‘Kuwait needs to rebuild itself’

‘Country facing internal, external threats’

“TODAY (Wednesday), Nov 11 is the 53rd anniversary of the enactment of the Kuwaiti Constitution,” columnist and former Director of Culture Department at the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters Waleed Al-Rujaib wrote for Al-Rai daily Wednesday.

“Certainly, enacting of this Constitution represents a qualitative shift towards building a modern civilian state in Kuwait. This happened under some inappropriate Arab circumstances represented by a threat that was issued by the then Iraqi president Abdulkarim Qasim to annex Kuwait to Iraq.

“Locally, it is needless to say the existence of the then enlightened ruler, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah — we pray to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace — actually played a significant role in achieving this historical transition.

“As a matter of fact, the project of building a new modern civil State in Kuwait was indeed a significant shift that has reflected in the country’s renaissance in various technical, cultural and constructional fields.

“Not just that, this project has resulted in building the country’s civil institutions in Al-Rujaib addition to developing the educational and health services in the country.

“Apart from the above, the project in question, constituted the basis for creating a robust infrastructure which represents the basic pillars of the country’s constructional sector and modern utilities in addition to the concerned authorities in the country dedicating their lives to achieve the targeted development.

“Our generation has actually witnessed this renaissance movement and this has certainly reflected on our nationalistic and cultural awareness as well as on our personal structure where the popular contribution constituted the basic pillar for the appearance of a nationalistic and coherent front in the country.

“This renaissance has created a state of constitutional compatriotism to such an extent Kuwait has been transformed into a ‘Qibla’ for all Gulf countries. In other words, our country by virtue of this renaissance has been transformed into an example to be followed by these sisterly countries, particularly since we know that Kuwait has spared no effort to extend every possible assistance to her sisterly countries and this was represented by the submission of the necessary assistance to build schools and hospitals in these countries.

“In other words, Kuwait has spared no efforts by placing all its potentials at the disposal of the GCC sisterly countries for their development.

“Not just that, Kuwait within a short period of time has become a safe harbor for the Arab expatriates. It has also adopted the issue of Palestinian refugees and patronized the foundation of the Palestinian resistance movements.

“This golden period in the country’s history, unfortunately, didn’t last long because some senior politicians, who benefited from the absence of the popular control and democratic life, failed to coexist with this renaissance and development.

“Consequently, our retreat in terms of building the new modern State was the cause for setback in various aspects of life and domains. In this context, we cite the reports of some international institutions which referred to this setback which had befallen Kuwait in the fields of freedom, human rights and the level of education.

“Such being the case we at the moment are in an imperative need for a new renaissance that must be enough to revive ‘The Modern State Project’ and create a healthy, sound and intact political atmospheres with popular contribution.

“Likewise, the new renaissance requires the enactment of a set of new laws and legislation to pave the way for creating a partisan life in the country based on pluralism and nationalistic feelings.

“Apart from the above, this renaissance requires unleashing of public freedoms to be based on constitutional patriotism, particularly since we know that Kuwait is currently facing some regional dangers and interventions in its internal affairs while at the same time some parties are currently striving to transform the country into an arena for terrorist action.”

Also: “The visit of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad to the Russian Federation and his talks with President Vladimir Putin comes during a period of significant and delicate changes in the history of our Arab region which currently faces a lot of crises and wars that constitute a threat to the security and stability of its people. These situations have started putting obstacles in the way of targeted development of this part of the world,” columnist Abdurrahman Al-Awwad wrote for AlSabah daily Wednesday.

“Apart from the above, HH the Amir’s visit to Russia gains a lot of importance, particularly since we know that Moscow has started playing an effective role in the Syrian crisis and as such it will be more significant to have communications with it in a bid to find solution for this crisis and end the torment which currently faces the brotherly Syrian people.

“Kuwait is actually determined not to stand idle in dealing with the problems of sisterly Arab countries and their peoples and this was evident through the initiatives of HH the Amir to host three international conferences for donors to extend all assistance to the Syrian people. Hence, we found Kuwait through these conferences managing to collect billions of dollars to help the displaced Syrians and the refugees.

“The visit of HH the Amir to Russia comes within the framework that has been drawn up by the Amir himself for Kuwait’s diplomacy which is based on communication and cooperation with the entire world except Israel to eventually establish strong and close relations with both the sisterly and friendly countries on our planet.

“This framework is actually viewed at the moment as an excellent achievement that belongs to Kuwait only by virtue of the wise procedures and traditions that have been ingrained by a leader who was always striving to serve his people, nation and the humanity at large.

“Consequently, the Amir deserves the title of ‘Leader of Humanity’ that has been bestowed upon him by the entire world and its global organization — the United Nations.”

“Member of an Islamic faction wrote an article titled ‘secularism is the source of terrorism’ and attempted to cast blame on ‘secular’ factions for the emergence of extremist groups such as ISIL and the Nusra front,”columnist Suad Fahad AlMi’jel wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“From the start to the end of the article, the Islamist columnist repeatedly mentions the role played by liberal and secular factions in tarnishing the image of moderate Islamist factions, which the extremist Islamic groups supposedly emerged from.

“I wish the columnist had mentioned if liberals and secularists are also responsible for the millions of funds set aside by government to promote moderation or they are also to blame for attacks witnessed in Kuwait and Iraq deserts in the beginning of the last century.

“I wish the columnist mentioned if liberals and secularists were the ones who stood against the March 1965 uprising against British rule in Bahrain or if they are responsible for sectarian conflicts sparked in Iran and Syria.

“I do not plan to present the bloody history of the political Islamist factions. I intend to slam them and stop their thinkers and writers from blaming liberals and secularists by claiming to be the only Islamic faction that bear the flag of moderation and uprightness.”

“During the Second Abu Dhabi Strategic Conference that took place a few days ago, the UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs revealed that UAE is working hard with Saudi Arabia and Egypt to deal with the crises in the region, rebuild the Arab systems and ensure necessary dynamic changes are implemented to move forward,” Salah Al-Sayer wrote for Al-Anba daily.

“During the conference, the attendees deliberated on series of strategic issues concerning the future of the region. This is because the past Arab governments suffered serious and dangerous cracks when the wave of Arab Spring hit Syria and caused more serious damages to Egypt.

“It happened due to the weakness of Iraq and emergence of extremist terrorist ideologies in the region. The imperialist dream resonated in Turkey and Iran, while Russia stepped in and moved forward militarily to fill the vacuum left by the American tepidity. Indications of the crack in the ancient Arab systems include collapse of what used to be regarded as the resistance front.”

“Victory of the ‘Justice and Development’ party in the recent Turkish parliamentary election was expected, in view of the fact that opinion polls anticipated the party would receive more than 40 percent of votes,” columnist AbdulAziz AlKandari wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“The massive turnout was unexpected since the majority was in favor of the ruling, as the old people went out in their numbers to vote to ensure that Turkey remains in safe hands. Return of the senior and veteran politicians to cast the ballot increased the ruling party’s chances of winning after the party’s rules were changed to bar party members from serving in the parliament for more than three consecutive terms.

“In short, we have learnt from the Turkish experience that democracy is the safety pin of the society and ideal means for everyone to express his or her opinion and respect others opinion, and preserve the country from disorder and chaos. Turkey has developed their democracy in a manner that serves their interest in full.”

“Reports issued recently by the State Audit Bureau have once again indicted some ministries and governmental departments of misappropriating public funds. It seems there has never been any annual report without scandals relating to misappropriation of funds,” Zayed Al-Zaid wrote for AlNahar daily.

“Since the issues highlighted in the reports are not new, we wonder what the reasons are behind the government not doing anything to deal with the misappropriation of funds as specified in the reports of the bureau. Will the case be referred to the Kuwait Anti Corruption Authority or will it just be swept under the carpet?

“The truth is that this embarrassing situation has pushed us to wonder who are responsible for misappropriation of public funds. If State Audit Bureau has been unable to identify those who are behind this corrupt act, can we expect the Ministry of Education to pinpoint the suspects for prosecution?”

“About 37 percent of Kuwaiti and expatriate children are diabetic while 82 percent of them are either overweight or obese. The data released by the Director of Dasman Diabetes Institute Dr Qasim Behbehani in an interview is scary in all its ramifications,” Eqbal Al-Ahmad wrote for AlQabas daily.

“More than a quarter of the children in Kuwait are already diabetic and many others are at risk of the disease if their parents do not act fast. The children will benefit a lot if their parents can change their lifestyle to avoid complications of the disease which include kidney and eye problems and difficulty in healing wounds, the danger of limb amputation.

“It is extremely necessary for fathers and mothers to guard their children from danger right from infancy to avoid the situation whereby the children will become prisoners to insulin, given that diabetes is associated with many health effects such as heart failure, and high and low sugar.”

“Talk about the forged certificates has multiplied to such an extent it keeps snowballing day after day, which is an inevitable consequence of the prevalence of corruption in the most important state facility, education and its institutions, and at stake is the reputation of Kuwait since the quality of education and its outputs with regard to this important institution in the state has fallen to the lowest lever,” columnist Amer Al-Faleh wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“Talking about it is not a fantasy or exaggeration but a fact, many have obtained academic degrees and e-education through correspondence or obtained from universities and institutes which are not recognized even in their own countries but are fully operational only on sites.

“You just need to pay full fees for a university degree or Master’s degree or doctorate for these institutes which have polluted our education system.”

“The Russian military steamer ‘Jillian’ had anchored on the beaches of Kuwait on Feb 18, 1900. Since then, this small country has been sharing relations with Russia. Kuwait has bridged its political and diplomatic relations with the West and the East in a manner that emphasizes the status of this country and its vital role in the world,” Nasser Khamees Al-Mutairi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“The Kuwaiti-Russian relations have expanded in different aspects and phases throughout which the State of Kuwait maintained distinguished relations with the former Soviet Union. In addition, it was the first GCC country to share diplomatic relations with Moscow in 1961 after independence.

“Accordingly, the historic visit of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Russia during such a critical and sensitive phase particularly under the current situation of the region, will play a significant role in dealing with several issues of the region.

“In fact, the Russian political leadership appreciates the State of Kuwait for its wise and balanced foreign policy which His Highness the Amir has implemented. Due to this, Kuwait plays a positive diplomatic role when handling sensitive cases.”

“I challenge the director of traffic in the Capital governorate, if there is a director, because as it appears the traffic control has become a one-man show because it is he who controls the traffic lights and even exempts people sent to deportation for driving cars without licence,” columnist, former MP and General Manager of the Scope Satellite TV Channel,” Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“Therefore, we challenge the acting director of the traffic department to enter Shuwaikh Industrial Area during office hours and come out of this area without ‘burning’ his nerves, or causing self injury because this area resembles something we are familiar with ‘out of coverage area’.

“It looks like this area is infested with violators of residence law and those who are reported absco nding by their sponsors, or those on dependent visas and so on and that there is no control over this area.

“The chaos inside the Shuwaikh Industrial Area needs to be controlled through non-stop campaigns on public safety to eliminate all undesired incidents, but it looks like this is not our priority.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb