I have?" asked the fine old woman.
"What did I have?" this proud old woman did say.
"I had four green fields,
Each one was a jewel.
Till strangers came, and tried to take them from me.
I had fine, strong sons.
They fought to save my jewels.
They fought and they died.
And that is my grief," said she.
You’ll be hearing a few songs from Dick, the brilliant Scottish folk singer. This song is so powerful. The Green fields are
With God on our side – Judy Collins
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
My time in the
Aita Semeak – Oskorri
Aita semeak tabernan daude
ama-alabak jokoan
Aita semeak tabernan daude
ama-alabak jokoan.
Berriz ikusi beharko dugu
behi gizena auzoan,
berriro ere ez da faltako
trapu zaharrik kakoan.
Papá y los chicos están en la taberna
Mamá y las chicas jugando,
Papá y los chicos están en la taberna
Mamá y las chicas jugando.
Pero soy jóven y tengo
el futuro en las manos,
no te nos morirás Euskal Herria
mientras yo esté con vida.
This song is from the Basque Country or as we call it – Euskadi. Those of you who can undertand Spanish can get a translation if you click on the link. Here is a little bit...
Daddy’s in the tavern with the boys
Mammy and the girls are playing.
But I am young and
Have the future in my hands
You won’t die Euskal Herria
As long as I am alive.
I knew it was time to go home when my daughter sent me a voice message in Basque. In the two years since I’ve been away she’s learnt another language. Anyone fighting for independence will understand this song.
Compañera – Silvio Rodriquez
La canción es la amiga. (The song is the friend)
Silvio is one my heroes. A brilliant musician and song writer. He could have been rich and world famous yet he has stuck by
Woke Up This Morning –
When you woke up this morning everything you had was
gone. By half past ten your head was going ding-dong.
Ringing like a bell from your head down to your toes,
like a voice telling you there was something you should
know. Last night you were flying but today you're so low
- ain't it times like these that make you wonder if
you'll ever know the meaning of things as they appear to
the others; wives, mothers, fathers, sisters and
brothers. Don't you wish you didn't function, wish you
didn't think beyond the next paycheck and the next little
drink' Well you do so make up your mind to go on, 'cos
when you woke up this morning everything you had was gone.
A great blues song which will always remind me of Euro ‘trash’ Village. Wednesday night, all alone again, feeling sorry for myself. The Sopranos cheer me up. It’s not only missiles and McDonalds that come out of the states!
Wolfe Tones – Men Behind the Wire
Armored cars and tanks and guns
Came to take away our sons
But every man must stand behind
The men behind the wire
Through the little streets of
In the dark of early morn
British soldiers came marauding
Wrecking little homes with scorn
Heedless of the crying children
Dragging fathers from their beds
Beating sons while helpless mothers
Watched the blood poor from their heads
Apparently the British soldiers in
Victor Jara of
Victor Jara of Chile Lived like a shooting star He fought for the people of Chile With his songs and his guitar His hands were gentle, his hands were strong Victor Jara was a peasant He worked from a few years old He sat upon his father's plow And watched the earth unfold His hands were gentle, his hands were strong Now when the neighbors had a wedding Or one of their children died His mother sang all night for them With Victor by her side His hands were gentle, his hands were strong He grew up to be a fighter Against the people's wrongs He listened to their grief and joy And turned them into songs His hands were gentle, his hands were strong He sang about the copper miners And those who worked the land He sang about the factory workers And they knew he was their man His hands were gentle, his hands were strong He campaigned for Allende Working night and day He sang "Take hold of your brothers hand You know the future begins today" His hands were gentle, his hands were strong Then the generals seized Chile They arrested Victor then They caged him in a stadium With five-thousand frightened men His hands were gentle, his hands were strong Victor stood in the stadium His voice was brave and strong And he sang for his fellow prisoners Till the guards cut short his song His hands were gentle, his hands were strong They broke the bones in both his hands They beat him on the head They tore him with electric shocks And then they shot him dead His hands were gentle, his hands were strong Another September 11th but in 1973. The CIA organized and helped finance Pinochet’s coup. Thousands of Chileans were tortured and murdered, victims of Nixon, Kissinger and
Ain’t Got No Home – Woody Guthrie
I ain't got no home, I'm just a-roamin' 'round,
Just a wandrin' worker, I go from town to town.
And the police make it hard wherever I may go
And I ain't got no home in this world anymore.
You might get the impression that I am anti-American. Well I’m not. Some of my best friends........ This song is by a great American. I dedicate this to all the wandering contractors who do most of the work in ARAMCO. (Apparently!) and of course the understanding and professional managers at HAKA ;-)
Shoals of Herring – Euan McCall
left the home grounds in the month of June
And to canny Shiels we soon was bearing
With a hundred cran of the silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring
Some personal songs now. This is one I play at parties or when I feel nostalgic. The ‘canny shields’ in the song is a place where we used to visit when we were children. In my Geordie dialect ‘canny’ means nice – as in ‘you are all canny lads!’
Fog on the Tyne -
'Cause the fog on the
The fog on the
The fog on the
The fog on the
I was born on the banks of this river.
Fly me to the Moon –Sinatra
I saw the ‘Chairman’ twice in concert with my father. Incomparable. Swing it!
Jamie Foyers – Dick Gaughan
Faur distant, faur distant, lies Foyers the brave
Nae tombstone memorial shall hallow his grave
For his bones they lie scattered on the rude soil o
An young Jamie Foyers in battle
He's gane frae the shipyaird that stauns on the
His haimmer lies idle, his tools laid aside
Tae the wide
Tae fight by the side o the people o
Thair wisnae his equal at wark or at play
He
He
Young Jamie Foyers
More & translation into English from Scottish
Spanish Civil War 1936. Thousands of working class young people from Liverpool,
The World Turned Upside Down – Leon Rosselson
In 1649 to St. George's Hill
A ragged band they called the Diggers came to show the people's will.
They defied the landlords; they defined the laws.
They were the dispossessed reclaiming what was theirs.
We come in peace they said to dig and sow.
We come to work the lands in common and to make the waste ground grow.
This earth divided we will make whole
So it will be a common treasury for all.
The sin of property we do disdain.
No man has any right to buy and sell the earth for private gain.
By theft and murder they took the land;
Now everywhere the walls spring up at their command
They make the laws to chain us well;
The clergy dazzle us with heaven or they damn us into hell.
We will not worship the God they serve,
The God of greed who feeds the rich while poor folks starve
We work we eat together; we need no swords.
We will not bow to the masters or pay rent to the lords.
Still we are free though we are poor.
You Diggers all stand up for glory; Stand up now.
>From the men of property the orders came;
They sent the hired men and troopers to wipe out the Digger's claim;
Tear down their cottages; Destroy their corn.
They were dispersed but still the vision lingers on.
You poor take courage; You rich take care.
This earth was made a common treasury for everyone to share.
All things in common; All people one.
We come in peace. The orders came to cut them down.
I used to play this song at concerts in my other life in
Between the Wars – Billy Bragg
I was a miner
I was a docker
I was a railway man
Between the wars
I raised a family
In times of austerity
With sweat at the foundry
Between the wars
Peace is just the breathing space between the next war.......
Sheik of Araby – Fats Waller
This jazz great used to play for Al Capone.
Ain’t Misbehavin – Fats Waller
no one to walk with
all by myself
no one to talk with
but i'm happy on the shelf
ain't misbehavin'
savin' all my love for you
i know for certain the one i love
i'm through with flirtin'
it's you that i'm dreamin' of
ain't misbehavin'
savin' all my love for you
like Jack Horner
in the corner
don't go nowhere
what do i care?
your kisses are worth waiting for
believe me ...
i don't stay out late
i don't care to go
i'm home about 8
just me and my radio
Ain't Misbehavin'
savin' all my love for you ...
(one never knows, do one?)
Dedicated to all the married guys in Saudi who manage to remember just why they came here! This song has possibly the wildest drum solo of all time. Crazy!
Tim Finnegan’s Wake – The Clancy Brothers
Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin' Street
A gentleman, Irish, mighty odd;
He had a brogue both rich and sweet
And to rise in the world he carried a hod.
Now Tim had a sort of the tipplin' way
With a love of the whiskey he was born
And to help him on with his work each day
He'd a "drop of the cray-thur" every morn.
cho Whack fol the darn O, dance to your partner
Whirl the floor, your trotters shake;
Wasn't it the truth I told you
Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!
One mornin' Tim was feelin' full
His head was heavy which made him shake;
He fell from the ladder and broke his skull
And they carried him home his corpse to wake.
They rolled him up in a nice clean sheet
And laid him out upon the bed,
A gallon of whiskey at his feet
And a barrel of porter at his head.
cho:
His friends assembled at the wake
And Mrs. Finnegan called for lunch,
First they brought in tay and cake
Then pipes, tobacco and whiskey punch.
Biddy O'Brien began to bawl
"Such a nice clean corpse, did you ever see?
"O Tim, mavourneen, why did you die?"
Arragh, hold your gob said Paddy McGhee!
cho:
Then Maggie O'Connor took up the job
"O Biddy," says she, "You're wrong, I'm sure"
Biddy she gave her a belt in the gob
And left her sprawlin' on the floor.
And then the war did soon engage
'Twas woman to woman and man to man,
Shillelagh law was all the rage
And a row and a ruction soon began.
cho:
Then Mickey Maloney ducked his head
When a noggin of whiskey flew at him,
It missed, and falling on the bed
The liquor scattered over Tim!
The corpse revives! See how he raises!
Timothy rising from the bed,
Says,"Whirl your whiskey around like blazes
Thanum an Dhul! Do you thunk I'm dead
Whisky means, ‘water of life’ in Irish and it’s a mighty powerful drink. I swear this is a true story!
Wild Night - Van Morrison
And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder.
And everything looks so complete...
The wild night is calling
The wild night is calling
Come on out and dance
Come on out and make romance....
This song captures a night out in
Worker’s Song – Dick Gaughan
Come all of you workers who toil night and day
By hand and by brain to earn your pay
Who for centuries long past for no more than your bread
Have bled for your countries and counted your dead
In the factories and mills, in the shipyards and mines
We've often been told to keep up with the times
For our skills are not needed, they've streamlined the job
And with sliderule and stopwatch our pride they have robbed
But when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
When we've never owned one handful of earth?
We're the first ones to starve the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about
All of these things the worker has done
>From tilling the fields to carrying the gun
We've been yoked to the plough since time first began
And always expected to carry the can
With all due respect to ARAMCO this is what it’s like for the majority of the world. This is especially dedicated to Moneer and all the other Bangladeshi workers who slave away six days a week for a miserly SR300. And Fadaan – JUST SAY NO TO OUTSOURCING! Rest assured I have told Mr. Thomas & Venogopal before I left, that no matter what colour we are or what language we speak we are all workers at the end of the day, no matter how much they try and divide us with pay defentials.
Stand Up for Judas – Leon Rosselson
The Romans were the masters when Jesus walked the land
In Judea and in
And the poor were sick with hunger and the rich were clothed in splendour
And the rebels whipped and crucified hung rotting as a warning
And Jesus knew the answer
Said, Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, said, Love your enemies
But Judas was a Zealot and he wanted to be free
Resist, he said, The Romans' tyranny
By sword and gun and crucifix Christ's gospel has been spread
And 2.000 cruel years have shown the way that Jesus led
The heretics burned and tortured, and the butchering, bloody crusaders
The bombs and rockets sanctified that rain down death from heaven
They followed Jesus, they knew the answer
All non-believers must be believers or else be broken
So put no trust in Saviours, Judas said, For everyone
Must be to his or her own self - a sun
This is my belief. We need more Zealots!
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life – Monty Python
For life is quite absurd
And death's the final word.
You must always face the curtain with a bow.
Forget about your sin.
Give the audience a grin.
Enjoy it. It's your last chance, anyhow.
So,...
Always look on the bright side of death,
[whistle]
Just before you draw your terminal breath.
[whistle]
But how can you live without a god? Easy – you have to always look on the bright side of life!
Hallelujah Chorus - Handel
On the other hand if there were a god how could it be a sin to be praised like this! MAGNIFICENT!
So long it’s been good to know you – Woody Guthrie
I've sung this song, but I'll sing it again,
Of the place that I lived on the wild windy plains,
In the month called April, county called Gray,
And here's what all of the people there say:
CHORUS:
"So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh;
So long, it's been good to know yuh.
This dusty old dust is a-gettin' my home,
And I got to be driftin' along."
Adios ;-)
The Parting Glass – The Clancy Brothers
Oh all the money that e'er I had, I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done, alas, it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit to memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all
Oh all the comrades that e'er I've had, they are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I've had, they would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot that I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call good night and joy be with you all
If I had money enough to spend and leisure time to sit awhile
There is a fair maid in this town, that sorely has my heart beguiled
Her rosy cheeks and ruby lips I own, she has my heart enthralled
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all
My dearest dear, the time draws near when here no longer can I stay
There's not a comrade I leave behind, but is grieving for my going away
But since it has so ordered been what is once past can't be recalled
Now fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all
If I had money for to spend, If I had time to waste away
There is a fair maid in this town, I feign would while her heart away
With her rosy cheeks and dimpled chin, my heart she has beguiled awa'
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you a'
If I had money for to spend, I would spend it in her company
And all the harm that I have done, I hope it's pardoned I will be
And all I've done for want of it to memory I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all
A man may drink and not be drunk, a man may fight and not be slain
A man may court a pretty girl and perhaps be welcomed back again
But since it has so ordered been by a time to rise and a time to fall
Come fill to me the parting glass, good night and joy be with you all
Sunday, June 06, 2004
Saudi Arabia has descended into a cauldron of hatreds and divisions
Mai Yamani
Saturday June 5, 2004
The Guardian
Long before the latest violence erupted, Saudi Arabia's immaculately suited spokesmen were out on the stump, telling anyone who would listen that the situation in the country was completely under control. They're now doing it again - only this time nobody believes them.
All the signs suggest that in the face of mounting violence and international pressure, the House of Saud has sunk into terminal denial and paralysis. Convinced that their enemies are all around them, they are nevertheless unable to locate them. Even when gunmen are totally surrounded in a building, three of them succeed in escaping. Last year the aged King Fahd threatened militants with his "iron fist", but they have gone on killing regardless. While the princes have insisted reforms are in progress, they continue to fling reformists themselves into jail - and intimidate others into keeping quiet. The government maintains its oil installations are completely safe from attack - and yet high-level oil analysts insist the Saudi security forces which guard them are infiltrated by extremists.
Such contradictions suggest that very little is currently under control in the Saudi kingdom.
While expatriates consider whether to depart en masse, reports from the Gulf say that staff members of one of the more entrepreneurial princes have asked officials in Dubai to find them living space. They might well be re-locating in the near future.
But it would be wrong to predict any immediate collapse of the state. Despite a marked cooling in relations, Saudi Arabia remains the key ally of the US in the region. With continuing violence in Iraq, Washington's priority is to prevent Saudi Arabia descending into similar anarchy, even if it means propping up a regime it no longer likes or trusts. American demands for reform have quietened in the past few months, which may explain their muted response to the clampdown on Saudi liberals last March.
While oil prices remain exceptionally high and with a US presidential election in November, Saudi Arabia is the pump that cannot be allowed to run dry. Predictably, the kingdom is determined to remind the Bush administration of its central role in the world economy and politics, aware that if peace breaks out in neighbouring Iraq, it will lose some important leverage.
Already its influence in the Gulf has been badly shaken. The smaller states no longer need Saudi Arabia for protection and security, and no longer look to Riyadh for a lead on the international stage. Moreover, some have clearly replaced the Saudi state in Washington's affections, especially as they move ahead with political and economic reforms, outstripping the kingdom's own meagre efforts.
It is now known that a number of those Gulf rulers have been lining up to tell the Saudis that reform is their only chance of survival, and that it may already be too late. But even those princes who accept that notion - such as Crown Prince Abdullah - no longer appear to hold sway in the cabinet.
In any case, the Saudi state has become such a cauldron of hatreds and divisions - many now highlighted by the war in Iraq - that reforms favouring one group would almost certainly be rejected by another.
Regional rivalries have been sharply exacerbated. The Asir region is viewed by many as partly Yemeni. The Hijazis see themselves as a separate cultural and religious entity. After decades of exclusion from key jobs, the Shia in the oil-rich province are deeply ambivalent about their Saudi identity and feel newly empowered by Shia advances in Iraq.
Conceivably, they could begin to demand their own state. Some even talk about Shia political power as a disease that could spread into Saudi Arabia and engulf it. If Iraq were ever to sink into civil war, the Saudis themselves would be hard-pressed to hold their nation together.
To the Saudi royal family nothing is more troubling than the Shia questions. All Saudi Shia are followers of the Iraqi Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani - so they already look across the border for guidance. Bearded, turbaned and cloaked Shia clerics, now far more visible in Iraq, terrify the minority Saudi Wahhabis. From being the region's big losers over the last few decades, many Shia now feel they can redress the balance, settle old scores and control the oil wealth.
As they review their options, the Saudis have probably concluded that they can live with a Shia-dominated government in Iraq, but only if it contains prominent Sunni faces. All the same, relations won't be easy.
Shia ideology is in direct collision with the Sunni Wahhabi doctrine that underpins the Saudi state and frequently labels the Shia as "heretics".
For months, the Saudi government has trumpeted its "national dialogue" which brought together Ismaelis, Sufis, Shia and Salafis for unprecedented talks, chaired by Crown Prince Abdullah. But this is little more than window-dressing. The Wahhabi establishment has no appetite for the discussions and has made clear it is not in the reform business. For the first time, leading Saudi figures are talking privately of schism and the possibility of religious war.
So there are no comfortable options for the Saudi royal family. Announce a hurried series of reforms and the princes will be seen to have bowed to American pressure and will face the wrath of the clergy. Do nothing, and even the moderates will turn against them and into the arms of the extremists. Offer government posts to the Shia, curb the powers of the ubiquitous religious police - the Mutawa - and another backlash would follow.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida attacks with relative impunity. Some security experts believe that key installations like Ras Tanoura and Abqaiq, the world's largest oil processing complex, are vulnerable to attack. Questions about the competence and loyalty of elements within the security forces are denied by the authorities. Nevertheless, recent attacks have revealed intricate personal and tribal links between those forces and the violent jihadis.
Revolution may not be imminent, but the security situation seems bound to deteriorate, provoking fresh splits in the kingdom's complex political and religious architecture.
Without a clear plan of action, it's not surprising that the Saudi leadership has put its head in the sand.
· Dr Mai Yamani is an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs and author of Cradle of Islam: the Hijazi Quest for an Arabian Identity, published next month by IB Tauris
myamani@riia.org
Tuesday, June 01, 2004
Quite impressive if it's authentic. Perhaps the English is just too good? Not sure. Worth a read though. Much better than mine!
The Religious Policeman
Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Society is to blame
Combating Rising Crime
Abid Khazindar • Okaz —
A report from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) says that the crime rate among unemployed Saudis has risen by 320 percent in a six-year period from 1990 to 1996. The report expects the rate to increase a further 136 percent by the year 2005. Once again, unemployment remains the main reason behind so large a figure.
My own estimate is that unemployment among Saudis of both sexes is something like 30 percent. By adding the large number of unemployed foreign workers in the Kingdom, who may number half a million according to one report, we find ourselves dealing with a colossal figure concerning the number of crimes being committed in the country.
According to one newspaper report, the number of murders dealt with by courts in 1999 was 616. That same year, 38 deaths sentences were carried out. This year — 2003 — the number of executions has been 50. Car theft remains the most common type of crime in the country, with many cases reported in parking lots where large numbers of vehicles are left at a time.
The solution to rising crime rates should not be confined to punitive and deterrent measures. Solving the unemployment problem represents the first step in any such attempt and this calls for a national program to train and qualify Saudi youth. Leading national companies and banks should contribute to this program, especially banks which have annual profits of some SR12 billion.
Practical steps are also needed to accelerate implementation of the anti-poverty strategy, for which SR100 has been allocated. We also have to handle the collection and distribution of zakah — alms — properly. With Saudi wealth estimated at SR900 billion, this would effectively eliminate poverty in the country.
As for the unemployed among expatriates, plans should be made to send them back to their home countries. Any foreign worker who wishes to renew his or her iqama — residence permit — must produce a certificate showing they are employed and have actual rather than fictional jobs. I feel sure that the Saudi security forces, who have proven they are capable of fighting terrorism, will be able to fight crime with the help of the local population.
Respect!
Boy Arrested for Entering School Disguised as Girl
Javid Hassan, Arab News Staff —
RIYADH, 30 December 2003 — Riyadh’s expatriate community is abuzz with the story of a cack-handed attempt by two youngsters to beat the Kingdom’s strict gender segregation rules.
An ostensibly married couple visited the International Indian School (Girls Section) and asked to see a girl said to be studying in the 11th grade. But security guards became suspicious because the “husband” seemed very young and the veiled “wife” appeared too masculine in her movements.
When challenged, the husband ran away, leaving the wife to be unmasked as a Pakistani boy, who had been hoping for a rendezvous with the girl.
According to an eyewitness, six policemen interviewed the boy for an hour before taking him away in their car. The boy argued it had all been a joke.
The spectacle was watched by a large gathering of students.
Niaz Ahmad Khan, the IISR chairman, told Arab News thanks to the attentive security guard, there was no harm done. In an earlier incident, an IISR student’s bid to enter the girls’ section was also foiled by the watchman’s timely intervention.
Khan nonetheless outlined plans to strengthen security, including deployment of patrol police outside the school.
Monday, December 29, 2003
Smart Donkeys
Smart Infiltrators Use Donkeys to Cross Border Undetected
Mahmoud Ahmad, Arab News Staff —
JIZAN, 29 December 2003 — Infiltrators along the long mountainous border with Yemen are using ingenuous methods to escape the attention of Saudi border guards. Their genius lies in the creative use to which they put a time-honored technology — donkeys.
According to a report in Al-Madinah Arabic daily, donkeys are trained to carry infiltrators along narrow mountain trails through the rugged terrain, well away from the main roads. The animals become expert at crossing and recrossing the border on their own, the paper said.
So popular have the animals become that donkey stations on the Yemeni side, run by smuggling rings, are turning a brisk profit.
“Crossing the border is very dangerous,” said a Yemeni who crossed the border on a donkey. “You use rugged tracks in the mountains at night. The people who helped me had years of experience smuggling people across, otherwise I wouldn’t have made it through.”
Zaid rented a donkey that appeared to know its own way. “Once you’ve crossed the border you let them go and they find their way back.”
Muhammad Ibrahim works in the Kingdom as an electrician. He came here on a donkey. “It’s very difficult to sneak across the border now — there is so much security. These smart donkeys are the only way,” he said. “We pay SR200 on the Yemeni side, and we cross at night.
“Then someone welcomes us on the Saudi side, and most of the time there is someone who wants to go into Yemen waiting there,” he added.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Saudi Future
Kingdom to Embark on Major Privatization Program (Part 2)
Arab News —
Saudi Arabia, which hold the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves and is going through political and economic reforms, enjoys a strong trade surplus largely due to its oil exports. Buoyed by improving macroeconomic parameters, the Saudi Market TASI index has outperformed most other global indices. The Kingdom has been recording a current account surplus since 1999. The monetary policy regulated by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has been yielding fruitful results. The Kingdom has also witnessed price stability over the last several years, as inflation is well under control. These are among the highlights of the Kuwait-based Global Investment House’s (GIH) second report on the Economic & Strategic Outlook of the Kingdom, which Arab News has been serializing from Monday. The report’s second part appears today and the concluding part will be published tomorrow.
Government Debt
In order to contain the government debt which is currently estimated to be around SR650 billion, the government will have to focus on enhancing its revenue base and speed up the privatization process whose proceeds can be used to retire debt. The Seventh Five-Year Plan focuses on the need to increase non-oil revenues, eliminate budget deficit and reduce government debt. The government is exploring various options such as imposing income tax and introduction of Value Added Tax, which would broaden the revenue base and improve government revenues in the medium to long term.
Current Account
Saudi Arabia enjoys a strong trade surplus largely due to its large oil exports. Exports of oil and refined products amounted to around $63.3 billion in 2002 out of the total exports, which stood at $71.7 billion during the year. The total imports of the country stood at $29.6 billion in 2002, resulting in a merchandise trade surplus of $42.1 billion for the year. In 2002, the current account surplus stood at $11.7 billion. The Kingdom has recorded a current account surplus since 1999.
Total exports are expected to be much higher in 2003 on account of higher prices and export volumes of crude oil. We expect the Kingdom to record strong trade surplus as well as current account surplus in 2003 due to higher exports of oil. However, trade surplus and consequently current account surplus is expected to decline in 2004 as oil prices are forecasted to ease next year.
Saudi Arabia is the 19th largest exporter and the 20th largest importer in the world. The United States is the top trading partner of Saudi Arabia. The top four importers from Saudi Arabia in 2002 by value were the United States, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, who among them accounted for about half of the Kingdom’s total exports. The United States, Japan, Germany and the UK were the main origin of imports.
Monetary
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency regulates the monetary policy of the country. SAMA has maintained the long-held peg between the riyal and the dollar at SR3.75 to the dollar since 1986. The bank is expected to continue to maintain the exchange rate over the medium term despite the expected decline in oil revenues and the consequent current account deficit expected in 2004.
Interest rates in Saudi Arabia closely track the interest rates in the United States on account of the currency peg. SAMA is expected to continue adjusting its discount rate in line with the Fed rates. As a result, we don’t foresee any increase in interest rates in the short term since the US interest rates are expected to remain at current levels in the near future.
SAMA controls the money supply through traditional monetary instruments such as the Statutory Reserve Requirement, which is currently at 7 percent for demand deposits and 2 percent for savings and time deposits. With the emergence of the government securities market to finance budgetary deficits, SAMA uses instruments such as Repo facility on government development bonds, floating rate notes and treasury bills to meet its monetary policy objectives.
Inflation
The Saudi economy has witnessed price stability over the last several years. Despite the steady growth in money supply over the years, inflation in Saudi Arabia has been well under control and the consumer price inflation has been negative over the last five years. Inflation (as measured by the consumer price index) in the last five years has been negative and has varied in the range of -1.6 percent to -0.4 percent. However, inflation is expected to pick up because of the weakening of the dollar and other factors such as the reduction in domestic subsidies. In 2002, apart from the housing segment most of the other segments saw a deflation in their prices. The biggest decline in the prices was in the transport and communications segment, which saw its price index decline by 1.8 percent.
The negative inflation trend has continued in the current year also with the consumer price index declining by 1.4 percent in the first six months of 2003.
Marginal Decline in Wholesale Price Index
The wholesale price index (WPI) of the Kingdom measures movement in the average price of 160 sample items of various commodities and services sold in the wholesale market. The general WPI registered a marginal decline of 0.1 percent every year from 116.3 in 2000 to 116.1 in 2002. In 2002, out of the 10 segments of WPI, five segments registered inflation in their prices while three segments saw a deflation in their prices.
Population and Labor Force
The Kingdom’s population has grown rapidly at a CAGR of 4.8 percent during 1998-2002 and the population as of mid 2002 stood at 23.36 million as per estimates by Euromonitor. About 40 percent of the population of the Kingdom is in the 0-14-year age group. The literacy rate as of the year 2000 stood at 76.2 percent. As per the official data for 1999, the total labor force of the Kingdom (excluding expatriate workers) stood at 2.82 million, of whom 2.6 million were employed.
The overall unemployment rate among Saudi nationals was 8.1 percent of the labor force, with the unemployment rate for Saudi males at 6.8 percent and for Saudi females at 15.8 percent. The total population of expats was 5.02 million in 1999, of whom 3.02 million were employed.
The Kingdom’s labor force is growing faster than the growth in available jobs and hence the unemployment rate is expected to increase over the next few years.
(To be continued)
Working Working!
Absenteeism, Late Arrival Rampant in Govt Offices
P.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News Staff —
JEDDAH, 23 December 2003 — Sixty-nine percent of civil servants in the Kingdom stay away from work without a good reason while 54 percent come to work late, according to a recent study by the Institute of Public Administration.
Among the study’s more striking revelations was that the heads of departments rarely check if their staff keep their working hours, Al-Madinah Arabic daily reported yesterday.
Of those who came to work late, 39.4 percent were 15 minutes late, 24.1 percent 30 minutes, 17.8 percent just under an hour and 18.7 percent for more than an hour, the study said.
Employees with master’s and doctoral degrees arrived at work as much as three hours late, said the study based on interviews with 2,365 civil servants.
The study, which covered 181 government departments in different regions, revealed 42 percent of those with secondary school certificates or below went to work late.
Forty-seven percent of participants said their superiors never checked them while 18.4 percent said supervisors made only one or two rounds a month.
Among the government employees, schoolteachers were the most committed to their working hours, the study said, adding that health officials were particularly prone to leaving early.
Officials in the Hail region topped the list of absentees, the study said, while those in the Riyadh region were most often late. Civil servants in the Northern Region were most likely not to turn up at all.
Respondents agreed that tough measures were needed to discipline negligent officials. They said the Supervision and Investigation Authority was not doing enough to prevent civil servants from neglecting their duties.
The study showed that 69.1 percent missed one day of work a month, 21.8 percent two days, and 9.1 percent three days or more.
Philippine Embassy Faces Flak Over Hunger Strikers
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan, Arab News Staff —
RIYADH, 23 December 2003 — Criticism of the Philippine Embassy here is mounting over its handling of 16 Filipino hunger strikers who were handed over to police Sunday night. The 16 say they have received death threats for speaking out against the Philippine chancery, while an organization looking after Filipinos abroad wants embassy officials recalled.
The workers, who were shackled and escorted to a hospital by police and later released, say the threats come from goons allegedly hired by embassy officials.
Speaking on behalf of the workers, Domingo D. Yalung said: “We are hiding in different places because of the threats.”
The embassy denies any wrongdoing.
“We are here to serve the Filipino workers, not to harass them or issue warnings or threats,” said Mariano A. Dumia, minister at the Philippine Embassy.
But the Saudi Arabian chapter of Migrante, an organization that looks after the interests of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), says embassy officials including Dumia are unfit for their job.
“The Philippine diplomatic post is no longer a sanctuary for Filipinos, and the officials of the Philippine Embassy should be recalled from their posts because of the shameless way the hunger strike of the stranded OFWs was effectively terminated,” said A. Mangampo-Ociones, the chairman of the chapter.
Migrante says embassy officials failed to set up an effective mechanism to defend the rights of OFWs.
Yalung said: “The embassy has been harassing us more than helping us. We have been placed in a dangerous situation. All the OFWs are in a state of trauma after last night’s incident.”
The workers yesterday repeated their demand for immediate repatriation. They ran away from their employers for reasons including maltreatment and non-payment of wages, they say. But Dumia earlier told Arab News the employers of some of the 16 charged them with crimes including theft.
Following Sunday night’s arrest on the embassy premises, the hunger strikers were taken to a hospital but no medical examination took place because the men were unable to pay for it, Mangampo-Ociones said.
The men signed a document at the police station agreeing their problem was between them and their employers and undertaking not to “disturb” the Philippine Embassy again, according to the Migrante statement.
Police promised to call the employers of the hunger strikers to check if they would allow them to be repatriated.
Migrante says their only option now is to go through the Immigration Center, which will involve arrest, several days of detention and deportation.
The embassy says it is unable to provide shelter for the hunger strikers until their case is decided. “We don’t have such a facility for our male workers,” Dumia said.
There are some 850,000 OFWs in Saudi Arabia. The embassy handles more than 30,000 requests a year for assistance from OFWs.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
Working working and not getting paid
The Plight of the Working Women
Jameela Al-Asiri • Al-Watan —
We continue to see reports of women being divorced because of disputes with their husbands over bank loans — and the money always ends up in the husband’s pocket. The sad part of the story is that the woman suffers twice at the hands of husband. After obtaining the bank loan in her name, the husband takes the money using various justifications, including starting a business to support the family. And should the wife object, she gets nothing but a piece of paper saying that she has been divorced.
Figures show that 80 percent of bank loans taken by women go directly to their husbands; in other words, a large group of working women in this country are victims of abusive husbands determined to exploit their wives financially for their own profit.
There are husbands who consider the money their wives earn to be their own. Some even demand that the woman turn her money over to them the same day she receives her check. Others believe that as protectors and maintainers of women, they have the right to take women’s money without their consent.
Some working women of course support themselves, their children and even other family members. This effectively negates the husband’s standing as sustainer and protector; in fact, in this situation, husbands have failed to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations to their families.
I wonder why many husbands fail to realize that a working woman has every right to keep the money she earns and why the husbands tend to overlook that the responsibility to sustain the family lies wholly with them.
Husbands who pressure their wives into getting a bank loan and force them to hand over the money they earn from work and then use this money for their own benefit are committing gross violations of these women’s rights.
Some husbands go even further and take a second wife using the money they have illegally taken from the first wife. We hear of cases of women who stand by their husbands and help them establish a business, sharing the good times and bad, and in the end all they get is a divorce. There are even husbands who refuse to work and live on their wives’ salaries.
I remember the outstanding example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who managed the wealth and business of his wife, Khadija, without taking anything at all from it.
Nice!
Passing a Graveyard
Edited by Adil Salahi —
Q. What is recommended to be said or recited when passing by a graveyard, particularly if it is a graveyard of non-Muslims?
Z. Khader
A. The Prophet, peace be upon him, recommended us to visit graveyards because such a visit reminds us of the hereafter. It certainly reminds us of our situation after death and how every human being ends up in a dark hole, leaving behind power, wealth, friends, offspring and family. This reminder is generated by any graveyard, whether used for the dead of the Muslim community or non-Muslims. When we visit a Muslim graveyard, we should greet its dwellers with the normal greeting of peace, saying: “Assalamu alaikum to the dwelling place of people who were believers. You went ahead and we will be following you.” We pray for the forgiveness of the dead and that God may bestow His grace and mercy on them. If the graveyard is used for non-Muslims, we should show true respect. Once a funeral passed by the Prophet when he was seated. He stood up in respect. He was told by someone that the dead person was a Jew. The Prophet said: “Is it not the funeral of a human being?” However, we are not allowed to pray for the forgiveness of unbelievers. The Prophet said that he sought God’s permission to pray for forgiveness of his own mother but God did not give him that permission. However, we know that God is merciful to all His creation and we believe that He will not be unjust to anyone either in this life or in the life to come. He says in the Qur’an: “Your Lord does not deal unjustly with anyone.” (18: 49) Therefore, we say and recite anything that reminds us of death and the hereafter, praying God for mercy to all.
Smoking smoking
They can't drive but they can smoke themselves to death - logical.
Growing Number of Women Take Up Smoking
M. Ghazanfar Ali Khan & Ben Dyal —
RIYADH, 17 December 2003 — An increasing number of Saudi women have begun to smoke. More than 15 billion cigarettes are sold annually in the Kingdom. Tests show that many women find it harder to give up smoking than men; women are also more likely to experience different kinds of cardiovascular complications, heart attacks, breast cancers and miscarriages because of smoking and obesity.
Dr. Muhammad Ali Habbab, head of the Department of Adult Cardiology at Prince Sultan Cardiac Center (PSCC), said: “We must educate people in this country about the dangers of smoking.”
He pointed out that PSCC had organized a campaign last year during which a number of lectures dealing with the harmful effects of smoking were given in Saudi schools all over the Kingdom. Despite the campaign and increased awareness of the dangers of smoking, the Kingdom still imports more than SR650 million worth of tobacco every year; some 60 brands of cigarettes are currently on sale in the country
