‘Reorganize to make presence felt’
‘Majority’ lacks strong leadership
“AT A time when some young people and some members of the so-called majority in the annulled Parliament sense that a verdict may be issued against them which may send them to imprisonment, we have noted that during the past two months the popular opposition movement has waned considerably and its impact has become weak to a large extent,” columnist
wrote for
daily. “Of course, the reasons for this decline are varied and opinions may differ from person to person, but in my personal opinion, one of the important causes is related to the lack of influential unified leadership, in addition to loss of intellectual depth or intellectual base that will formulate objectives and methods of the movement.
“The absence of influential unified leadership is a reality that cannot be denied. There is no one person or a group that can take the mantle of leadership. The majority members are divided and this is the reason why the group has lost its impact. Its presence is derived from special status of some of its members. In addition to this we have seen sharp differences among the members, both on the personal and political level. Of course, this division and the differences have affected the people, especially the young.
“At the level of intellectual depth of the popular movement, a quick comparison between the objectives of the opposition movement before the elections of the current National Assembly and the current objectives of the popular movement is enough to understand that the movement is currently moving in circles. And this is in vain.
“During the pre-election period, the movement had a clear political identity and both the tone of political demands and ceiling of political discourse were high, which was a cause for worry for the regime, because the mobility of the opposition was working to reshape the political relationship between the people and members of the ruling family.
“The movement submitted ideas for a constitutional monarchy and government of the people, but today, the movement has lost its political identity and turned out to be something like a ‘public relations’ outfit to prove their existence.
“Repeated activities in public squares are not sufficient because they will not achieve significant results. It is true these activities are required and it is important to continue but they alone are not sufficient to achieve the desired results.
“What is required is to initiate a political program together with political discourse of high ceiling with an attempt to conclude an agreement on that program and discourse. Also it is very important to address the differences and divisions in an actual manner.
“A large number of youths from the popular movement along with some former MPs have made great sacrifices and now they face the prospects of going to prison at a time when the movement suffers from dispersion and weaknesses. The realignment and unity are matters of great urgency to the popular movement.”
Also: “We all know that the Muslim Brotherhood movement had fiercely opposed the electoral system in Kuwait, describing the amendment decree a coup against the Constitution and an attempt to influence the results of the parliamentary elections, and counterfeiting the will of voters,” columnist wrote for
daily. “The Muslim Brotherhood movement took the decision to boycott the elections and accused everyone of distrust who took part in them. They described demonstrations and marches which the authorities called ‘unauthorized’ violation of freedoms.
“The Popular Bloc and some political forces and individuals adopted the same approaches, while at the same time praising and drumming support for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and hailing their policies. The leader of the Popular Bloc and former MP and former Speaker of Parliament Ahmad Al-Saadoun also sailed in the same boat and the evidence of this was what we read in local newspapers.
“Today, after taking the reins of power, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt began confronting the demonstrators with batons, water cannons, tear-gas and even with live ammunition.
“No one from the Brotherhood in Kuwait is talking about the legality of these measures. Is it a violation of the law, or an assault on civil liberties?
“Today the political forces in Egypt also are calling for boycotting the parliamentary elections called by the government - the government of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
“The opposition forces require holding elections under a neutral government and impartial judicial supervision.
“Moreover the opposition accuses the Muslim Brotherhood movement government of tampering with the Election Law by the Shura Council which is controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood movement so that the results come in their favor, and there are the other charges which prove the illegality of the upcoming parliamentary elections in Egypt according to the opposition.
“The Brotherhood movement in Kuwait, the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) in particular, and the Popular Bloc did not talk about this issue but rather remained silent and this silence confirms their guilt.
“Here we ask whether if there is a distinction between what is happening in Kuwait the real homeland, and what is happening in Egypt, the homeland of ideas and party affiliations. We are still waiting comments from them to know if their positions are based on the principles as they claim.”
“The idea of designating Kuwaiti doctors at the clinics to treat Kuwaiti citizens only in the morning, while foreign doctors treat foreigners in the evening is inhumane and shouldn’t be pushed through, wrote for
daily. “It is hard to understand government’s policies on employment, except the government is confused and wants to achieve two contradictory goals by gaining public support and sympathy through salary increment in return for limited production, or it is trying to fight the ghost of unemployment-which is the main demand of the youth, through financial aid for those working in private sector and those looking for jobs.
“Public funds are used for political merits and not objectivity or administrative merits. This kind of approach in resolving issues will only intensify the employment problem with the policy of pampering employees in government sector and encouraging administration corruption in public sector. This is one of the reasons employees in private sector feel ‘stupid’ for accepting jobs there.’’
“There was no significance in the official sources’ denial about the news report published in Al-Watan Arabic daily regarding the arrest of some Egyptians who were caught distributing leaflets containing text which was considered offensive to the government and HH the Amir”, columnist wrote for daily.
“An official denial cannot change reality. We cannot rule out that the distribution of such materials did not take place particularly among Egyptians whose population in Kuwait is about 800,000. It is not impossible for such a population to include spy cells of Muslim Brotherhood Movement who are waiting for the right moment to strike.
“Based on the information gathered by UAE, the spy cells have received orders to initiate actions in Kuwait and other locations of the Arabian Gulf region and UAE has notified all GCC countries about the plan in detail. However, Kuwait is the only country that failed to take any precautionary or preventive measure. We do not know what the officials are waiting for but we hope the information published in AlWatan Arabic daily geared them up to take the necessary action even if they denied the published report.”
“My colleagues who exerted strenuous efforts to ensure the successes of ‘one-vote system’ were displeased with my articles that criticized the parliament of ‘one-vote system’ and the attitude of the lawmakers,
wrote for daily. “A woman colleague Eqbal Al-Ahmad was one of the fiercest critics of my articles, and she struggled to tag my viewpoint as rubbish to defend the one-vote system. Her critical comment coincided with similar reaction from another woman colleague Aziza Mefrij. To avoid wasting the precious time of readers, I will cite the statements issued by some lawmakers about the parliament they are representing.
“MP Nawaf Al-Fuzae said, in an interview on Al-Rai television “It is unfortunate that many lawmakers are in the government’s pocket”, and Hussein Al-Qallaf affirmed “Al-Rashid has taken a disgusting step, destroyed the country and failed to get rid of provocation”.
“Sa’adoun Hammad, “I urge His Highness the Amir to dissolve the parliament for its low performance since it lost control by postponing grilling episodes.”
Therefore, Mubarak Al-Duwaila is not the only voice that has criticized the one-vote parliament or certain green horn lawmakers”.
“One immigration officer at Sacramento airport in California (USA) took a long time to process my passport, and I found that unnecessary since I was only on a local flight and my passport had been cleared already at New York Airport, wrote for Arabic daily.
“As the officer finished checking my passport, he returned it to me with a smile on his face, and said it was the first time he was seeing a Kuwaiti passport carried by someone coming from Kuwait. He continued to tell me what Kuwait meant to him, particularly after Kuwait donated almost US $ 500 million to areas that were affected by hurricane Katrina.
“I read in ‘Sharq Al-Awsat’ daily (9/2/2013) about the disruption of public schools’ at Joplin town in the State of Missouri due to hurricanes that struck the town, and as usual, left behind huge damages.
An employee of the UAE embassy in Washington called the town’s officials and asked about the kind of help they needed. They were compelled to restore books for students but the UAE officials actually had bigger ambitions than that, as they were willing to rebuild the schools and provide more humanitarian assistance. It is reported that almost 2,200 high school students benefited from aid, and each one of them received a new laptop (Mac book), in addition to medical scholarships. The Gulf countries granting humanitarian aid of this magnitude to wealthy countries is a way of tightening bonds switch them, and no one should exaggerate these gestures because every aid has its specific role.
“When Bill Gates and the others donated millions of their wealth to fight poverty and disease, and funded scientific researches, the money was not redirected to aid poor and homeless people in America. While America has been donating millions of dollars to needy nations, these funds come from the taxpayers of America.
“Therefore, charitable organizations in the Arab and Muslim world need to engage in this kind of ambitious charitable work to create a significant change in its activities.’’
“I don’t think it is mere coincidence that the Iraqi Hezbollah chose to threaten Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on the eve of the Liberation Day celebration”, columnist
wrote for daily. “I still believe Iraq has not changed and is the same as what it was when it invaded our country in 1990. Majority of its people are still hostile towards the Kuwait and consider Kuwait as a part of their country. Unfortunately, Kuwait has been extending its arms to the Iraqis such that one would think Kuwait is apologizing for the invasion.
“We are commemorating 22 years since the liberation of our country. It is unfortunate that we continue to receive threats and intimidations from Iraq that they usually issue to serve certain political or economical agendas.
“Our problem with Iraq is deep and any reconciliation between us will be temporary. Their problem is that they believe Kuwait is not supposed to be an independent country. This problem has been cemented in their souls and evident in their attitudes. This will continue for generations regardless of any diplomatic efforts by its government.”
“Some people occasionally try to link the Muslim Brotherhood Movement to destructive activities that happen in Kuwait, besides allegations that the Brotherhood intends to take over the country and change the regime,”
wrote for daily. “These individuals get disappointed when they are unable to carry out their plot, as they hold on to false information and lose sight of the fact that their method of misleading the ordinary people will only make them lose the trust of these people.
“Defaming the opponent is one of the ugliest approaches a person can make to destroy his foe, and this method will not work against the Brotherhood.
“Lies have different patterns in the media and press, but those orchestrating these lies must understand that lying has a short lifespan and the people will surely find out the truth”.
“We are celebrating the Liberation Day because our dear country escaped from the claws of aggressors that invaded us, and after 22 years, Kuwaitis are still enjoying happiness and freedom to cleanse our territories from the filthy invasion by an Arab aggressor,”
wrote for daily. “Other Arab leaders are still perpetrating the worst aggression against their citizens, just like imposters and swindlers use national slogans and fake resistance. Some tyrannical regimes raise slogans of freedom, democracy and development, while they consolidate political and economic subordination to the advanced colonial imperialists.
“These leaders oppress their citizens, violate their freedom and clamp down on their dignity. They throw their free citizens inside dark jails for expressing political opposition and divergent opinions. Instead of development, they legalize and perpetrate corruption, regarding corruption as basic while transparency and honesty become exceptions”.
“The Arab Spring materialized over two years ago in protest against the manipulation of governance and resources by cliques, as well as against violation of dignity, oppression, servitude, tyranny, political sidelining and social harm that were ongoing for almost half a century”, columnist wrote for
daily. “In the process, the countries’ infrastructures were destroyed and major institutions and facilities collapsed. The culture of absolute control over individuals became the order of the day, which had adverse effects on the society and general civilization. This aspect should be considered when deciding about the government during the transition phase that the Arab world is currently passing through.
“The Arab world has always been experiencing major changes. It has been facing certain difficulties and challenges internally and externally throughout this transition phase, which are likely to slow down the rate of social and democratic development. However, it is certain that there is no going back because that period is gone for good.”
“We celebrated the Liberation Day of the country which the invaders had tried to erase from history books because they had forgotten that the roots of this country are deep; therefore, it is just not possible to erase from the map a country which is 400 years old. Moreover, history just cannot be rewritten,” columnist
wrote for daily. “Today, we see some individuals using offensive language against this country and its symbols in the name of freedom of speech and patriotism. They tell a lie and believe in it unfortunately disregarding the fact that they are the strangers. Moreover, they forget that they are not able to adore the history of this country.
“Those who own the decision are the free ones. They are the Kuwaiti nation who respects this homeland and the sacrifices of their forefathers and ancestors.
“Therefore, we say the free people are the martyrs who have made sacrifices for the good of Kuwait not those who serve their interests.”
“If we take a closer look at the current situation in the Arab and Islamic worlds, we will realize that the intellectual and political conditions are almost the same. This keeps us wondering if the circle is squared or if the square is circled,”
wrote for daily.
“We live in a society where the ignorant are the most talkative. Those who have no idea about what is important are the ones making plans, while our political movements are headed by those who should be led. Here in Kuwait, we are not surrounded by a vicious circle, but we create the vicious circle and then put it around us. This is clearly evident in our political discussions or conflicts.
“We have to know the root of the problem, so we can find an appropriate solution. Unfortunately, most of our leaders lack the ability to address our problems and they are not even qualified to lead us. We have to recognize that this is our main problem before we look for solutions.”
— Compiled by Ahmad Al-Shazli