‘Kuwaitis, expats enjoy equal rights’

‘Hope nations receive their citizens’

“THE State of Kuwait is the country of humanity and charity,” columnist Mishref Eqab wrote for Al-Shahed daily.

“In other words, Kuwait has been educated on love for humanity and charity work in addition to supporting the rights of all people who live on this kind land, be they citizens or expatriates. Moreover, Kuwait plays its humanitarian role in the world.

“Kuwait, under the current dangerous global health crisis donated a big sum of money towards efforts exerted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to enable it find a solution for the corona crisis.

“In order to help all nations of the world, Kuwait has tested all foreign manpower in the country. Not just that, it has exempted the departing foreign manpower (violators of the laws) to leave the country without paying fines and has paid for their fare.

“However, Kuwait is organizing the departure of foreign manpower to ease the burden faced by the health sector following the spread of the novel corona virus, and simultaneously we saw how some countries rejected to receive their citizens until the corona crisis ends.

“In this context, we say some states have advised Kuwait of their determination not to receive a great number of their citizens under the current time as long as the corona virus transmission has caused panic in the world and the rising death toll among various communities.

“As a matter of fact, most countries have taken necessary preventive measures. This happens although all nations are linked to each other through diplomatic and economic relations.

“Besides international relations and applications, each state has its own laws, no other party is allowed to intervene in the internal affairs of the states or impose any conditions for dealing with or defining the relevant mechanism.

“In Kuwait there are more than three million expatriates – Arabs and non-Arabs – who live in peace and safely and enjoy security and practice their religious beliefs and rites freely.

“Not only that, Kuwait has declared its concern about the health of all foreign manpower in the country and even facilitated the return of the Kuwaitis from abroad who were stranded following the suspension of commercial flights between countries.

“This happens at a time when some countries have issued statements which indicate they are against the return of their citizens from Kuwait and this means all foreign manpower in Kuwait enjoys every comfort.

“Meanwhile, we say the partial curfew that was imposed by Kuwait on everyone, shows Kuwait and its people are educated on loving everyone in general and those who live on this kind land in particular.

“In other words both the citizens and expatriates enjoy the same basic rights and freedoms and democracy. In this context, we say all people who live in the country of humanity and charity talk about their love, respect and appreciation to the State of Kuwait to such an extent they did not hesitate to express their love to Kuwait. Many expatriates have revealed that in their dealings with the Kuwaiti families they saw kindness.

“Under the current global health crisis, we hope all states in the world will declare their readiness to receive their citizens who are working in Kuwait because Kuwait has declared that it will bear the cost of such departures.

“In the meantime, we hope all people in the country -- citizens and expatriates -- will abide by the necessary measures adopted by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Interior, particularly since we know that these measures are applied by all nations throughout the world.”

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Mishref Eqab

“At a time when some states are refusing to receive their citizens from Kuwait, the government of Kuwait has actually succeeded in airlifting all Kuwaitis and bring them home after they were stranded abroad following the outbreak of the corona virus and suspension of commercial flights by taking all health preventive measures and this has been admired by the entire world,” columnist, the general manager of Scope Satellite TV Channel and former MP Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“And now it is the turn of the citizens to abide by the instructions of the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of health concerning home quarantine to complete the scenario.

“In other words, if the returnees fail to remain committed to these instructions, then this means the epidemic will spread and this will increase the burden on the State treasury and will result in the extension of the partial curfew or even total lockdown.

“In this context, we suggest the government must not depend only on the cooperation of citizens, rather it should deal with the situation with the iron fist.

“Not just that, the government reserves the right to declare a state of emergency in the country in order to force the people to abide by instructions. Here, one may suggest these instructions, should be initially applied on the Indian community – men and women -- who gather every Friday in Hawally near the Al-Kurd roundabout behind the International Bakery in violation of the official instructions banning such gathering.

“I think these people are the cause of increasing the number of corona virus cases by coming in close contact with each other.

“With regard to the rebellion seen in some health quarantines by the inmates when their states refused to receive them, we would like to say every responsible official must realize the danger that is obvious.

“The matter is very dangerous; this is what everyone should know. There is no room for complacency or indifference.”

“When the French President Emmanuel Macron visited a research center in France, he was surprised to see a large number of researchers of different nationalities besides French nationality at the center,” Mohammad Al-Fawzan wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“During his visit to the University Hospital Institute in the city of Marseille, Macron asked doctors and researchers, “Where are you from?” The answers he got were that they originate from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

“These people left their countries because they did not find anyone who cared for them, sponsored them and adopted their research. Is there any Arab or African country that gathered the diaspora of these researchers to give them the opportunity of distinguished education, nurture their talents and research on its soil? The answer is definitely “No”. Our immigrant minds are the product of our failure.

“Tell the hypocrites, who are obsessed with the culture of the West, in our country that Muslims did not sit back and pray for the infidels, and did not wait for the infidels to discover a treatment for them while you were winking, groping and mocking. Tell them the CEO of the company that owns the most important “trump card” in the coronavirus crisis – ventilators – is a Muslim named Omar Ishrak. His Irish company “Medtronic” declared that they will donate the intellectual property rights to this device, and grant ventilators free of charge to all countries that want to produce it so that the lives of as many people as possible can be saved.

“Tell them that the Johns Hopkins University team, which is seeking to produce the rapid testing kit for coronavirus, is led by an Egyptian doctor named Heba Mostafa.

“Tell them that hundreds and even thousands of Muslim doctors, just like others, are currently standing on the front lines for combating this epidemic. Four doctors died in Britain (May God have mercy on them) and dozens of Muslim doctors in America tested positive of coronavirus.

“Tell them that the Muslim culture of personal hygiene (rinsing) helped during the toilet paper disappearance crisis in Europe and America, such that Amazon has sold all of its supply of bidets.

“Tell them that the instructions of our noble Prophet (PBUH) in quarantine, and the introduction of physical and medical reasons, were referred to and benefited from in this crisis. The American Professor Greg Consden wrote a wonderful article in the famous American magazine “Newsweek” about the commandments of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) upon the occurrence of the epidemic. It included pictures of what the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) said 1,400 years ago about general wills and principles established by modern medicine today in the face of serious epidemics, and that they were not faced with prayer and supplication alone, as depicted by the hypocrites and the vanquished among our people.

“Tell them that scholars in Muslim countries followed the correct scientific, medical, and juristic procedures. They suspended Friday and congregation prayers, closed all places of worship, and prevented gatherings to curb this deadly epidemic.

“Tell them that more than 92 countries requested help from Muslim Turkey to confront the coronavirus pandemic. Many countries praised the successful role played by Turkey towards Arab and European countries and for supporting them in this crisis. Europe has been stunted by Turkey in this crisis, and that those who follow the current events know that Turkey was able to supply Britain, Spain and many European countries with medical supplies, and even America asked Turkey to supply them.

“These are the statements published by different countries regarding Turkey

Italy: “Thank you Turkey… a true friend is known during times of stress”.

Hungary: “We are members of the European Union, but only Turkey helped us”. Bulgaria: “No one helped us except Turkey”. Spain: “The biggest support we got was from Turkey”.

Austria: “Turkey sent us the medical masks we requested”.

“Besides helping other countries in Europe, Turkey also provided some Arab countries with aid to face this deadly epidemic. We would like to raise our hat and clap for its success.

“Tell those who are obsessed with the culture of nonMuslims that the epidemic emerged in non-Muslim countries, not Muslim countries, because they perform ablutions five times a day before praying. Washing is a duty in our religion, and we only eat “halal” food.”

“The world has sustained great losses in all aspects, including life, economic, political, social and others, while many have lost their source of income, with the suspension of education at all levels,” columnist Jassem Al-Tanib wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“Statistics indicate that financial losses could reach about USD 100 trillion among the countries hardly hit by the pandemic, from the economic and investment point of view. As for human aspect, large numbers of deaths have been recorded and the infection rate around the world has exceed 1.5 million, whereas recent figures, according to health experts, show that the pandemic continues to spread.

“We received inspiring words from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad and His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed that lightened the path of the Kuwaiti government led by His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled and members of his government in addressing this pandemic. The words came through as an embodiment of the spirit of solidarity and compassion that characterize Kuwaiti society from ancient times.

“HH the Amir said: Today, the world is witness to a difficult period of its history, dominated by anxiety, turmoil and the struggle to survive, and most of the countries suffer unenviable political, economic and social conditions.

“We in our Kuwaiti society are not isolated from what is going on in other countries but the help of Almighty Allah is with us. Thanks to the solidity, faith and sincerity of our great people, we will overcome this crisis and problems. We thank Allah that our country is an oasis of love, security and prosperity.

“HH the Amir concluded: Therefore, we must continue working for the well-being of our country, tracing the footsteps of our good ancestors who laid the foundations of our dear homeland and raised the rules of its revival. The present as he composed among the hearts of the people of Kuwait in the past is at trial, and it is the duty of loyalty to this homeland to present these heroic sons of Kuwait with what the national duty dictates to them in the preservation and protection of our Kuwait, our people and those who reside on this precious land.”

“In the past, e-government services were running like a turtle, and perhaps, even slower than that... Today, after the appearance of corona in our country and in the world, we found a rise in government electronic services, dealing with the requirements of the case and the situation according to application of technology at high speed and became accessible to everyone,” columnist Mohammad Haza’a Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“We noticed the technological wheel is generalizing on immigration services, passports, courts, commerce, social affairs and many other transactions in the country, all thanks to the urgent need at this difficult time.

“The corona crisis has also demonstrated to us that some office and administrative jobs are unnecessary, hence, the importance of lifting them and their costly buildings from the shoulders of countries.

“There are many realistic examples proven to us every day. We live under curfew, during which we realized we can live without many things that we previously believed to be essential.

“We would like to point out here the government’s golden opportunity to implement economic reforms deemed beneficial to the country, such as addressing the lopsided demographic issue. We repeatedly called for solving the problem before it got worse. Today, it has become an exhausting problem that is difficult to solve.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb