KT 3-4-2013_Layout 1 - Kuwait Times

kuwait digest
South Korea
and Kuwait
By Dr Wael Al-Hasawi
The South Korean ambassador gave us a piece of
‘advice’ recently when he warned during a public
event that Kuwait will end up exhausting all its savings
by 2017 unless it diversified its sources of income
instead of depending exclusively on oil exports as was
the case now.
The ambassador also explained that Kuwait was in a
better condition than his country in 1961 as a result of oil,
but since then, South Korea focused on free economy
and depended on small and medium businesses until
this sector became employer of nearly 88 percent of the
country’s labor force.
The ambassador’s remarks encouraged me to look up
statistics about what South Korea has achieved since
1961, and compare it to what we have accomplished during
the same period. I would like to share some of what I
found in order to give a better idea about how delusional
we continue to remain while enjoying our current wealth
and disregarding our future.
Unfortunately, we are suffering the repercussions of
consecutive parliaments setting an example in ignorance,
incompetency, greed and indifference, in addition
to a government that lacks resolve and appeases the MPs
or lives in their fear. In the meantime, South Korea
achieved the following:
• Became the 11th largest economy in the world, and
one of the fourth largest in Asia.
• Gross domestic product valued at $680 billion due to
global demand on its industrial products.
• Huge industrial productivity that is vibrant and
developing, and includes fields such as automotives,
steel, fabrics and food products.
• One of the world’s best industrial countries in the
main fields of automotives (Kia - Hyundai), electronics (LG
and Samsung), steel and others.
• Improvement in the value of main industrial products
which include: heavy industries, electronics, automotives,
ships (in which it ranks second after Japan), light
industries such as clothes, shoes, etc.
• With a market share of 92.3 percent, South Korea is
the world’s largest exporter of industrial products, ahead
of Japan, the United States and other major industrial
countries.
• Services improvement including: transportation by
54 percent, insurance and financial services by 29 percent,
and tourism by 17 percent.
• Scientific research is considered one of the main
focal points in the development of South Korea’s industry,
which is why the state allocates nearly 7.1 percent of
its GDP to it, the highest in the world. — Al-Rai
kuwait digest
Golden key to
expats’ case
By Iqbal Al-Ahmad
The good thing about criticism is that it brings attention
to a certain error, while the best reaction would
be one that is professional and based on clear and
deliberate application of mind. On the other hand, a bad
response would come in the form of a swift reaction that
leads to rushed answers in fear of further criticism.
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor probably has
one of the highest rates of corruption and bureaucratic
red tape among all the state departments. Minister
Thekra Al-Rashidi came to office late last year only to find
it burdened with problems so huge that I pray to God
that He helps her in handling these. But as long as she
finds no cooperation from the people around her, she
would be like a doctor writing out a prescription without
proper diagnosis.
It appears that pressure resulting from incessant
media criticism has led minister Al-Rashidi to make hasty
decisions without first studying the issue to make sure
that the proposed solutions are feasible. I do not know
how else I can describe the proposal of putting a maximum
cap on the time for which foreigners can stay in
Kuwait. The proposal is being studied as a possible solution
to the country’s expatriate population bloating to
create demographic imbalance.
I still remember very well when Kuwait had lost immediately
after the Iraqi Invasion a very experienced physician
in Dr. George Abouna, the world famous kidney
transplant surgeon. The experience he gained through
years of working in Kuwaiti hospitals contributed to him
reaching international status. Kuwait became a pioneer in
kidney transplant during his time in the country.
He left for another country after Kuwait missed the
chance to grant him citizenship, a decision which was
part of the state’s policy to ‘address the demographic
imbalance.’ The result was Kuwait losing out on the experience
of a man who achieved success equal to what has
been achieved by thousands of people who were naturalized.
The golden key to addressing the increase in the
number of expatriate labor forces is to tackle the menace
of visa traffickers. They are the people who will not be
affected by the proposed solution which will rather harm
the interests of all the employers in Kuwait.
Does it make sense that after a worker is trained on a
certain job and gains good experience, becoming excellent
at what he does, we simply ask him to leave? The
problem we have is not about quantity, but quality.
Therefore, any deportation policies should focus on keeping
skilled labor forces while getting rid of marginal labor
forces who work so hard to earn the money that is eventually
paid to the employers who blackmail them to
renew their visas.
The many years for which a foreigner stays in the
country is a testimony to their good demeanor and experience
in their field of work. This also applies to domestic
workers. When they spend years with the same employer,
this means they have been very devoted. Should they,
then, be rewarded with deportation?
I know the minister is under a lot of pressure, but an
error is never fixed by another more serious error. When
an issue is studied comprehensively and swift reactions
are avoided, the results would be clear and successful.
Take for example the Kuwaiti constitution - a great document
that came after thorough research. Not only does it
address current issues, but it also takes into account
future prospects.
Issuing decisions and changing them every other day
only leads to making the problem more complicated.
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for a decision that puts an
end to the visa traffickers’ trade. —Al-Qabas
The political crises in Kuwait can be analyzed
with the help of many examples, and there are
many lessons to be learnt from such an analysis.
The opposition’s demands included rejection of
the Amiri decree that reduced the number of votes
from four to one, setting up of a parliamentary and
elected government, dissolution of the current
National Assembly and new elections based on a system
of five constituencies and four votes per voter.
These demands did not receive popular support
because a majority of the Kuwaiti people do not
believe that the society is ready for a Parliamentary
government or formation of political parties in a society
divided along tribal and sectarian lines where
these loyalties still supersede national loyalty.
The opposing majority attempted to provoke the
street and carried out licensed and unlicensed mass
demonstrations. When these attempts failed, it
resorted to night demonstrations in residential areas
where demonstrations are not allowed. There were
attempts to instigate clashes with the security personnel,
but such wishes did not come true. They also
tried to set up the human rights organizations
against the government but failed.
Finally, columnist and lawyer Mohammad
Abdelqader Al-Jassim announced that the opposition
has failed.
Despite the disintegration and the collapse of the
opposing majority, its statements and threats
became shriller while its politics became increasingly
self-contradictory. This indicated that the opposition
has lost its path. Some people, writing on the internet
and in the media, called for reconciliation with
the government, but others did not want to admit
defeat and their mistakes.
Among the latter was former MP Musallam Al-
Barrak, who said, “We do not have what we can concede
to the government. (There cannot be any) dialogue
with the authority and political powers must
coordinate among themselves...Confronting the government
does not worry us.” The question remains as
to why is the opposition so fissiparous, and who is
the big winner from the political movement?
Of the many reasons that led to the fragmentation
and collapse of the opposition, the key reasons are
the inherent contradictions and differences.
The opposition includes political Islam groups
such as Muslim Brotherhood, Salaf Movement, and
LOCAL
KUWAIT: An aerial view shows Souq Sharq. — Photo by Fouad Al-Shaikh
kuwait digest
A lesson from our crises
The media has recently published several reports
about the government’s plans to resolve some
of the entrenched problems in Kuwait that have
snowballed into a crisis, including the intractable traffic
jams, massive overcrowding at public medical facilities,
and the demographic imbalance.
However, most of these proposals are not prudent
and it seems no proper studies were carried out
before pitching these ideas. In the most part, the proposals
discriminate against the expatriates, and thus
violate article 22 of the Kuwaiti Constitution.
That article says: “Relations between employers
and employees and between landlords and tenants
shall be regulated by law on economic principles, due
regard being given to the rules of social justice.”
Among these proposals is a decision approved by
the Ministry of Health to give Kuwaiti patients the
sole right to check into outpatient clinics during the
morning shift. Not only is such a proposal discriminatory,
unjust and inhuman, but it also violates the principles
of medicine which is based on diagnosing and
treating patients regardless of nationality, gender or
race. It is unconstitutional, violates the principles of
social justice, and does not take into account the fact
that the expatriate community outnumbers the
Kuwaiti national population. The new proposal follows
the same path of discriminatory practices that
the Ministry of Health already practices, including
having a list of certain medications that are only given
to Kuwaitis.
Another proposal attributed to the Interior
Ministry is about increasing the fees that expatriates
By Dr Shamlan Al-Essa
Umma Party. It also has tribal MPs and MPs from the
nationalist faction and the only thing that brings
them together is the animosity towards the government.
There is no clear intellect or ideology and all that
they agree upon are the popular demands through
which they try to garner public opinion of Kuwaitis.
The opposition does not have a common vision or a
working program through which it can try to win
public opinion, except the daily criticism of the government’s
performance.
What defeated all these tactics of the opposition is
the new government’s functioning style as it refused
to bow before the opposition’s demands to cancel
the court trials of some MPs who stormed the
National Assembly, burned Al-Juwaihel’s election
headquarters and stormed the premises of Al-Watan
channel. The government did not back off from putting
into the dock those youth and MPs who insulted
the office of the Amir. Trials are on, and everyone
must respect and abide by the law.
The government proved that it is stronger than all
the MPs raising their demands in the media and
counseling it to turn the page and forgive what happened
in the past. The government proved that it is
stronger than the rabble rousers in the street and the
screaming politicians.
What is the lesson of from all these crises? The
most important lesson is that the opposition is weaker
than many think. The only organization that can
exhort the street to rise is the Muslim Brotherhood
but it is more interested in aligning itself with the
government for financial and moral interests. So, it
cannot take a stand against the government since it
is actually hand in glove with it.
The government must realize that the public opinion
in Kuwait wants a strong government that implements
the law, does not play with the constitution,
and does not allow anyone to violate the law even if
such a person was to be a member of parliament.
People want a strong government that works to
strengthen democracy and freedoms, fights corruption
and does not hesitate to take action. Kuwait
today needs its people to focus their energies on
work and production as there is no room for screamers
and naysayers like many in the opposition.
Development requires that the much needed
reforms are expedited.—Al-Watan
kuwait digest
Discriminatory proposals
By Waleed Al-Rujaib
have to pay for obtaining or renewing a driver’s
license and car registrations. The ministry considers
this discriminatory proposal a ‘solution’ to the problem
of traffic jams.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor
is reportedly studying a proposal to set a maximum
cap for the number of years an expatriate worker can
stay for in Kuwait. That cap could be set somewhere
between five to ten years. The proposal has been
strongly rejected by those in the commercial, educational
and health fields where people believe it will
‘empty’ the country of all skilled labor force.
In a recent seminar about dilution of freedoms in
Kuwait, Dr. Fawaz Faran diagnosed Kuwait’s problems
in general in these words: “Kuwait addresses the
symptoms but ignores the disease itself.”
I think this is a very accurate diagnosis if we take
into account the aforementioned proposals that fail
to address the root causes of any problem.
It is mismanagement and a culture of corruption
seeping through our state departments that is
responsible for these problems. Lack of hospital construction
projects and shortage in bed capacity is
what actually needs to be addressed in the health
sector. Meanwhile, traffic jams require radical solutions
that address the absence of any reliable and
improved public transportation system, poor road
infrastructure as well as corruption in obtaining driving
licenses without fulfilling the norms. The demographic
imbalance was also chiefly caused by rapid
increase in marginal labor forces as a result of leniency
in prosecuting visa traffickers.—Al-Rai
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
kuwait digest
The real faces
behind masks
By Thaar Al-Rashidi
It seems that it is time for some people to end the
sham political masked ball dance going on for
some time as their masks have been coming
apart, largely because these are no more needed.
First they sported the mask slogan of “raising the
ceiling of demands.” Then came the “aggressive
opposition” mask, followed by the “sharp political
speech” mask and the “freedom” mask. One after
the other, the masks fell. All those masks were nothing
except tools which were used in one or the other
scene enacted on the political theater’s stage.
The play is now almost over. Everyone knows the
real faces behind the masks.
Some observers were shocked by the shifted
positions. Personally, I was not surprised by many
opposition figures shifting stances. As I mentioned
in my articles in the past, some among the opposition
were allied directly or indirectly with those on
the other side.
The change of positions lately is nothing but the
practice of changing partners during a political conflict.
In plain Arabic language, the internal opposition
today is partly a reflection of the conflict
among the big wings. The story, which is clear to
some, is only a tale of one follower, and one who is
being followed. No longer can the opposition hide
its internal conflict and that is why it has spelled it
out. This is the reality today - the opposition is kicking
the opposition, while the authority is merely
looking on, amused. Whether those in authority are
involved or not, they do have a free ring side seat
and are watching what is going on.
What does the intra-opposition conflict tell us?
Why are they kicking each other? There is no doubt
that the opposition was, to some extent, being held
hostage to open and secret coalitions with the big
four influential figures calling the shots for many
years now. It was now natural that the conflict
among the big four expands and affects some of
their allies.
The natural and logical question is when was the
opposition penetrated? The answer is very simple,
as simple as the one that the old man shepherding
a herd of camels spouted for the benefit of a beautiful
educated TV program host. When she asked for
how long have you been growing camels, the old
man hesitated a little, and then said,
“Since...since...long ago.” Yes, your opposition was
penetrated “since ...long ago.” — Al-Anbaa
kuwait digest
Worst cabinet in
Kuwait history
By Abdullatif Al-Duaij
It is a shame to see the opposition group debating
the issue of having an elected cabinet,
something supposed to be a resolved matter for
democrats in the first place. It is a democratic issue
that needs no argument to begin with.
Furthermore, our constitution confirms that
appointing ministers as parliament members is an
idea that was coined by the Kuwaiti legislators, and
is something no other democratic system practices.
It is a shame that after 50 years of practicing
democracy, there is still skepticism about the idea
of an ‘elected’ cabinet.
I am using the term ‘elected’ loosely because
there is no such a thing as an elected cabinet.
There is a parliamentary cabinet formed by the
majority in parliament. Kuwait had one parliamentary
cabinet, which - perhaps coincidently - is
regarded as the worst cabinet in the history of
Kuwait. It was the fourth cabinet that was founded
on January 3, 1965 and headed by the late Sheikh
Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah. It was formed, or more
precisely was forced by the parliament’s majority
following the resignation of a ‘national’ cabinet
that the government had appointed only a few
days before.
Not only was this cabinet the worst in Kuwait’s
history, but it also laid the foundations for the tradition
of turning ministers into ‘senior employees’,
as the majority of ministers at that time were not
members of the ruling family. They were not merchants
similar to those who were appointed by the
government and were eventually overthrown. It
was a one hundred percent ‘elected’ cabinet, as it
was chosen by a majority of MPs in the 1963 parliament
that was legitimately elected by the people,
the source of all power.
Democratic system cannot be improved by
making empty promises, nor does it happen by
skipping significant historic steps - just as what the
opposition is doing today. The majority in the
annulled 2012 parliament is strikingly similar to
the majority in the 1963 parliament. The only difference
is in their position towards the government.
The 2012 majority’s position could shift completely
if the government was to get rid of their
civil and reformist attitude which started with the
beginning of the reign of HH the Amir Sheikh
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.
Aside from all the calls about opposition and
democracy, the majority in the scrapped 2012 parliament
is just like the one which opposed the
nationalist cabinet nearly 50 years ago. They share
the same goals and position against the concept of
civil state as well as real development and reform.
It is sad that the opposition has distorted the democratic
struggle, and made obvious things like
moving towards a full parliamentary system a
debatable issue or even a taboo subject.
Kuwait’s destiny is to move towards a full parliamentary
system. It is the natural course of things
for any democratic society, and all the Kuwaitis,
people and rulers, accepted this 50 years ago.
Therefore, it is a disgrace to allow the issue of parliamentary
cabinet to become a rejected or questionable
issue these days. — Al-Qabas