CR IP TI ON BS SU
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2013
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THULHIJA 24, 1434 AH
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Govt’s gloom and doom welfare program blasted MPs slam ‘austerity’ warnings as new Assembly opens
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By B Izzak conspiracy theories
No more pampering By Badrya Darwish
badrya_d@kuwaittimes.net
N
o more pampering. No more lavish cars. No more weekly travels to Dubai or farther. No more Gucci bags and Prada shoes. No more French perfumes. No more 101 things. In 2021 we will become just like any other normal nation. Of course, by this I mean beyond the borders of the Gulf where 90 percent of the people belong to the lower middle class, if not on the borderline of poverty. Wow! This is very scary. At last, our dear government slammed us in the face with the thunderous news. But many of us still cannot absorb it. We think that the government is either exaggerating or provoking us. Let’s get serious now. It is high time the government starts to realize that Kuwait has been going in the wrong direction. In my opinion, it is a bit late. The government maybe did all it could with good intentions, but I have no idea. Let’s give them the benefit of doubt. They harmed the nation in a way they did not realize would be so detrimental. A rich oil country with a small population. The government applied the “indulge the nation thinking” by subsidizing many things. Why not? We should all be living comfortably if not in luxury. But there are rules and regulations even when it comes to comfort. There is something called responsibility. Unfortunately, our education system failed to teach us that. All is fair. Why not! It is the money of Kuwait. It is the people’s petrol and money. Why can’t we live comfortably. When there was no oil, we all lived in poverty and even without the bare necessities. When we were blessed with oil, it changed our life. There was a 100-degree change in our lifestyles. We did not take advantage of our rich richness. That part falls on the shoulders of the government. Governments lead the nations. But, but, but. Our government has committed the mistake of over-spoiling us. There was the issue of responsibilities. We could have been pampered in a more appropriate manner. We should have been taught to care and be more responsible and get many things based on merit and not only because we are Kuwaitis. The government should have been fair and square. There should have been punishment. You cannot let people get away with wrongdoing and forgive them later. A lot of corruption took place in our ministries and authorities. People cashed in millions and we never heard of anyone being properly punished. When you do this, you encourage others to embrace corruption as a way of life. On the other hand, no serious development was done besides building luxurious houses. Where are the industries? We are an oil-rich country. We should have been one of the world leaders in the petrochemical industry, so when the oil runs out, we can have other options. We should have been trained to work hard and be more serious. Where are all the development projects in Kuwait that bring income? Why has nothing been made in the span of decades. We do not have even good infrastructure like our neighbouring countries. We do not have even a first-class airport or hospitals. Where did our money go? Even our national carrier is almost grounded. Now the government is crying that if our spending spree continues in the same way and with the same speed, we will end up in a budget deficit. Now we are crying and saying that there won’t be any more cradle-to-grave pampering. This has been an emergency wake-up call. It is never too late. Kuwait is still an oil-rich country with a lot of income and if the government is serious, it is not too late to implement strong rules and measures to develop the country and the nation.
KUWAIT: HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah grants visiting Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Medal, Kuwait’s highest medal of honor, at Bayan Palace yesterday. The move aims to further promote and reinforce distinguished fraternal relations between Kuwait and Qatar, and to show appreciation for the emir and people of Qatar. — KUNA
KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir today opens the new National Assembly term with a speech expected to focus on the internal situation in the country following a second election in under eight months as MPs and activists strongly blasted the government for its new program which said the welfare state is over. The new Assembly term is the actual beginning of the new Assembly elected in July as the previous term consisted of just one session and the election of speaker, deputy speaker and committees. At the start of the new eightmonth term, new committee members will be elected who are expected to tackle highly important issues, especially those related to the new government’s fouryear program running until 2016/2017. And as things looked promising for fruitful cooperation between MPs and the government especially after discussing priority issues that need to be debated, the government dropped a bombshell with its program that explicitly told Kuwaitis that cheap or free services are things of the past. The government had repeatedly tried in the past to convince citizens that it was time to reduce subsidies and raise charges in a bid to stop high consumption rates of key services and commodities like electricity, water and fuel. The call this time comes at a time when the country is enjoying the best-ever financial and economic indicators with the largest foreign investments ever estimated at $400 billion and when oil revenues set an all-time record high in the past fiscal year, crossing the $100 billion mark for the first time ever. The government’s austerity measures also come when Kuwait has had 13 consecutive years of budget windfalls and is set to post a healthy surplus for the 14th year, accumulating well over $300 billion in surpluses. MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said the government program is rhetorical and “exempts me from any commitment to cooperate with the government”, adding that the Continued on Page 13
Hardliners object to mixed-company cafes KUWAIT: One of the traditional pleasures of the Middle East - leisurely puffing on a water pipe filled with aromatic tobacco - has become ensnared in another of the region’s customs: that of Islamic conservatives decrying what they see as liberal Western decadence. Hardliners are denouncing some shisha cafes as a “moral menace” because they allow young men and women to mix freely. The pastime of smoking shisha - also known as nargile, hubbly-bubbly, hookah or by other names across the Mideast - may seem like an unlikely subject for a showdown over values. In Kuwait, however, little is off limits to the increasingly influential Islamists and their conservative allies. Such ideological skirmishes flare often across the region, with Turkey witnessing battles over headscarves and Saudi clerics denouncing the temptations of the Internet. But Kuwait has emerged as a particularly noisy battleground. Islamists in Kuwait have stepped up their challenges to Kuwait’s Western-backed ruling family in recent years, first in the Assembly and now mostly from the outside after boycotting elections. They have demanded death sentences for anyone convicted of insulting Islam, opposed women’s participation in sports and forced art galleries to cancel shows of artKUWAIT: In this July 22, 2013 photo, works depicting hypocrisies such as Arab men enjoying an Arab woman smokes a water pipe a scotch. Earlier this month, conservative members of during the holy month of Ramadan at parliament lauded a government proposal to screen a restaurant in Kuwait. — AP Continued on Page13
Blasphemous tweeter’s 10-yr jail term upheld KUWAIT: The court of appeals yesterday upheld a 10-year jail term against a Shiite tweeter for remarks deemed offensive to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), his wife and companions. Hamad Al-Naqi, 23, who has been in jail since March 2012, was found guilty of the religious insults and of criticising the leaders of neighbouring Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, according to the court ruling. He was handed the heavy sentence by a lower court in June last year. The ruling can still be challenged in the supreme court. Naqi was tried on charges of insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in addition to his wife Aisha and several companions, who are revered by Sunni Muslims. He posted the offensive messages on two Twitter accounts in February and March of 2012, according to the ruling. Naqi claimed his Twitter accounts were hacked dur-
Deadly storm lashes Europe LONDON: At least eight people died and more than 300,000 homes were left without power yesterday as a fierce storm swept across northern Europe. Four people were killed in Britain, two in Germany, one in The Netherlands and another in France as heavy rain and high winds battered the region overnight and into the morning. The rough conditions at sea also forced rescuers to abandon the search for a 14-year-old boy who disappeared while playing in the surf on a southern English beach on Sunday. British Prime Minister David Cameron described the loss of life as “hugely regrettable”. Winds reached 159 km per hour on the Isle of Wight off the southern English coast, according to Britain’s Met Office national weather centre. Heavy rain and winds of 80 mph elsewhere brought down thousands of trees and caused the mass cancellation of train services across southern England and The Netherlands, as well as in parts of Germany. In Britain, a 17-year-old girl died after a tree fell onto the parked caravan where she was sleeping, while a man in his LONDON: A contractor works on clearing the debris after a tree fell fifties died when a tree fell on his car, police said. — AFP (See Page 9) on a car during a storm yesterday. — AFP
Hamad Al-Naqi ing that period. In recent months, Kuwait has jailed tweeters and activists amid sectarian tensions between the emirate’s Sunni majority and Shiite minority. Opposition activists have also been jailed for using Twitter to insult HH the Amir. — AFP
Video of Saudi beating Asian worker probed RIYADH: A Saudi rights group said yesterday it is investigating a video appearing to show a local man brutally beating up an Asian worker in the kingdom that hosts millions of foreign labourers. The video posted online shows a man dressed in the traditional Saudi white thawb cloak, slapping, lashing and kicking an Asian man. The National Society for Human Rights is “investigating the issue”, its head Mefleh Al-Qahtani told AFP. The semi-governmental organisation would demand the perpetrator be punished if the case is confirmed. “We do not have enough details about the identity of the man, or on where the incident took place,” he said. But another rights activist said the Saudi man lives in Riyadh and had punished the worker for having spoken to his wife. A third man is heard in the 1:53-minute video, apparently while filming, as the victim was pushed to the floor by his attacker, in what appeared to be a living room. The worker screamed repeatedly as the man flogged him. It is not clear when the video was first posted online, but one copy on YouTube dates back to Friday. International human rights groups frequently accuse the oil-rich kingdom and other Gulf monarchies of mistreating foreign workers, especially South Asians who make up the bulk of low-paid labourers. — AFP