First step in cultural reform

‘Harassment won’t die soon’

“THE cultural and social changes do not occur automatically, nor do they occur spontaneously by the power of the law,” columnist and former director of the Culture Department at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“As a matter of fact, culture is dialectically linked to socioeconomic reality. Even if a person has a higher education that does not necessarily mean that his or her culture changes automatically because the relationship between academic learning and cultural awareness is minimal.

“With regard to the women’s rights, obtaining these rights by the power of the law will face many cultural obstacles including convictions, habits and conventions which cannot be changed easily.

“In this context, we cite the 70-year-old Soviet experiment. In this connection we elucidate the Russian revolution (the Communist Revolution) which actually gave the women all their rights as stipulated in the Constitution and the laws of the state.

“But the relationship between men and women has hardly changed, as women have been subjected to domestic violence and inferiority, especially in rural and tribal cultures.

“The change in infrastructure, the socio-economic situation, does not mean the immediate change of the superstructure, namely, human rights, political, cultural, etc because the change of mindsets and convictions may take more than a century, despite the existence of laws.

“Kuwaiti women who have obtained important rights, such as political rights and access to leadership and parliamentary positions, they are still under-privileged in state law, such as the right to naturalization of children born to Kuwaiti women from non-Kuwaiti men or their social environment, where the Kuwaiti woman still faces family violence and suffers from inferiority complex where men still control their destiny.

“What happened in the recent tremendous change of Saudi women, which gave them the political will and the law allowed them to drive the car, does not mean the abolition of centuries old culture which prevails in the society, and will not prevent men of backward culture from showing their disdain to women.

“In this context, we refer to the threat of harassment of women drivers continues to threaten their safety in Kuwait and some Gulf countries and this was evident through what the newspapers publish in connection with the behavior of some disgruntled young men and their harassment of women, which sometimes leads to horrific accidents that kill female drivers.

“But the step of allowing Saudi women to drive is a first step in a thousand miles towards cultural change, and it is normal since drivers are respected on the road.

“Meanwhile, even the culture of driving and the concept of considering the latter as tact and art, has retreated due to the culture which currently prevails in the State of Kuwait.”

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Al-Rujaib

“I always used to repeat the phrase ‘evolution of the community is measured according to the status of women on every occasion,” columnist and Professor Dr Seham Al-Furaih wrote for Annahar daily.

“But I add to the above by saying that women should maintain her ‘giving’ in their society, irrespective whether this society is developed or not, but it is natural that women’s contribution will increase as a result of the community’s evolution and progress and significance in this regard is to grant women their rights in full and the first of these rights is the right to education to the highest level.

“This should be followed by the women’s right to work. In this context, we say as we know the Kuwaiti women were granted the right to education during the early phase of the history of the State of Kuwait.

“In this context, we say the girls were sent to study outside Kuwait in Arab and foreign countries, and naturally they have full rights to work after reaching higher levels of education and practical experience, as such the Kuwaiti women were given the same salary and rewards as men on equal footing.

“But the Kuwaiti woman has yet to get more in terms of leading posts. In this context we elucidate that the proportion of women in leading positions is still low compared to that of the men. This still happens even after granting the women their political rights where the percentage of women in terms of holding leading posts has remained unchanged.

“Take for example — there are only two women in the current government. This happens although the Kuwaiti women have reached the highest levels scientifically and experience wise.

“If we look at some laws like the personal status law, I find it very good, thanks to the amendments and additions from time to time, but the problem lies in the application of the laws and the same is applicable to the labor laws since there is absolutely no article in this law that can be deemed as something against women, but the shortcomings always rests in the process of application.

“Speaking of the housing issue, the concerned authorities are currently working to grant the divorcees, widows, spinsters and those who are married to nonKuwaiti men, the necessary housing welfare. But we hope the efforts will continue away from ‘wasta’ (favoritism) which means giving some these benefits and depriving others.

“However, here I would like to add something, which did not occur to women, but it was not thought of by men also, since efforts are currently directed to give spinsters housing care, the bachelors must also be treated equally if they reach a specific age without getting married and has no children. This condition should be included in the housing care for men.

“Apart from the above, and as long as we are calling for granting the spinsters a house in order to enable them to live independently away from her family, we would like to point out here that a bachelor is also in a dire need to live an independent life from the house of the family in case he reaches a specific phase of age.”

“It seems that the country is swimming in the sea of elections and its abhorrent interests, and it is evident through the interference of the MPs in everything that surfaces, as if they are responsible for all the details of people’s lives,” columnist Muzaffar Abdullah wrote for Al-Jaridah daily.

“They interfere in the recruitment of people in higher positions and now we hear they are interfering in the issues of education such by raising their voices against taking proficiency tests by those students who wish to continue higher studies in foreign countries by preventing the Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education from exercising his powers.

“The nation’s deputies — for the most part — are looking for both easy and quality fishing. They do not have the capacity to develop education through their legislative and supervisory powers, but rather intervene in purely administrative matters of higher education.

“We thank God because the Court of Cassation has ruled in favor of the Minister of Education to continue with the proficiency tests, but what is required immediately is for the Ministry of Higher Education to explain the details of what has happened in the file of scholarships abroad, and I am sure this will turn the tables on the MPs who are against the decision of the minister.

“Mohammad Al-Ma’atouq, Director of Scholarship in Higher Education has confirmed during a press conference the details of which were published by the Al-Qabas daily on Jan 27, 2016 which said 25 percent of the students stumble in their studies because of the English language and social reasons.

“Of course, the distinguished MPs did not pay from their pockets the education expenses between 2012 and 2017 which was a staggering 60 million dinars while at the same time calling for the protection of public money.

“A day may come when the same MPs will request to drop the debts owed to higher education by these students, as was done in case of those who owed loans to the government.

“I hope the Undersecretary of Higher Education Dr Sabih Al-Mukhaizeem fulfills his promise by publishing the figures that compel this absurdity.

“The problem that escapes the MPs is they overlook the disaster of education, which contributed to the deterioration through their interventions, which reached the curriculum. How can we remain silent about the crime committed over 12 years by the students who are taught English by the State of Kuwait, while most of them are not proficient, also in Arabic! Is not this subject worthy of government intervention?

“We do not need to be ‘active’ whenever a global organization announces classification of countries in education, informatics, or transparency but when the problem of Filipino employment occurred, a special agreement for this nationality was prepared as if there is no general law for domestic labor, unaware of the future danger of this approach which will motivate other communities to follow the same path of pressure and threat.”

“Jerusalem is the cradle of the Messenger of Allah, capital of the Arabs and qibla (the direction that should be faced when a Muslim prays during Salat) of Muslims after the Holy Ka’aba but the US conspired with the Zionist entity and moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to give the occupiers international legitimacy,” columnist Abdulaziz Al-Tamimi wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“Jerusalem will be forgotten and the occupation will continue as long as there are those who want to benefit in the name of the issue of Jerusalem. They will continue to milk the cow a million times for their benefit of their selfish individual interests as they have done before in the name of liberating Palestine.

“The surprising thing is from time to time people claim to defend the rights of the Palestinian people but in fact they defend their personal interests and do nothing effective on the ground such as boycotting products, industries, travel and relations with those countries that seek to obliterate the identity of Arab Islamic Jerusalem.”

“Al-Qabas daily recently reported that residency violations increase every year by 2,700, and that the number jumped from 20,847 to 31,642 during the period between 2014 and 2017 due to lack of efforts for eliminating the phenomenon,” Iqbal Ahmad wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“Why do residency violations increase year after year despite all the measures that have been taken and the turmoil imposed on expatriates? We should not forget the harassment our expatriate brothers experience due to the measures taken, taking into consideration that some of them are in the good category and that Kuwait is proud of them due to their work and contribution. Some in this category chose to leave Kuwait before they become victims when chaos emerged.

“Does this mean that the fault does not lie with the expatriates but with those who brought them to the country illegally, starting with the residency traders and people with personal interests including those who help them in official authorities for passing their violating residency transactions in exchange for money or services?

“The flaws should be rectified once and for all inside Ministry of Interior first. Those who attempt to pass the violating transactions within the ministry must be pursued. Strict laws should be enforced so that whenever a common citizen or visa trader tries to pass a violating transaction, they will not be able to so as long as they find no green light in the systems of Ministry of Interior.”

“The World Cup has gone ... Hard Luck Oh Arabs! Situation with the Arab sports file does not differ much from the deteriorating Arab political, economical and developmental situations. However, the only difference is that the results of the sports failures are immediate and very clear for all to see. There is no way to hide them,” Abdulmohsen Jumaa wrote for Aljarida daily.

“Despite the occasional Arab sports victories due to timely individual efforts, the general picture of the Arab sports does absolutely not match up with the populace of Arabs and the diversity of geography and economic capabilities this nation. We cannot help but wonder how this nation fails against other nations given the vast resources in all fields.

“The Arabs, or specifically the Arab political regimes, consider sports as a fertile ground for distracting, away from politics, daily affairs and human rights, as well as to promote themselves. Sometimes the Arab masses imagine that they can achieve a global sporting achievement without achieving real political, economic and social renaissance. That is an illusion that cannot be achieved. There is no undemocratic, economically and socially underdeveloped country in the record of the World Cup winners, even China with billions of people, which did not win an Olympic competition.

“What is funny or even tragic is that some Arab sports commentators, after repeated setbacks in the World Cup, and despite the participation of Arabs in the World Cup since 1934, 84 years ago, repeat the anesthesia of the masses such as: “Our participation was honorable and we raised the flag of our country, we have gained experience for the future.” What future are they talking about after 80 years of qualifying for the World Cup and returning with nostalgia?!”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb