The UK’s Telegraph reports that Saudi Arabia’s clerics are warning that there will be no virgins in the Kingdom within ten years of permitting women to drive. What’s more, allowing them to drive will lead to an increase in prostitution, pornography, and homosexuality. I guess they’re pretty scared of women if they imbue them with such awesome power!
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will be ‘end of virginity’
Allowing women drivers in Saudi Arabia will tempt them into sex, promote pornography and create more homosexuals, according to some conservative Muslim scholars
Andy BloxhamAcademics at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, which is Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, said the relaxation of the rules would inevitably lead to “no more virgins”.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are banned from driving.
The academics, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the conservative King Fahd University, produced the conclusions in a report for the country’s legislative assembly, the Shura Council.
It warned that allowing women to drive would “provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce”.
Within 10 years of the ban being lifted, it claimed, there would be “no more virgins” in the Islamic kingdom.
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The Nitiqat program to put Saudis into jobs in preference to foreign workers is running into a bottleneck in at least one sector: Transport. Even at relatively high salaries, Arab News reports, few Saudis are interested in becoming truck drivers. The work is hard; the hours long. As a result, 90% of the trucking firms are in the ‘Red’ classification within the program. This classification prohibits them from new hiring from abroad and, worse, leaves their employees open to being poached by companies in the highest ‘Green’ class.
Transport companies are asking that the classifications be revisited for the sector as it is critical to the national economy. They seek a lower quota of Saudi employees than in other sectors.
Crisis looms in transport sector as companies unable to hire Saudis
ARAB NEWSDAMMAM: A large number of companies in the transport sector say they are facing the prospect of either winding down or incurring huge losses as they struggle to adhere to the Nitaqat program.
About 90 percent of companies in this vital sector are listed in the red category, meaning they are far below their Saudization targets. The Labor Ministry had given these companies Nov. 26 as the deadline to comply with the regulation or face penal action.
Several investors in the road transport sector said Saudis were reluctant to take up jobs in the field, especially to work as heavy vehicle drivers because the job is considered tough and hard, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily said in a recent report.
Fahd Al-Shuraie, chairman of the land transportation committee at the Asharqia Chamber, said the ministry’s insistence on implementing Nitaqat in the transport sector would result in most companies failing to meet their targets.
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Al-Majalla magazine runs an excellent interview with Daniel Yergin, author of the award-winning book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power, talking about his latest research and analysis. That analysis is published in his most recent book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World.
In just a few short years, the global outlook on energy – its supply, production, and use – have changed dramatically. He talks about ‘peak oil’, new efforts in alternative energies (and their limitations), and a growing demand for natural gas by oil producing states. The interview is worth reading in full, and so is the book.
Shifting Energy Landscapes
An interview with Daniel Yergin
Andrew BowenIn an exclusive interview with The Majalla, Daniel Yergin provides an insightful analysis of the changing geopolitics of energy and its implications for the world today. He also explores questions about the future of oil and the role of new technologies in changing this energy landscape. He examines energy security in light of the Arab Spring, before finally discussing the Middle East’s future and changing role in the worldwide energy market. Yergin also presents a candid analysis of the future of nuclear energy after Fukushima.
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Arab News runs some interesting statistics about Saudi students studying abroad. It finds that overall, 21% of the students are female. For those studying in the US, the percentage of female students rises to 30%. Within Saudi Arabia, over 50% of students in Saudi universities are women, as is the case in the US. The differences in the male/female balance are, I believe, entirely understandable. Parents are reluctant to send their children – and especially their daughters – to places they consider dangerous. The US Fulbright student exchange program for the Middle East, for instance, sees far more males than females, while those to Western Europe see them in equal numbers. And many Saudi parents consider the US to be dangerous, physically, morally, or both.
30% of Saudi student scholars in US are women
GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: Women account for a third of the 47,000 Saudi students on the King Abdullah foreign scholarship program in the United States, according to an official from the Saudi mission in the US.
Assistant Cultural Attaché for Administrative and Financial Affairs at the US Embassy in Washington Abdul Ramhan bin Muhammad Al-Subayyil said the seventh year of the King Abdullah Scholarship Project for Studies Abroad, which commenced a few days ago, enrolled 6,300 new students to join US universities.
Six years ago, when the project started in 2005, there were only 2,500 students subscribed and the present figures reveal how much they have increased in the US alone, he added. Director of Cultural and Social Affairs at the mission Moudi Al-Khalaf said in a statement earlier that the number of Saudi women students in the US was not that significant compared to other countries where Saudi students are studying.
She added that 21 percent of all students on the project in 30 countries are women.
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It’s only days old, but Saudi Arabia’s new unemployment compensation program, Hafiz is already being hit by scammers. Arab News reports that the names of 3,000 Saudis, unfortunately deceased, have found their way onto the rolls. Government-provided money is often seen as ‘free’ money. This is true all over the world. Dead citizens are also handy for gaming systems because they never complain. Good record-keeping is about the only way this blight can be addressed and it appears that the Saudi government is on top of things here.
3,000 dead people found their way to Hafiz list
ARAB NEWSJEDDAH: The names of around 3,000 dead people have been found in a list of those registered with the Hafiz unemployment assistance program, Labor Minister Adel Fakeih has said.
“It is regretful that some weak-minded people are trying to exploit the Hafiz system by stealing the identities of the dead. This unscrupulous practice was detected after verifying 12 databases shared by a number of government agencies,” he said.
The minister said some unemployed youths saw Hafiz as a social security scheme, Al-Eqtisadiah business daily reported on Wednesday.
“On the contrary, it is a system initiated by the ministry to support jobseekers by providing them training and making job opportunities available to them, in addition to extending financial support to them for a full year,” he said.
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