Recording homeland events

‘Manakh’ saga

KBy Ahmad Al-Sarraf

uwait experienced the choking financial crisis in the early 1980s, known as ‘Souk Al-Manakh Stock Market Crash’, some of whose stalwarts are still alive.

It was one of the most severe financial crises experienced by Kuwait, where the small community was awestruck by a violent tempest. The negative impact left by the crisis on the lives of many will not be wiped out for a long time to come. Many incidents are still vivid in the memory of many people.

The crisis, let’s say the tempest, destroyed homes and families, companies were wiped out, well-known businessmen became bankrupt overnight and the lives of contractors, artists, doctors, economists, engineers and bankers were ruined.

Many families, including reputable ones were involved in disputes and resorted to the judiciary; divorces occurred and brother was pitted against brother, so also parents and children.

I have not exaggerated if I said that its devastating effects resembled the economic damage to Kuwait after the collapse of pearl trade before World War II, when Japan’s Mikimoto successfully cultured pearls and flooded the markets with his product.

The natural pearls of the Gulf countries, including Kuwait, were depleted, the marine fleet became almost idle — the fleet which was more than eight hundred fishing and trade ships during times of prosperity.

Many, on the other hand, made big fortunes from the stock market when they made an exit at an early stage and dumped the inflated share prices on those who speculated the value of these shares to rise forever.

Despite the disastrous impact of the Souk Al-Manakh, the government deliberately did not shed light on the crisis or attempted to document it, preferring to forget it perhaps for its negative

Al-Sarraf

role in exacerbating it, and then its reluctance and confusion in putting some solutions to it.

News leaked by the government at this period helped some to benefit and made big fortunes in an inappropriate manner while others lost big fortunes and their positions.

It is worth mentioning the large financial institutions tried to document this stage through documentary films, I personally participated in one of them, but they remained locked in the drawers, despite the large amounts spent on production with a high level of professionalism.

One of those films was produced by the Coast Investment and Development Company which at that time was headed by Sulaiman Khalid Al-Sahli in 2012.

His initiative came from his keenness to document this important era in the history of Kuwait. The documentary was titled ‘The Souk Al-Manakh Crisis and the Reality of What Happened’.

It took two years to produce the film which included interviews with more than forty personalities, who played a role and influenced the events of that era, and were then honored by a ceremony held under the patronage of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah.

Although the film was produced at the highest level of craftsmanship and cost a lot, state television has yet to screen it.

Our neglect in presenting such works means ignoring an important era in the history of Kuwait, which is contrary to the governments of the countries that respect their peoples.

Let us not forget that the incident or calamity of the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by Saddam and his atrocious occupation of our homeland for seven months has not been properly documented, although the event is a turning point in the history of Kuwait and the biggest event in the life of its people.

We call on all those who are close to the information minister to urge him to release and show the documentary films mentioned in my article for their importance, and consider what I documented is part of the history of our homeland.

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