Mental Mayhem

News and views from the nation's capital

Archive for June, 2006

Hope renewed: Kuwaiti women take their place

June 29th, 2006

I have a confession to make: Kuwaiti women have renewed my hope in the Arab world, especially when it comes to the issue of Arab women’s rights. Kuwaiti women fought for years until they finally got the right to vote and run for parliament. It was today that we saw this materialize, as elections took place with the participation of female candidates for the very first time in the history of the Gulf emirate. The reason I’m so enchanted by this major step is because it is positive development amidst the plethora of heart-wrenching regional news.

The Washington Post ran a profile today of Kuwaiti female parliament candidate Rola Dashti. It is worth a read. In addition, Mona Eltahway wrote an article on this important development for the New York Daily News. Here is an excerpt:

Whether Kuwaiti women win any seats or not, they can rest assured that not only have they made history, but they are chipping away at the excuses that for too long have held back their sisters in Saudi Arabia, the regional powerhouse. Last year, Saudi women were denied the right to take part in their country’s first nationwide elections. Advocates of women’s rights there will surely seize on the sight of women in neighboring Kuwait voting and running for office to strengthen their own case for getting to vote in the 2009 Saudi elections. It is a big step in the right direction.

Indeed it is a big step and a very inspiring one as well.

7 comments »

Posted in The Mideast

Jordan’s fight against corruption

June 26th, 2006

It seems efforts are underway to fight corruption in Jordan.

The Amman prosecutor general recently indicted 350 people on charges of corruption, a senior interior ministry official said on Monday. "Abuse of public and private posts has wrought havoc on our economy and development," said the official, preferring anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. "We need to send a message that Jordan is a safe country for foreign investors. We can only do that by cracking down on corruption."

The official went on to point out that, of the 350 indictments, at least 300 were handed out to members of the private sector. While he was unwilling to disclose the precise amounts of money involved in the cases, he conceded that some involved amounts in the millions of dollars. "Some cases involve hundreds or thousand of dollars, but others are in the tens of millions," he said. Source: [IRIN]

However, some remain skeptical.

"We have thousands of high-profile corruption cases, but they’re covered up by the government and influential personalities," said MP Abdul Rahim Malhas, who accused successive governments of "lacking serious motivation" for fighting corruption. "The past four governments used all kinds of rhetoric to announce their ‘wars on corruption’, but we later discovered that top officials from the same governments were themselves corrupt."

I guess one reason behind such cynicism is Jordan’s ranking in the official statistics:

In a 2005 report by corruption watchdog Transparency International, Jordan ranked 37th out of 145 countries in the world in terms of official corruption levels. The report ranked Jordan fourth in the Arab world, after Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

I think it’s best to take a "wait-and-see" attitude. Maybe Jordan’s shameful rating will improve after this new anti-corruption drive.

11 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation, Political mayhem

A look back: A young King Hussein

June 26th, 2006

My wonderful friend Muna provided me with this historic photo that shows the late King Hussein as a young boy sitting in the lap of his grandfather, King Abdullah I. Isn’t it just priceless! Thanks Muna!

8 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation, Shutterbug

A look back: Marka Airport arrival

June 24th, 2006

Reader Fred drew my attention to this Jordan-related photo on Flickr [click to enlarge]. From what I can see it is a snapshot of the arrival of a military convoy (I assume it is a British convoy) at Marka Airport. I just love old photos of Jordan.

4 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation, Shutterbug

Bigotry at Jordan’s education ministry

June 23rd, 2006

Renowned journalist Randa Habib, who heads the AFP bureau in Amman, reported in a column she writes for The Jordan Times a very disturbing situation. Here is an excerpt:

One of my readers called to tell me about this shocking problem: she works for a Christian who is in the field of education, but her boss is being refused any supply of books from departments that depend on the Ministry of Education. Why?

Well she is told that they will never provide books to this "kafer" (non-Muslim) whom they described as filth." My reader, a Muslim herself, was appalled and told those men that their attitude has nothing to do with Islam and its precepts of tolerance. But her speech had no effect on them. On the contrary, they criticized her for working for a non-Muslim.

My reader was very distressed when she called me, and told me that her boss is in fact thinking of emigrating. When I suggested that a complaint be filed, my caller expressed skepticism over the outcome. "Someone higher up in the Ministry of Education must know that such things are happening," she said. Do they?

The most disturbing part for me is that the bigot in this instance happens to work at a department related to the Ministry of Education, of all places. What kind of education is this person trying to instill in the youth of the kingdom? An education of intolerance, bigotry and hatred? Should I begin worrying about upcoming generations? Will this bigot’s brainwashing techniques ever reach them? It really disturbs me to see this happening in Jordan, which, in my opinion, remains a model of co-existence between Christians and Muslims. Hat tip: [Jordanblogger]

32 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation, Religion

Jordan’s Fastlink caught spying on competition

June 22nd, 2006

Jordanian blogger Basem drew attention to an article published in the on-line magazine Elaph (Arabic) where it was revealed that Jordan’s number one mobile operator — Fastlink — was found guilty of spying on Jordan’s second largest GSM provider, Mobilecom.

According to the article, Fastlink created a special unit solely dedicated to spying on Mobilecom. Fastlink hired employees and paid them salaries to perform these "spying" duties — yes, industrial espionage. The article in full is here (Arabic).

I wonder why the mainstream Jordanian media didn’t pick up and report this important piece of news. Why do we have to learn this kind of vital business story from an on-line source? Please correct me if I’m wrong, but so far I haven’t seen this report anywhere in the local media.

Why did Jordanian media shy away from reporting this? Maybe it’s simply because Fastlink is Jordan’s number one advertiser. The Jordanian press probably thinks twice before daring to air Fastlink’s dirty laundry, as they might risk losing a prime source of revenue. They will not bite the hand that feeds them. But then again, perhaps I’m just speculating!

6 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation, Media watch

Mona Eltahway details her Asharq al-Awsat banning

June 19th, 2006

Egyptian journalist and columnist Mona Eltahawy, who’s writing was banned from the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat publication, has written an op-ed for the International Herald Tribune explaining her experience with the Arab daily. You can read the whole article here. It’s worth your time. Here is an excerpt:

Writing for an Arab newspaper is like playing hopscotch in a minefield. From January 2004 until early this year I played my game of hopscotch in a weekly column on the opinion pages of Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based, Saudi-owned newspaper that is read across the Arab world. And then I stepped on a mine. Without warning or notice, fewer and fewer of my columns made it into print. Then my articles stopped appearing altogether. I had been banned.

Nobody tells you that you’re banned from an Arab paper — especially a paper that is supposedly the liberal home of writers banned from other papers, which is how Asharq al-Awsat portrays itself. Sadly, my experience is not unique. When I told a veteran Egyptian journalist that I had not been officially notified of my ban, he reminded me that he found out about his removal as editor of a newspaper in Egypt when he read about it in another newspaper.

16 comments »

Posted in Media watch

Poll: A majority of Jordanians call Zarqawi a ‘terrorist’

June 19th, 2006

This is a follow-up to my reply to Iraqi blogger Zeyad, who felt that the majority of Jordanians regard the late Zarqawi a martyr.

The death of al-Qaida’s chief in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, is still reverberating in Jordan, where the majority of the population sees him as a terrorist. An opinion poll conducted by the non-governmental organization Epsos Stat Center for daily al-Ghad indicated that 59 percent of Jordanians consider their countryman Zarqawi, whose real name is Ahmed Fadel al-Khalayila, a "terrorist." The poll, which surveyed 1,014 people over 18-years-old from various walks of life, also showed that 67 percent refused to see Zarqawi as a "martyr," as he was dubbed by Jordan’s Islamist movement, sparking an uproar among Jordanians.

…The poll, with a margin of error of 3.2 percent, indicated that 70 percent of the sample saw offering condolences for Zarwqawi’s death as a provocation of national sentiments, especially for the families of the Amman bombings in which 60 people died. Only 15 percent, mostly in the 18 to 39 age bracket, described Zarqawi as a "martyr" or an "ordinary citizen." Source: [UPI]

In addition, here is the article on the poll in Alghad (Arabic) and media-analyst and blogger Abu Aardvark’s take on the survey. Who knows, maybe this poll combined with the recent anti-Zarqawi demonstrations will motivate Zeyad to reconsider his position.

45 comments »

Posted in Jordan, my nation

Meeting the Moorish Girl

June 17th, 2006

I had the opportunity to meet Moroccan author Laila Lalami face-to-face the other day in Washington, and I must say that she is extremely admirable and more impressive in the flesh than in cyberspace. She was in Washington, DC this past Thursday to read some excerpts from her debut novel, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (signed copies link), which I read several months back and liked very much. I enjoyed her reading immensely as I did the discussions that followed. Lalami eloquently managed to answer every question directed at her, the majority of which came from euroarabe.

One question someone asked was who she has in mind as her audience when she writes. Her reply was simply: "I write for myself. I am my ideal audience." I thought the answer was brilliant because as an aspiring fiction writer myself I tend to fall into the trap of thinking a great deal about my audience, something that can sometimes make me feel mentally impotent. I end up failing to jot down anything for fear of retribution from a certain individual or a group. I think I will try her method and think solely of myself when I write.

It was also fascinating for me to see the large amount of her blog readers who showed up at the event. She got a great deal of praise for her blog from the audience with one describing her site as "the best literary blog out there." Following the reading, I had a quick but pleasant chat with Laila in which we exchanged compliments and pleasantries and took a couple of pictures. The husband and I wrapped up the evening with a nice dinner in DuPont Circle with some wonderful friends, including Basboos, Leilouta and her husband, euroarabe, and another non-blogger friend of ours. All in all it was a perfect day in the city.

5 comments »

Posted in Books, Metro Daze, Shutterbug, Weblogs

No more Philipino maids in Jordan

June 15th, 2006

Human rights groups on Wednesday welcomed a decision by the government of the Philippines to stop sending domestic helpers to Jordan, saying such a step would highlight the abuse Philipinos and other nationals are subjected to at the hands of Jordanian families that employ them.

"These types of measures will positively contribute to providing protection to domestic helpers who suffer due to lack of proper legislations that could protect them," said Assem Rababah, President of the Adaleh Centre for Human Rights Studies (ACHRS) in Amman, Jordan. Hundreds of Filipina domestic helpers working with Jordanian families are being physically and sexually abused, and spend months or years without being paid, according to rights activists. Source: [IRIN]

This is a bold movement by the government of the Philippines. Hopefully it will shine some light on the abuse that many of these maids are subjected to on a daily basis.