Saudi Gazette offers an opinion piece lamenting the state of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The bad publicity it’s been getting isn’t just being invented by the media. The Commission is doing quite well in generating it all by itself, due to inconsistencies in its behavior and the underlying contradictions in Saudi society. The column notes that women have far different opinions of and experiences with the Commission.

Virtue Commission under the spotlight
Sabria S. Jawhar

THERE has been an extraordinary amount of coverage of the doings of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Most of it hasn’t been very positive.

There have been fatal car chases, couples taken out of coffee shops and raids ending in death.

The media glare has put the Commission under a spotlight. And naturally, the Western media loves to report this stuff.

The latest incident that was reported by the media involved a Filipina nurse who was arrested with her Western male friend in a Riyadh restaurant for being in a state of “khulwa.”

The man was hauled off and shackled while the woman was jailed and not a word from her has been heard since. Even the Philippines Embassy has no access to her.

Many men I know believe there is a need for the Commission in the Saudi society. There is a need to ensure that our morality is protected and it does our society good to have noble men remind us of our duties.

Women, on the other hand, have mixed feelings about the Commission.

The Western man dining with his Filipina companion was humiliated by being picked up by his belt and thrust into a Commission vehicle while diners tried to look the other way. But at the end he was released and his female companion remains in custody. We also saw a similar incident with a businesswoman arrested in Starbucks.

But the problem is not just unequal justice for men and women, it’s the inconsistency in which the laws are applied and the procedure in which these laws are enforced.
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