As readers will have noted, economics is not the primary focus of this blog. Occasionally an economic story involving Saudi Arabia will come out that recommends itself because of what it says about Saudi society and its mores. This is one of those, I believe…
In many ways, the structure of Saudi society, whether on the personal or business levels, is like an onion, with layers upon layers of relationships. Those relationships carry obligations, whether legal or purely society. Here, it appears—at least as reported in London’s The Times—that Saudi banks are getting preferential treatment by the Saudi government in the turmoil following problems with the Saad Group and Algosaibi & Brothers megafirms. British banks are calling foul and expect the Saudis to give evenhanded treatment to all banks with exposure the those companies’ financial problems.
Trade minister flies to Saudi Arabia to persuade defaulters
to treat creditors equally
Patrick Hosking, Financial EditorLord Davies of Abersoch, the Trade Minister, flew to Saudi Arabia last night to try to defuse a growing dispute that bankers say could do as much damage to the Gulf’s bruised financial reputation as the Dubai shock of ten days ago.
Bankers are furious that two defaulting Saudi conglomerates that owe $20 billion (£12.2 billion) appear to be favouring local banks over foreign creditors. State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Standard Chartered are all understood to have exposure to Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Bros (Ahab). Dozens of other Western banks are also owed money, including Citigroup and BHP Paribas.
Bankers suspect that the two family-owned businesses, which defaulted over the summer, have privately reached agreement with local Saudi banks over restructuring their loans while leaving foreign banks in the cold. One senior banker told The Times yesterday: “Local banks appear to have been given preference.”
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The big news, anticipated in the media for over a year, is that Prince Sultan, the Crown Prince, is finally returning to the Kingdom. He had been in ill health, with rumors flying around about just what was the matter with him. One report notoriously had him dying while being treated abroad—that ended up with a foreign journalist losing his accreditation in the Kingdom. Media have reported that he was undergoing medical treatment in the US and recuperation in Morocco. A big welcome is expected…
As I find almost always the case, Mshari Al-Zaydi’s column in Asharq Alawsat is worth reading. He notes how there is a tendency among some to find the hand of an angry God in every disaster that befalls mankind. While it’s not exclusive to Muslims, they seem to have raised it to an art form. An art, clearly not a logical science, because logic would imply that when nations succeed they have the blessing of God. Thus, God must be angry at Muslims as he allows other peoples to get rich, avoid calamities, and progress while Islamic nations idle in pools of excuse-making.
Do read the whole piece.
A Disaster is a Disaster!
Mshari Al-ZaidiIn every disaster and tragedy, there are those who suffer and those who benefit. Those who suffer are the ones the disaster affected directly while the beneficiaries are those who capitalize on this disaster and the fear brought about from its occurrence by marketing a specific product to those in fear whether that product is materialistic or moral.
In financial crises, consultants and advisors recommend safe haven investments. When it comes to incurable diseases, which exhaust medical research, there are those who always offer easy solutions by deluding patients into thinking that their condition is curable. This is playing with a patient’s feelings who would eventually say, “I’ve got nothing to lose!”
In any major environmental crisis, such as the dreadful [2004] Tsunami, overwhelming seasonal fires or the global warming phenomenon that is worrying the world, some people try to exploit such an atmosphere, not by claiming to have the ability to put a stop to such catastrophes, as they are not yet that arrogant or audacious, but rather by taking advantage of the collective feeling of fear of the unknown and the fate of humans on this planet and thereby marketing certain ideas and explanations that bolster their intellectual orientation and ideological model. Merchants of crises are present everywhere and at all times.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz report on a dark current running within Saudi society: violence, both physical and psychological. While domestic violence against men is largely underreported around the world, I’m a bit shocked to find that over 50% of Saudi men (at least those in this study) report being the victims of violence. Admittedly, much of the violence comes not from their wives, but their wives brothers, but that’s still an amazing percentage.
This is an area, I think, in which King Abdullah’s ‘National Dialogues’ could serve a useful purpose. Getting people to talk about their feelings instead of acting on them can only be useful to society.
Half of married get abuse from wives and families
Abdullah Al-DaniJEDDAH – While domestic abuse of women by their husbands is a commonly documented social problem, a study revealed that 57 percent of married men say they themselves have been subject to “revenge violence” on the part of their wives’ brothers.
The study, which was released last week by the Roy’ah Center for Social Studies and covered almost all regions of the Kingdom, showed that most male spouses subject to attacks from brothers-in-law were aged between 20 and 29.
A further 33 percent of married males questioned revealed that they had been subject to violence from their offspring, with most of those expressing such a complaint were between ages 45 and 49 years.
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As I’ve noted before (see yesterday’s post), Saudis and the Saudi media are reticent about publicizing the names of criminals. The only exceptions that come to mind are those on ‘most-wanted’ terrorist lists, non-Saudis, and those who have been executed (or soon will be). There seems to be a feeling that the punishment of public shaming extends beyond the malefactor to his family who are innocent of crimes.
That may be the social/political reasoning, but it’s not good Islamic reasoning, according to Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obeikan. In fact, he’s quoted as saying in this Saudi Gazette article, publicly naming the criminals behind the Jeddah disaster is a religious duty. He also notes, a tad disingenuously, that for mysterious reasons, some people seem to have immunity from prosecution when it comes to corruption. Well, in Saudi Arabia, some people have near-total immunity from any prosecution; that’s a fact.
Whether that fact can be changed is the question.
Naming and shaming is King’s decision: Obeikan
Naeem Tameem Al-HakimJEDDAH – Advisor to the Royal Court Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obeikan has said that persons culpable in the loss of life and damage caused in the recent Jeddah floods should be publicly named as “ordered by Shariah law”, but that the identification of individuals concerned is a matter on which only the King has the final say.
“Defamation under these circumstances is a pressing matter as persons involved in the disaster have committed a great sin manifested in the misuse of public funds, destruction of public facilities and the death of innocent people,” Sheikh Al-Obeikan told Okaz newspaper. “Islamic Shariah orders it and scholars have called for it.”
Al-Obeikan said that any delay in bringing accusation of corruption to trial or passing “too lenient” sentences could only exacerbate the problem of corruption.
“The King’s wisdom and far-sightedness has, however, hastened the eradication of the corrupt and corruption,” Al-Obeikan said.
According to the Sheikh, deterrent penalties are sufficient, but the failings lie in the process of accountability.
“Some persons guilty of corruption do not get taken to court, for reasons unknown to me,” Al-Obeikan said, “If every case went to court, corruption would have not spread as much, even though the government is making considerable efforts to eradicate it.”
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In this Asharq Alawsat column, Saudi journalist Hussein Shobokshi sees King Abdullah’s ordered investigation into the causes of the Jeddah floods to be the opening round of a nationwide effort to stop corruption. He, and other Saudis, will know far better than I about the level and sorts of corruption involved, but it is certainly the topic of the day.
In Order Not To Throw Away a Historical Opportunity
Hussein ShobokshiThe date of 25 November will remain engraved in the minds and memories of the Saudi people for a long time to come. This was the day that King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz initiated a project to fight corruption. This project is one of the by-products of the disastrous Jeddah floods that claimed the lives of more than one hundred people, destroyed homes and cars, and threatened the city’s giant sewage lake (the dams of which may collapse and cause another disaster for the people of Jeddah). The public rejoiced at the statement issued by King Abdullah, and they consider this to be a bold and historic position. They believe this to be an unprecedented step towards putting an end to administrative violations in their cities, specifically by putting an end to the corruption that was revealed in the sewage system in Jeddah, as well as accountability for those officials responsible for this disaster.
Jeddah paid a heavy price for such negligence, disregard, and corruption. Due to its sewage problem, Jeddah is ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the world, and it has witnessed a 40 percent increase of certain types of cancer compared to other areas in Saudi Arabia, as well as increased incidents of inflammatory diseases, hepatitis, and allergies. This is not to mention the destruction of some buildings, and cracks appearing in others due to the contamination of the ground-water. This was all the result of corruption in the execution of the sewage network project. This project was carried out without proper supervision, and implemented without proper checks.
The investigation into corruption in Jeddah has begun, and everybody must cooperate with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz, in order to reveal what is hidden and bring to light the problems that the city suffers from that have never been addressed.
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Arab News reports that corrupt officials, in matters unrelated to the flooding, have been sentenced by Jeddah courts. I note that the report follows the Saudi penchant for not publishing the names of those convicted. While I understand the argument that the shame of having their names published would spread to their families, I think there’s a better argument that making use of the honor/shame culture’s tools would serve to decrease corruption.
Court fines corrupt officials SR3.83m
JEDDAH: The Court of Grievances has fined officials convicted of taking bribes a total of SR2.31 million. It also fined people involved in forgery a total of SR1.52 million during a three-month period this year.
Abdul Aziz Al-Qaeeb, director of the research department at the Control and Investigation Bureau (CIB), said 43 officials were fined a total of SR145,500 for exploiting their influence and 14 officials SR94,730 in total for misusing their power.
He said the bureau had transferred 748 cases to the Court of Grievances during the period of June 24-Sept. 20 this year.
“The Administrative Court at the Court of Grievances has already handed out punishments to the culprits including imprisonment and fines,” he said, adding that there were 573 cases related to forgery, 73 cases of bribe-taking, 14 cases relating to the misuse of authority and 43 of exploitation of influence.
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In another piece about the flooding, the paper translates an article from the Arabic daily Al-Watan in which the writer suggests that those found guilty of corruption should also be forced to pay the damages resulting from the floods… out of their own pockets.
Make culprits pay damages
Qenan Al-Ghamdi | Al-WatanTHERE are four or five wadis (valleys) in Jeddah which, in the event of rain, carry water, sometimes in torrents, down to the sea. Some of these valleys were turned into residential areas at different times in the past.
The plots of land were acquired by con men in one way or another; the con men legally owned the land and had the proper documents signed and stamped by the required judges. Then they obtained licenses, which bore the stamps and signatures of the relevant officials in the municipality. The con men then sold the plots to citizens who got construction licenses from the municipality.
The citizens then built houses which were duly connected to all the required services — electricity, water, telephone — and they lived in the houses. Then the disaster happened. The floods came and made it clear through death and destruction that they would not allow houses, cars or human beings to block their passage to the sea.
The floods took no notice of the legal documents and the official signatures on the documents.
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Saudi Gazette notes that the investigatory commission is making use of newspaper archives to see what writers—and readers who wrote back to the papers—have said about Jeddah’s infrastructure’s failings. It is considering opening an on-line portal through which citizens could make suggestions for improvements. I’ll be curious to see how that works!
Meanwhile, the Easter Province is getting nervous about three days of rain, according to Arab News. Local flooding is causing problems, but so far it’s only problems, not catastrophes.
Another Muslim cracks due to psychological strain—this time a Saudi—and kills someone. As of yet, there’s no great hullabaloo in the media or blogs about it being the actions of a crypto-jihadi. I guess we can be grateful for that…
As Arab News reports, Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani was a doctoral student in cultural anthropology. Other reports, as this one from The New York Times, say that he was under enormous financial pressure, failing to get financial aid to conduct his doctoral field research, and panicking as a result. He sought to change his department—a rather desperate move at the doctoral level—if it would lead to financial assistance. The fact that Al-Zahrani is being charged with second-degree murder. that is murder with no premeditation, and suggests that authorities are accepting that this was the action of someone who simply lost it. That’s little consolation for the professor who was killed, his family, and the university.
Saudi student accused in US professor’s murder
Barbara Ferguson | Arab NewsWASHINGTON: A graduate student from Saudi Arabia was charged on Saturday with killing a retired anthropology professor, a specialist in Islamic and Middle Eastern studies with whom he had worked.
Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, 46, a native of Saudi Arabia studying for a doctorate in cultural anthropology, was charged with second-degree murder, and is being held without bail after a brief arraignment.
Al-Zahrani allegedly pulled out a six-inch kitchen knife and stabbed Richard Antoun, 77, an emeritus professor of anthropology and peace activist, four times in the chest in the professor’s campus office Friday.
The two knew each other through the anthropology graduate program.
On Sunday, members of the Islamic community gathered in Johnson City to remember Antoun and to denounce the act of violence that took his life.
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In a clear—and bitter—signed editorial, Arab News”s Editor in Chief Khaled Al-Maeena writes about the Jeddah floods. He excoriates officials and society for accepting unacceptable performance, construction, and corruption in Saudi infrastructure. The country, he says, is incapable of being pro-active, instead relying on being re-active, and that comes far too late. He notes the lack of emergency shelters anywhere in the country as well as any sort of emergency planning. He casts strong doubts on the capability of Saudi construction firms to produce solid and safe products, an accusation that should cause a ripple of fear across the country. Substandard construction that cuts corners may work and for a long time if it goes unstressed. When stress is applied, though, it washes away.
Cascading effects of apathy
Khaled AlmaeenaWhen rainfall occurs in parched lands with no rivers, people rejoice. From the Thar Desert in India’s northern state of Rajasthan to the arid regions of Arizona and Australia, people rejoice. This was not, however, the case in Jeddah recently. On the 8th of Dul Hijjah (Wednesday, Nov. 25) as I was preparing to go to Mina after morning prayers, I could hear the thunderstorms. The first indication of problems was the loss of electric power.
Later at about 10:30 a.m. as our bus made its way down Madinah Road south of the Square Bridge, we could see the water in front of the International Market; it was rising in the heavy rain. We continued on and as we passed the InterContinental, we saw a Baladia (municipality) vehicle pumping water off the road. This was the start of what grew more serious and more alarming as we proceeded. When we were near the stadium in south Jeddah, we saw cars which had stalled in the water; some were being swept away by the waters. Our bus continued and as we passed the Prince Fawaz Housing Project, the gravity of the situation began to impress itself upon us. On the Makkah-Jeddah highway, we saw a car totally submerged in water. There was nothing we could do. Fearing for their lives, some drivers tore down the fence separating the road and drove their cars on the “wrong side” of the highway. We saw no single police car; nor did we hear the whirring of any Civil Defense helicopter. It was clear the situation was very serious — for many, life-threatening. At Arafat, all we could do was pray that the loss of life and damage to property would be minimal. On YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, the pictures — and Jeddah’s tragedy — were soon being looked at in amazement all over the world.
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According to this Asharq Alawsat article, the Jeddah Municipality will be taking the hard, expensive, and not-totally-popular choices to avoid a repeat of the killer floods that ravaged the city last month. It will drain ‘Lake Misk’, remove unauthorized residential neighborhoods that now sit in the flood plains of the various wadis, and establish containment for rainfall east of the city. The engineer interviewed for the article mentions ‘evaporation lakes [plants]‘ but gives no details about how or whether sewage is to be treated before its waters are diverted to the Red Sea. I’m sure there’s something, but just what that is will be of concern and interest to Jeddah residents and those working to improve the health of the Red Sea. The Saudis are not going to be pumping raw sewage into the sea, of that I’m quite confident. But just how it will be treated would be good to learn.
Lake Misk to be Drained within a Year
Ali Sharaya and Amal BaqziJeddah, Asharq Al-Awsat – The Jeddah municipality has been instructed by the senior government to remove Misk Lake in eastern Jeddah, entirely draining it within a year, as well as restoring the floodplain in Jeddah, even if this includes removing the residential neighbourhoods that have sprung up along there, such as the Safa and Al Samir 3 neighbourhoods.
Engineer Ibrahim Ketabkhane, the Jeddah undersecretary for projects and reconstruction, informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Jeddah municipality plans to restore the Jeddah floodplain [safety area for excess rain water to collect], either by removing the residential neighbourhoods that have sprung up in this area, or by constructing water catchments in eastern Jeddah that connect directly to the water ducts that flow into the sea.
Ketabkhane confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that following guidance from the Governor of Mecca, Prince Khalid al Faisal, Misk [sewage] lake will be drained throughout the year, with this water being sent to the eight evaporation lakes [plants] near the sewage lake. Sewage will no longer be pumped into this lake, and it will be turned into a tertiary treatment plant. Misk Lake previously saw its storage capacity increase from 30 thousand cubic meters to 60 thousand cubic meters at the beginning of the month.
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As an oil-producing state, Saudi Arabia certainly has an interest in the debate about global warming. Moves to get away from the use of fossil fuels directly affects its economy. Acceleration of those moves for political purposes, rather than market forces, is seen as a serious threat to that economy. Thus, it’s not surprising that the country pays a lot of attention—more than much of the Western media, in fact—to challenges directed at the conventional wisdom about Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW).
A major challenge to that ‘wisdom’ came out a couple of weeks ago. Documents, programming, data, and e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at East Anglia University in the UK, obtained through either a hack or a whistle-blower, suggested that the ‘science’ on AGW is less grounded in fact that one might have supposed. It also suggested that there may have been criminal actions taken by the CRU to hide inconvenient facts. The head of that unit has ‘temporarily stepped down’ while the issue is being investigated. The UN, sponsor of the IPCC reports on global warming—for which, incidentally, the Climate Research Unit has been one of the primary resources—has ordered its own investigation. The US Congress, too, is looking into the matter and how it may have compromised the science used by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
As world leaders descend on Copenhagen for the newest round of talks on global climate, Saudi Arabia is concerned that politically-driven agendas will swamp the actual science, at Saudi expense.
The ‘solutions’ to global warming, with a price tag in the trillions of dollars, make sense only if they will actually address the issue. If global warming is the result of factors other than human activity, then a different set of solutions might be required. Throwing money at the wrong cause only wastes money without solving the problems.
‘E-mail leak will impact UN climate summit’
K.S. Ramkumar | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Chief Climate Negotiator Mohammad Al-Sabban has said that an e-mail leak from the Climatic Research Unit in Norwich, UK, will have a “huge impact” on this week’s UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
He made it clear that he expects it to derail the main objective of the summit — to agree limitations in greenhouse gas emissions.
“It appears from the details of the scandal that there is no relationship whatsoever between human activities and climate change,” he told BBC News. “Climate is changing for thousands of years, but for natural and not human-induced reasons.”
The Kingdom has seized on a series of stolen British university e-mails to become the first country to officially cast doubt on the consensus about man-made climate change ahead of the summit.
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Not surprisingly, the flood disaster in Jeddah continues to dominate Saudi news. The official investigation was launched on Saturday and the media are busy highlighting stories that could serve to direct the investigatory commission’s view.
There’s no doubt that the flooding has been the fulcrum that is moving the Saudi state in a new direction, much as the 2002 fire at a girls’ school in Mecca served to lever the Saudi religious establishment out of its self-described position as ‘protector of all things’. Now, allegations and counter-allegations of government malfeasance, particularly in the Jeddah mayor’s office, are flying back and forth.
Credit: Saudi Gazette
Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that a mighty amount of money has been spent by the mayor’s office over the years to mitigate flooding problems, US $373 million, going back to 1971. Plans dating back to the reign of King Faisal were never put into action, the report says:
SR1.4 billion spent on Jeddah water drainage network in 38 years: Official
The papers report, in English and Arabic, the the courts in Jeddah are absolving themselves of any responsibility for the disaster. While the courts must approve land purchase agreements, says Rashed Al-Hazza, Chief Judge of the Jeddah General Court, the agreements must first receive approval from 12 different government departments:
… Jeddah Mayoralty, the National Guard, Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Guidance, and Endowments, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the Road and Transport Administration, the Mineral Resources Agency, the Border Guard, the Saudi Electricity Company, the Antiquities Department at the Ministry of Education, and the Aziziya Spring Water Department, he said. If one government department claims ownership or does not approve private ownership for any reason, the court does not issue the land title.
…Arab News is also direct in its allocation of responsibility:
That paper also offers an editorial on the inadequate response of government to the catastrophe:
Jeddah continues struggle with the catastrophic consequences of last week’s flooding, as public anger rises, both at the extraordinary infrastructural failures that exacerbated the effects of the sudden downpour and at the grievous inadequacy of the official response to the disaster.
The public mood is all too understandable. What is less fathomable is the continuing patchiness of the response from the authorities and the general lack of coordination. It seems that too many officials are waiting for someone else to take the initiative, with the result that those few who are really trying to sort out part of the mess are effectively working in isolation.
The issue of disease is a case in point. After the rains hit Makkah with less horrific consequences, helicopters were used to spray standing pools of fetid water, to reduce the risk of malaria, dengue fever or typhoid. No such spraying appears to have yet taken place in Jeddah. Nor has there been any significant effort to draw up these stagnant pools into tankers and take the water away for safe disposal outside the city.
…Further, Arab News carries a story about the Kingdom’s weather, from a Saudi climatologist. Things are looking damp for parts of the country, he says, though not on an ahistoric level. The scientist attributes the disaster to inadequate infrastructure and to public unawareness of the potential problem of heavy rains…
The full extent of the disastrous Jeddah floods is still being determined, Saudi media report. Arab News gives the latest tallies of deaths and displacements, noting that there are still people missing.
Jeddah flood toll reaches 113
Muhammad Humaidan | Arab NewsJEDDAH: Jeddah witnessed light rain on Friday afternoon causing locals to fear a repeat of last week’s deluge and ensuing floods that immersed entire districts, destroyed thousands of cars and killed an unknown number of people.
Civil Defense and Director of Disaster Management Brig. Muhammad Al-Qarni told Arab News on Friday that the official number of flood victims stood at 113 and the number of missing increased to 48.
Al-Qarni said that the committees formed to find housing for the victims managed to provide shelter to 5,104 families comprising 19,950 people. He said that the committee also distributed aid to 5,341 families comprising 20,729 persons.
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Some of those missing may be in a large pit, left by incomplete project construction undertaken by, but also abandoned by, the National Water Company, the paper reports. This hazard, about which nearby residents had been complaining for months, provided a repository for vehicles swept away in the flash flooding, many with victims still inside.
‘Death hole’ at Kilo 11 holds many bodies
JEDDAH: No one paid much attention to the huge gathering of people around a big hole located at Kilo 11 near Um Al-Salam district east of the Haramain Expressway.
People are now used to seeing such gatherings everywhere because of the rescue operations and recovery of bodies. That location is particularly unique because many people are calling that location “the death hole,” because underneath is a large number of bodies that are not yet recovered.
People gathering in that hole ignore the simple rule of safety: Stay away from danger areas. Nosy people are camping in that area day and night, waiting for a body to be discovered. The nosy people are gathering next to the backhoe, which could accidentally hit one of the bystanders during excavation efforts.
According to the residents in the area, the hole belongs to the National Water Company. The company has been conducting a project on that site for the past 18 months, but in the past five months the company put the project on hold and covered the hole. The hole is 16 meters deep.
The fast-moving floodwater dragged all the cars to this hole. One of the worst tragedies ever to be told about this hole is the discovery of the body of 10 people, five of them from one family. Efforts are still continuing even after more than one week from the rain to recover the bodies and cars buried underneath.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that the investigation into the causes of the failure of flood prevention is starting up with a look at what has gone before. That’s a reasonable place to begin, determining earlier assessments of the dangers and the quality of the steps taken to mitigate them.
History of flood-damaged districts under scrutiny
Faleh Al-DhuyabiJEDDAH – The investigation committee formed by King Abdullah to probe the Jeddah rainstorm disaster is scheduled to start its work Saturday.
The committee is tasked with establishing the cause and trying to determine the responsibility for the death of over 100 people and the massive damage of private and public properties.
The committee is seeking the help of experts to study floodwater drainage projects in Jeddah to probe whether they have met the standards set in the bid contract. The group of experts, according to sources, will be carefully selected to enable them to study the design of the drainage network and follow its course throughout the city.
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Meanwhile, residents of Riyadh are getting nervous. Rain is predicted for the central Nejd and the capital’s drainage infrastructure is in no better shape than Jeddah’s was. Riyadh has seen serious flooding—though less damaging—over the past two years. Residents aren’t encouraged by official statements about re-evaluating the system after the rain. I wonder why…
Rains leave Riyadh residents wondering: What is in store for us?
