‘Peace culture for human beings’

‘Kuwait, India in similar march’

“THE ENTIRE world in general and India in particular celebrate today the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation and founder of modern India who was victimized by extremism. Even at the last moment of his life, he defended the rights of the Muslim minority in India,” columnist, professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department and Assistant Undersecretary for Legal Affairs at the Ministry of Information wrote for daily. “In honor of that timeless personality, the United Nations declared this day as the International Day of Non-Violence because he used non-violence as the weapon to fight his wars and end the British occupation of India through peaceful means. Gandhi was thus able to establish the state of law and democracy, which is a major feature of political life in India, which also constituted the start of the war of India as a rising force on the international and regional theater.

“It was a great honor for me to receive the invitation from His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of India to Kuwait, K. Jeeva Sagar, to deliver a speech in the presence of the Indian community in Kuwait in the State of Kuwait on this important occasion that had been organized by the Indian Community School in cooperation with the Indian embassy in the State of Kuwait.

“In this context, we would like to point out that Kuwait and India share a lot of history, association, trade, art, customs and oriental traditions, and Kuwait today is completing its journey since its inception in adopting the principle of social, human and global peace.

“These are the universal principles established by Gandhi. The sponsor of peace, including Kuwait, led by His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah AlAhmad, Kuwait has followed the five principles of peace that Gandhi has championed as a way to overcome evil and rebellious forces.

“The first principle emphasizes that ‘power based on love is much stronger than the power of fear and punishment’. This is the soft power that Kuwait has chosen through the interest of human development, education, scientific and cultural cooperation, and humanitarian aid.

“The second and third principle revolves around ‘the priority of man and maximizing the value of man over different ideologies’. ‘There are many goals that I am prepared to die for, but there is no single reason that pushes us to kill,’ Gandhi said.

“This is the fact that made Kuwait hold itself above the policy of axes and ideological enthusiasm in which many Arab countries are drowned, but it is the State of Kuwait that has become biased in favor of peoples instead of governments and empty ideologies.

“The fourth principle of peace affirms that ‘confronting abuse will only leave a blind world’. However, this principle was obvious through the policy of the State of Kuwait in dealing with all of the States which offended it even during its most difficult times.

“In this context, this principle was reflected in Kuwait’s policy with all countries that abused it even under testing times during the Iraqi invasion of the country and although the Palestinian leadership had during that time declared its support for the defunct Iraqi regime Kuwait did not stop its assistance to the Palestinians. Kuwait also did not want to punish the people of bad political regimes.

“The fifth principle is the main engine of creativity and innovation. In this respect, Gandhi said ‘Let us be the change you seek in others’.

“Yes, we often criticize the actions of others, but we ignore our ability to take the first steps of change for the better. The State of Kuwait was always hoping and dreaming to achieve a renaissance in the South World and eventually keep in line with that of the North.

“However, to achieve the above, it is the State of Kuwait, which hosted the First Arab Economic Summit of the Arab League although the latter had suffered too much of the political wrangling.

“Kuwait also hosted the Arab-African Summit and contributed to the construction of the African Unity Organization (OAU) headquarters in Addis Ababa.

“Apart from the above, all efforts exerted by Kuwait at international level were actually crowned by calling for the holding of the first Asian summit in the framework of the so-called ‘Dialogue of the Asian Cooperation’ on which Kuwait at the moment has a seat.

“However, these principles, pushed both the State of Kuwait and the Republic of India to march together on the road of global peace. Gandhi proved that he is not only the founder of the Indian nation but also the founder of a culture of peace for human society that underlines the call for peace and non-violence.”

Dr Al-Mekaimi

“The death of the Kuwaiti novelist Ismail Fahad Ismail a few days ago coincided with the international protest against the method of banning some books in the State of Kuwait as if his death represented another voice in support of this protest,” columnist and former minister of state for National Assembly Affairs wrote for

daily. “Those who are concerned about the thought and the literature, are surprised to see the ‘massacre’ (ban slapped on) of 4,390 books in the State of Kuwait – the country of culture and the constitutional freedoms during the past five years and this was the purport of a parliamentary query that was propounded by MP Khaled Al-Shatti.

“However, this ban would have not persisted were it not for the ‘book phobia’ that had befallen the government since 1998 when it tendered it resignation when one of the then MPs, submitted a no-confidence motion against the then minister of information the late Sheikh Saud Nasser Al-Sabah on the basis of a parliamentary interpellation that was filed against the minister over the leaking of some banned books to International Fair for Arab Book that was held in the State of Kuwait.

“It is needless to say banning of the books which contain infidelity or any other pornographic material, is a must, but unfortunately some books were banned just because they did not meet the satisfaction of the Censorship Department although these books had come from authenticated and documented sources which mostly represent a source for research in the field of history and literature. Moreover, these books were documented by recognized Islamic sources.

“However, one Islamic MP told me in the wake of the agitation of an unjustified uproar against one of the religious books in October 2006 just because the relevant book contained a Hadith for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that did not meet his satisfaction where he exactly said ‘Yes the Hadith exists with us, but we don’t like to mention it’.

“Anyway, the handling of this problem cannot be realized by forming a grievances committee in order to review the banned books, because the problem doesn’t rest in changing the face, rather in changing the outdated method and criteria which have already trespassed by the exchange of information through the revolution in the social media.”

“After James P. Allison (USA) and Tasuku Honjo (Japan) won the Nobel Prize for Medicine this year, the questions we raise every year remain the same: Where are the Arab scientists in this award? What is wrong with us? What makes this award limited only to scientists from the West, their writers and thinkers, and rarely the Arabs?,” columnist

wrote for daily. “If you want to search for the Nobel Prize in Medicine or any other field of Science, you must first look at scientific research. In Arab countries, we do not have scientific research in the conventional international sense. Therefore, a prize like Nobel is far from our calculations.

“If we really want to get this valuable prize one day, we must first strive to bring about a scientific research revolution, so a large portion of financial resources should be allocated for scientific research. This will help researchers and prepare them for a climate that is conducive to creativity and globalization in order to get such awards.

“The path towards useful scientific research is known to everyone in light of our open youth energies capable of making a difference in scientific and research fields if conditions are suitable. This is in addition to creating the climate of scientific research and researchers.”

“The Civil Service Commission (CSC) says it has only 82 expatriates compared to 888 Kuwaiti employees, adding that Kuwaitization of the positions in CSC is ongoing and expected to be completed within four years,” wrote for daily.

“The figures look good and promising but the fact is the opposite. CSC is under the control of these 82 expatriate employees who control the employments in the ministries. They ask for help from expatriate consultants who receive huge sums and unjustified allowances, and they respond to parliamentary inquiries.

“Apart from the above, they also control the heart of CSC ‘eighth floor’ to the extent that they refuse to respond to inquiries from the State Audit Bureau concerning salaries that expatriates working in governmental entities receive under the pretext of data privacy.”

“The basis of the recent attack on a military parade in Ahwaz, Iran remains ambiguous, while contradictory statements of the Iranian regime raise several question marks,” columnist wrote for daily.

“Iran blamed the attack on Israel and the United States, and then two Gulf countries. Apparently, the Iranian regime is going to invest the attack in its own favor. The campaign targeting a large number of opposition members could continue over an indeterminate period.

“According to Ahwaz activists, crimes of the regime are not limited to racism, indicating thousands of citizens have since been killed and many disappearing in mysterious ways or hanged on cranes in streets based on false accusations of smuggling drugs or spying.

“Iranian regime denies any link with DAESH, which it claims perpetrated the attack. We actually believe Iran on this point knowing well DAESH never targeted Iran on its territory or outside ever since the terrorist group was created and armed. Iran’s denial of DAESH involvement only aims at the country’s opposition, particularly in Ahwaz.

“Ironically, Iran welcomed the assassination of late Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat and named one of the main streets in Tehran after the mastermind of the attack Khalid Al-Islambolli. Iranian mercenaries in Lebanon did the same when they named one of the streets in southern Beirut after Mustafa Bader Al-Dein, the main convict in the assassination of late Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.

“Iranian regime in involved in shedding Kuwaiti blood and it’s hundred percent sure that neither Israel nor America is willing to depose them. They would have done it from the beginning if they were so willing. We know the Iranian accusations against America and Israel are part of the play that continues to deceive them.”

“Dear Citizen, haven’t you noticed that the distinguished National Assembly whose members we elected receives dozens of reports on crimes related to public funds from the Secretariat General of the Assembly. This was made possible through tremendous efforts in monitoring and gathering documented pieces of evidence, but all attempts to hold accountable the government and its ministers went into the air,” columnist wrote for daily.

“Dear Citizen, haven’t you noticed in the last few years the large number of stories about huge financial misappropriations, organized money-related crimes or forged higher certificates? Haven’t you noticed the intense media coverage on such issues, both in the press and through social media?

“Haven’t you noticed the publication of a lot of documents attached to the comments and tweets of major e-publishing enthusiasts known for their big number of followers? Haven’t you noticed the suspicious government silence over everything that is happening around us, even though the crime scene is in the institutions of the State and ministries, and the perpetrators are mid-level and senior officials in these institutions?

“Dear Citizen, it is ridiculous to see that our mighty government succeeded in a blink of an eye to arrest an expatriate disguised in ‘niqab’ for stealing a handful of dinars from a local bank, while it has been unable to uncover millions of dinars stolen openly and in broad daylight?”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb