Did I really hear about drunk driving? In Saudi Arabia? Yes, I did. I did really hear about drunk driving.
In my 3 years of living in the Kingdom, I have met a handful of people who have claimed to drink alcohol during social gatherings. They all admitted to drinking "en cachette" since alcohol consumption is strictly forbidden here. It therefore comes as a surprise or maybe it is some form of mockery that some individuals would drink, get drunk, and sit behind the steering.
For a country that has been described as having the highest accident death toll in the world, and one that bans the consumption of alcohol, it is pretty surprising that some drivers forget all of this and still sit behind the wheel despite being drunk. It is either due to stupidity on the part of the individual, or stupidity induced by the liquor itself.
Now, it is not uncommon to hear that someone has been caught drinking or distributing alcohol. I wrote about this in a recent post. A reported 243 driving licences have been seized this year in Jeddah alone. The reason; drunk driving. Read more...One driver was detained in Riyadh for driving drunk after a misdiagnosis of a leg fracture at a hospital; a detention which cost him a lot as he was suspected of drunk driving and was detained when he needed medical attention for his fracture. Read more...
Fact or fiction? People just can't stop drinking whatever be the punishment reserved for them.
June 17th is drawing closer as there are more speculations as to whether women still have plans to drive on that day or not. Besides risking being flogged by some of their male relatives, the Islamic Police would certainly not fail in making sure that women are kept off the streets on that day.
We keep our fingers crossed as this issue becomes one of the hottest subjects of debate these days. See the video below that was posted a few days ago, addressing the issue of women driving in Saudi Arabia.
Amidst the rising debate on websites and locally, the speaker of the Shoura Council said on Thursday that they were ready to discuss the issue of women driving if they were asked to. Read more... There have been reports of an invitation sent before to discuss this issue, but it was cancelled. Is this new invitation from the speaker of the council himself a gateway to solving this problem in the Kingdom? We do not know yet and hope for a good outcome.
"The Labour Office has changed its rules in a way that will affect you, so you need to finish your iqama transfer quickly or you will not be able to renew your iqama next time, or maybe you will not even be able to stay till your iqama expires. Make the transfer quickly and make sure you transfer to a company that complies with Saudisation requirements."
This was the message my husband recently received from his former employer. It caused distress because not only will he have to look for a company to hire him, he will have to look for a company that promotes Saudisation.
After the message of the Minister of Labour a few days ago saying that, all expatriate workers within the Kingdom will have a six-year cap on their work visas, many expats have been pretty stressed up. The Minister of Labour, Adel Fakieh, threw more light on this issue, reasuring expats that this does not apply to all of them.
According to the Ministry of Labour, companies will be placed in 3 categories:
Green:Those that comply with the Saudisation policy. Yellow: Those that have not reached Saudisation quota of employment. Red: Those that have completely disregarded Saudisation rules.
If you are working for a company in the green list, you are safe. Your iqama (residence permit) does not have the six-year cap.
If you are working for the yellow-listed guys, and have been working for 6 years or more, your visa will not be renewed. If you have been working for less than 6 years, your visa would be renewed, but bear in mind that you will have to say goodbye to Saudi at the end of your 6 years. Nice for someone who has amassed enough to go on retirement, right?
If you are working for a red-listed company, forget about renewing your visa with your company.
The good news is that, employees working for the yellow and red-listed guys, would have the liberty to join a company that falls in the green category, as their employers would not have the power to stop them from transferring to another company. That leaves a smile on the face of the guy who was always working under constant threats from his employer. On the other hand you should be darn lucky to find yourself among the estimated 50% who would get a job in a green-listed company. So what happens to the other half? Packing their bags and preparing to go home earlier than planned? Not a good end for someone who has not yet achieved his goal in Saudi Arabia.
When is this going to come into effect? In two weeks. Waoh! That's pretty tough. Lets hope for the best. We pray that many Saudi employees will learn when it is time to come to work, and how to make the difference between working and sitting all day long drinking tea/coffee and/or smoking cigarettes during working hours.
Below, you will find the links to some companies that promote Saudisation:
For more information, see the Ministry of Labour Nitaqat programme. Please be informed that the information at present is given in the Arabic language only.
At last, she could breathe the air outside. She could go back to her home after spending what? Ten days in prison? And her crime? Driving a car and posting the video online.
We are all happy that she was finally released. This brave Saudi woman in her plight to fight for Saudi women's rights, paid a price that cost her 10 days in jail, the risk of losing custody of her son, and the risk of losing her job. Who knows? Maybe she has already lost it.
Thank God! Manal AlSharif was finally released today by the AlKhobar police. It is reported that she apologised for breaking the law and promised to withdraw from the planned June 17th women's driving protest. Now there are many speculations as to whether women will still take to the streets on June 17.
Below is a video, a creative work of art by an artist, Aafke. I found it interesting and couldn't help sharing.
Today, I learnt about another sad story from a Saudi friend. A young girl, the daughter of an acquaintance, was suspected of running away from home. She is only 17, a student in high school, with a promising future. From what her mum related, she had suddenly become rebellious and even refused to continue wearing the niqab. At that time, her mum thought she was acting under the influence of her teen friends who weren't covering their faces completely.
She has gone missing for over 2 weeks now. Her wardrobe is half empty and she is not at any of her relatives' home. Where could she be? Her mum's best guess is that she has run away with a lover. Not surprising if she was a Western or European girl; this is so common. But a young Saudi girl?
Only a few weeks ago, Arab News reported that the number of Saudi girls running away from their homes was increasing. Just like many other things that happen in the country, cases like this are treated discreetly, and too often we do not know the real frequency of certain events.
Who is to blame here? To start with, sometimes the families are blamed for being very violent and too strict on their female children than on males. Other people accuse these bright guys that we put in our living-rooms, TV, to entertain us. And then, some of you are to blame, expatriate guys.
Yes, expatriate guys are even accused of luring these young Saudi girls away from their families. An Arab News reporter even described them as hunks. How a young Saudi girl finds herself in such a situation, only God knows. If these girls are copying what they see on TV, then they are surely heading the wrong way because life in Saudi Arabia is definitely not the same as in Western countries. If your Romeo lets you down, you are in for trouble because not only you can't go back to your family since you brought shame on them, you can't even hope to find an odd job to sustain you.
It is pathetic for a young girl to throw her life away and head into the unknown. May God help these lost kids.
The arrest of Manal Sharif has been an issue over the past week, featuring in international papers, on blogs and on the local news.
Following her arrest, there are claims that another group was created on Facebook by an anonymous person, to beat up all males and females who support the fight for women to drive. According to reports, the creator of this facebook page is calling on all men to beat their wives and who would dare take to the roads in the name of "the campaign for women to drive." The "Iqal Campaign: June 17 for preventing women from driving," as it is called, encourages males to use their iqal (the black cord that they use to hold their white-red chekered scarf) to beat women who attempt to drive on that day.
There are claims that this page was created, yet no blogger or journalist is putting up a link to this page (See here, here and here). I thought I couldn't find the page on Facebook because it was probably in Arabic, but my Arabic-speaking friends couldn't find it either. How weird? Either they do not know how to use Facebook or this page is written in some coded language. If you find it, please let me know.
News always creates news. Is someone trying to attract attention here? Or is it really true that men and women would be beaten by people who do not support the need for females to drive?
Come to think of it, everything surrounding this issue is weird.
#1 Women should not drive because they will mix with mechanics (males).
Women are already mixing with men. I went to a cafe with my girlfriend only a couple of weeks ago, and I was shocked by what I saw. A cafe in the heart of Jeddah! I heard there was even worse than what I had witnessed.
In addition, women stay with their drivers in the same car. Mind you, the family driver is not a relative. Isn't it forbidden for 2 unrelated people of the opposite sex to sit in the same car?
#2 If women drive, this will promote "fitnah" because they will buy a new car, which is new model just because they want to be the first to drive it.
Oh yeah! You need to sit with the ladies in a social gathering. Women compare jewellery, or the furniture in their homes, or the latest phone or technology on the market...and you name it. Is this not promoting "fitnah." Better still is to ban women from having any of these luxuries, if they do not want to promote "fitnah."
#3 If women drive, it will lead to overcrowding of the streets.
Waoh! I guess other countries that allow women to drive would learn from this; the ultimate solution to traffic congestion! Well-said.
And more...I wish I had the time. For a country that bans women from driving, but lets women drive in the rural areas in the cities and in special areas that have immunity, that is pretty weird. Saudi Arabia, in my opinion has a long way to go.
Many of us know her name; Ms. Manal Sharif. The 32-year old Saudi has stirred up the media these past days, raising eyebrows worldwide. On Saturday, she was arrested by the religious police after she filmed herself driving a car and posted it online. She was released a few hours later, but the local police returned to her home after midnight and arrested her again, so it is reported.
Apparently, Ms. Manal was arrested for breaking the general rules by inciting other women to drive and stirring public opinion. Since her arrest, hundreds of people, men and women alike, signed a petition addressed to King Abdullah to release her and grant women the right to drive in the Kingdom.
Will Ms. Manal's arrest serve as example to stop women from taking to the streets on the 17th of June? I doubt it. There are other activists such as Wajiha Al Huwaider, who will not stop their fight for Saudi women's rights. And it doesn't end there...There are many more people, of both sexes, who are supporting the campaign to let women drive.
It is still hard to believe that in an era like this, a woman gets caught for driving. Come to think of it, it is not un-islamic for a woman to drive a car. Is it mostly about having total control over women and fearing that they will mix with men. Oh no! Look closely, and you will see that what opponents of female driving want to avoid, is already happening.
