Saudization Back to Front

Nationwide Saudization campaigns have been going on for more than 15 years with results that can be rated, at best, below average. So why should we expect the next 15 years to be any better when all that is being proposed amounts to turning the same cube to look at it from a different angle? Isn’t it time to throw out the old cube and get ourselves a new one?

The private sector should be the driving force behind Saudization. However, businesses constantly complain that the educational and training establishments in our country are providing oranges while what they really need is apples. They have a valid point. However, how much have they done to help produce apples instead of oranges?

The way forward is to convince the private sector to participate and invest in education and training in order to raise the overall standard of graduates and help them develop skills, ethics and knowledge relevant to the real world. It sounds simple and it’s been said before, so why isn’t it happening? I think it is because we have been going about it all wrong from the beginning.

Assume we leave out small businesses and focus on the big fish. Big fish are given the green light to start operating with 100 percent expatriate staff on the condition that 5 percent will be replaced by Saudis every year. Fifteen years down the road we should be at about 70 percent Saudization. Instead we are struggling along with under half that figure.

How many local and multinational projects, corporations, hotels, restaurants, and hospitals have been established over the last 15 years and how many jobs have they created? How many of these jobs have gone to Saudis?

If all the organizations that have the influence, funds and staying power were obliged to start operating with 50 percent Saudis, they would find a way to do so.

It would add an extra couple of million to their initial investment of hundreds of millions, and they might have to delay their launches by a few months. But other than that, no harm would be done. In addition, they would have helped establish a system to better prepare future graduates for a professional working environment.

This would make it easier to hire Saudis in the future.

Regulations that protect local workers are practiced all over the world. A five-star hotel in any Arab country will start with 90 percent locals. The same hotel can afford to do what it takes to prepare a 50 percent Saudi work force here. Saudi Arabian Airlines offices abroad have staff from the host country (which is fair). How many Saudis are working in foreign airline offices here?

There is still time to enforce regulations on the new generation of investors for the sake of a new generation of Saudi youth. We have lost one generation to unemployment due to back to front Saudization. Let’s try not to lose a second.

Waleed Al-Masri • Riyadh published 27 October 2004

Learning Arabic

Though “Suddenly, Arabic Is in Great Demand” as a report (Oct. 23) indicated, the state of Arabic schools — or mainly the lack thereof — here in the Kingdom is unbelievable. In the United States I studied Spanish, French and Portuguese and even Arabic. But here I have had the hardest time finding classes. Sure, there are some beginning levels available, but beyond that, good luck. The timings are inconvenient, the methods are awful, and often the courses are far too expensive. It’s hard to believe that it is so difficult to learn a country’s language when you actually live in that country, but find it much easier to study it abroad. Shouldn’t the government be providing free classes in companies, neighborhoods and at night schools? It would be a service to Muslims, those interested in Arabic culture and to the Kingdom itself. What other strategy could mesh so well with the aims of making “ambassadors” of those who come to Saudi Arabia from abroad?

Jamila Louise, Jeddah published 27 October 2004

Switching to Etisalat

After reading the report “Many Saudis May Switch to Etisalat” (Oct. 23), I reacted as a person with professional experience in marketing and sales. I can say with certainty that the number 1 rule in offering service of any kind is that you consider the “customer” the most intelligent and clever person on Earth. Most customers come to you after a thorough survey of the market. It is time STC realized this. The way STC has been skinning international calls, the internet charges, the discounted rates timings, etc., are outrageously high compared to what is charged in every other country.

And it must be the only telephone company in the world that disconnects your landline or cell phone without even sending a bill for it. STC takes the decision to disconnect a line on the basis of the calling credit-limit, a figure predetermined by STC itself. If STC still doesn’t know where it stands in customer esteem, it soon will — the moment Etisalat comes in. There is one disturbing question that suggests itself: Since STC is incapable of improving the quality of its services, the only way it can retain its market share is for it to pressurize Etisalat to follow its inefficient policies. Will Etisalat allow itself to be so pressured? In any case, welcome Etisalat.

Nadeem Shah • Jeddah published 27 October 2004

Switching to Etisalat [2]

It is not only Saudis alone who will rush to switch to Etisalat. There are a lot of expatriates waiting to make the dash the moment the new provider enters the market. At this point in time, I think STC will have to make real efforts to save itself. It will have to reinvent itself — with a new culture, management style, customer contact and so on.

Kandak Suhail Ahmed • Riyadh published 27 October 2004

Taylor of Somalia

When Abdullah Yusuf Ahmed became president, Somalis knew that their troubles were nowhere near an end. In fact by giving the president’s office to a person who effectively is the Charles Taylor of Somalia, the international community has abdicated its responsibility to save the country from the warlords. Abdullah Yusuf was the man who started the chaos that destroyed Somalia when he launched a war against the Siyad Barre government in 1978. Since he had no plan or program, all that the war achieved was unending misery for the people. When such a man, accused widely of human rights violations, including murder, is anointed as president by the international community, the mistakes made in Liberia are being repeated.

If Abdullah Yusuf repeats Taylor’s actions, will those who have given him this new authority be able to take it away from him so that the people will be safe from his evil actions? I doubt it. So the price of a mistake will be paid once again by ordinary Somalis. But, next time around, they will not suffer quietly. I hope all will work to avid such a scenario.

Sadat Mohamed Yusuf • Mogadishu published 27 October 2004

Saving War Criminals

While being bombarded with strident claims by both the campaign teams about which of the presidential candidates will do a better job of bringing thugs and war criminals to justice, I happened to get a look at America’s record in this area. I found it at the website http://indictsharon.net/ which makes the case against Sharon’s role in the genocide of up to 2,000 Palestinians civilians in Sabra and Shatilla refugee camps on Sept. 16, 1982. However, the case against Ariel Sharon, the then Israeli defense minister, never saw the light, thanks to the Americans who did everything in their power to protect the war criminal.

The Belgians were “convinced” to make amendments to their unique law which allowed Belgian courts to prosecute war crimes regardless of where they occurred. Rather than dropping the law, the Belgian government amended it instead. “We have to keep the spirit of the genocide law, but we have to adapt it to ensure that people from ‘democratic nations’ and NATO allies are not affected,” said Karel De Gucht, chairman of the Flemish Liberal Democratic party.

Neat, wouldn’t you say? If war crimes are committed by the likes of Sharon, Bush, Rumsfeld, Lyddie England or any of those who are currently in the business of committing war crimes, it is no crime. If it is somebody else, it is different. You see American righteousness in action. It is a sad time for humanity when laws are changed to save war criminals.

Nizam Addien B. Yagoub • Dhahran published 27 October 2004

White House Race

Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid’s article “White House Race: Without Beating About the Bush” (Oct. 23) was the first article I’ve read that gives me any reason to have hope if Bush wins. I agree that for Arabs, either candidate is terrible, but I have placed my hope in Kerry’s common sense. Of course Bush’s friend Sharon is the biggest problem in this, but to be fair, Osama did huge harm to the Ummah. And as for Arafat.... Anyway, I think Bush may win without my vote. If so, like the Arab world, I must trust my prayers. I thank Rashid for his prediction that some good may come of it.

David Bradley • United States published 27 October 2004