‘Govt slow in tackling abuse’

‘Cannot lose quality manpower’

“FIRST OF ALL, we must recognize that it is the right of the president of the Philippines to demand the return of Filipino workers to his country and he also reserves the right to prevent sending Filipino workers to Kuwait,” columnist wrote for daily.

“The Philippines president would not have taken such a decision if there was no political and popular pressure on him, because of the suicides and the Filipino women being subjected to violence in Kuwait.

“Although these cases are not many and can be counted on our fingertips, a majority of the Filipinos who account for 185,545 people are satisfied and happily working in the country.

“However, I strongly believe that just because of the safety which most Filipino individuals enjoy in Kuwait, it doesn’t mean I would like here to justify the suicide attempts and violence which a very few of them have been exposed to, because the life of a human being is very important, irrespective of the infringements or the default that might be committed by the relevant person.

“The problem in this matter lies, first and foremost, in the government’s mishandling of the problems and issues facing the members of this community, especially from the legal point of view.

“In other words, anyone who lives on the land of the State of Kuwait has the right to protect his/her human rights irrespective of the person’s identity.

“However, thank God Kuwait is a country where human rights are protected but when suicides occur, for example, the government is supposed to adopt these cases through the use of Forensics, psychiatry and intensive investigations to determine the cause of the suicide, and to involve the embassy of the country of the individual to probe the reasons behind the suicide or otherwise.

“Personally, I believe that the threat made by the Philippine president could have been remedied quickly if the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry had dealt with the issue in a transparent and objective manner, with a firm guarantee to protect this community which has been working in Kuwait for decades.

“In this context, we say it is needless to say the Filipino workforce is skilled, clean, intelligent and hard working, and its professional ethics are very high compared to some of the other communities in Kuwait.

“Given the above, Kuwait will not be in a position to lose the services of quality manpower be in our homes, hospitals, restaurants, markets and factories.

“Hence, having said that it will not be easy to substitute this manpower with another, but this is some kind of crazy belief because we fully know the quality of the alternative manpower that is available if we lose the Filipino manpower.”

Al-Zuabi

“In spite of the naked frankness and the oral violence in which the Filipino president has dealt not only with the so-called maltreatment of Filipino manpower in the State of Kuwait, he is also dealing in the same manner with his political opponents, the corrupt and the lawless in his country,” columnist

wrote for daily. “Since coming to power in the Philippines, the president has dumped the diplomatic language in the dustbin, and has even preferred to address the presidents of big powers through the language of his choice (slang).

“In other words, this man will not hesitate to use vulgar words against the mothers and wives of the presidents of the nations. In this context, I think both the current US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama got a big meal of insults from Rodrigo Duterte. In spite of the above this man (Duterte) enjoys overwhelming popularity in his country.

“In this context, since he continues his fierce and unfair campaign against the State of Kuwait and urging the Filipinos working in Kuwait to return home immediately, it is needless to say this is also part and parcel of his revolutionary personality which is brewing inside him.

“But the question here is: Is it right or is this just an exhibition of his behavior the moves and the messages sent in the air over Kuwait, perhaps to the countries of the region where there is a large number of Filipino workers?

“I think, the above is possible, but the most possible thing in this connection, is the mistake of the government of Kuwait in dealing with the issue since its eruption which can be termed as worse because the concerned authority did not move as if the issue was just a joke from a man who is seeking more popularity in his country and this is something categorically denied in reality.

“Such being the case, irrespective of anything, it was better for the government of Kuwait in order to protect its reputation to gag the mouths of those who attack the State of Kuwait, because leniency and recklessness of our diplomacy and slow in understanding the dimensions of the crisis, have actually augmented the volume of crisis as if there nothing is worth moving from the warm bed.

“In this connection, we wonder what role the ambassadors play if they don’t move in times of crises. Do we mean representing the State of Kuwait is just a matter of prestige?

“In this context, we suggest the Kuwaiti ambassador to the Philippines was supposed to act quickly following the eruption of the crisis and meet the concerned Filipino officials and inform them that it is not right to generalize individual cases, particularly due to different culture and environment.

“Apart from the above, the Kuwaiti security and labor departments should have dealt firmly with the sponsors, the employers who abuse their employees be they housemaids or domestic servants or any other type of workers and prevent them from bringing manpower into the country under their sponsorship from abroad, because the leniency shown by the government has actually resulted in undermining the reputation of the State of Kuwait.

“Such being the case, and in spite of the cruel manner followed by the Filipino president, we guess the Kuwaiti government, should be held responsible for its mistake which can be attributed to misconception and leniency and recklessness in dealing with the relevant crisis.

“Hence, you have to apologize to the government of the Philippines and explain the fact as soon as possible, because the issue is not related only to the boycott of the Filipino manpower, but the important thing here is the reputation of the State of Kuwait if you are concerned of the reputation of the State of Kuwait.”

“The Syrian revolution is in a few weeks into its seventh year since its launch in 2011. The international community has registered a new failure represented by the so-called Sochi Conference in Russia amid severe differences in the frameworks of negotiations between the Syrian regime and its supporters on one hand and the Syrian opposition on the other,”

wrote for daily. “These differences were quite obvious from the announcement of the Syrian opposition regarding its non-participation in the conference, the unwillingness of many Arab countries to attend or participate in the conference as reported by Reuters, and the announcement of the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard.

“In fact, the Syrian opposition’s announcement refers to its refusal to participate in any of the Sochi conferences that are aimed to discuss political solutions for the Syrian crisis that are away from the United Nations’ platform and earlier efforts through the Geneva conferences.

“As a matter of fact, the rejection of Syrian opposition from participating in discussions in the Sochi Conference has caused the conference to be a huge failure.”

“As the immediate neighbor of Iraq, we hope the country understands the volume of human, political and economic losses incurred by Iraqis through several decades, especially in the era of Saddam Hussein when bloodletting became the order of the day,”

wrote for daily. “Iraq would have become the fountain of civilization and blessing if arrays of political and ideological factions and groups ensured the preservation of national unity to bring security, safety and stability for centuries. The Conference on Reconstruction of Iraq, which Kuwait decided to host, is a commendable initiative toward the people of a sisterly country with whom we share problems and challenges since the liberation of Iraq from the grip of the despotic regime of Baghdad.

“Rescuing Iraq out of sectarian and sectional clashes to attain unity will no doubt reflect positively on Kuwait and her citizens at various levels, especially security. However, in my humble capacity as a former coordinator before arrest and hanging of Saddam alongside several leading opposition figures in Iraq, I am constrained to disagree with policies Kuwaiti government is adopting toward Iraq. Supporting Iraq again financially cannot make various Iraqi factions get over participation in conspiracies from within and outside the country.”

“Unfortunately the conflict among Arab countries has weakened their power and influence. The Arab League is not capable of making any decisions, and its staff, general secretary and organization has no weight in the international political arena,”

wrote for daily. “Unfortunately, Arabs have abandoned the Syrian revolution after supporting it for the first three years until the Syrians came face to face with the Russian bear, Malali of Iran and sectarian militants backed by Iran.

“When the regime was on the verge of failing and being overthrown, the support of Arabs for the revolutionaries “rebels” ended. Subsequently, many villages and towns on the outskirts of Damascus were lost. Apart from the above, residents of 70 percent of the lands evacuated after the arrival of militants and army of regime.

“The crisis has so far resulted in more than one million martyrs and seven million refugees besides millions of wounded citizens. The only choice Syrian people have is to become a martyr or a refugee, while personalities who talk in the name of the opposition have no clear plan for rescuing the Syrian people from this disaster.

“The solution is in resorting to the Syrian Constitution that was issued in 1950 which maintained the unity of Syrian land and its people as well as preserved the rights of the minorities.”

“I remember an anecdote by renowned Kuwaiti astronomer Dr Saleh Al-Ojairi concerning the post oil boom era. The tale is about two Kuwaiti men who met on a beach,” wrote for

daily. “One of the men said to the other, “May Allah the Almighty forgive our forefathers for their failure to leave behind alternatives to oil and depleting all the resources.” The other man asked: “What is the solution now?” He responded, saying: “The solution is for us to dry up the sea water to extract salt for sale.”

“I understand my previous article titled “Everything finishes within 22 years” attracted reactions from readers and caused frustration to many people. Somebody said the article was pessimistic and many people even asked where all our investments and sovereign funds go?”

“Freedom of press is the guarantee offered by the society as individuals and communities for freedom of expression. It should also be guaranteed by the system that governs all acts and social talks. This is because it is guaranteed by the constitution and the law for all citizens including journalists,”

wrote for daily. “Freedom of expression and opinion should be part of culture for the entire society in various social, economic, political and functional levels. Institutions responsible for collecting and broadcasting news and reports should also have freedom of expression.

“We lack the culture of accepting varied opinions in our society. Domination of one opinion and rejection of any other opinions is an issue that is prevalent in our society.

“Deliberations, consultations and guaranteeing the right of opinion and expression to all parties contribute to strengthening the economic, political, scientific, and cultural fields.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb