Drive by any large undeveloped plot of land in Jeddah, and you will not help but observe an increasing number of people gathered around these areas, not unlike some watering holes in the wilds of the Serengeti.
With their vehicles parked closely by, these people often make a picnic of it on some sidewalk or the other, so long as it offers an unobstructed expanse of a view. Allowing their children to run and play freely on property that may one day soon cease to offer them such luxury, they make the most of it for the moment.
And the irony is that quite a few of such plots are within a few hundred meters from our stretch of the Corniche. A Corniche that once allowed them to breathe in the fresh air in a natural environment is rapidly becoming a center of expansion by greedy developers who are slowly shutting off all means of a simple getaway to the average ‘Joe’ and his family.
Today, most of these areas are adopting a ‘pay as you play’ attitude, one quite often beyond the means of the Saudi ‘Joe’. And much has been written in many columns on this dreadful expansion. In the local press, in both Arabic and English, several columns have publicly addressed the issue of this disfiguration, but for unexplained reasons our municipality chooses to remain mum on the subject.
And thus comes to mind the question. Do the bureaucrats at the municipality ever read the papers? Articles on civil issues that concern the citizenry of Jeddah? Or do they simply peruse the sports pages as they go daily about their business which in my judgment hasn’t been very impressive so far. I can state with a high degree of certainty that quite a few of them subscribe to stacks of newspapers daily, which is quite often the case with most bureaucrats here, but what exactly do they read?
So much has been written about the disposal of rainwater, trash collection, Corniche defilement, lack of public facilities, etc., etc., that if I were so inclined, I could write a doctoral thesis on these subjects, courtesy of the inefficiency or the lethargy of this monolith called the municipality!
Along similar perplexed lines, Sherry N. of Jeddah had this to add: "As I go about town during the week I can’t help but notice the number of teenage boys lolling outside malls or along the Corniche that should be in school. Instead of another mall that teenage boys can’t go into, how about constructing some sports facilities."
"We keep blaming the parents, the police etc. for the problems that these adolescent boys are causing, but what are their alternatives? Then, unfortunately when kids do get around to organizing something....officialdom steps in and screws it up."
"For example recently the girls of Dar Al Hikma organized a basketball tournament between them, some other girls’ schools and colleges and some orphanages. Then a high-ranking official in the concerned department (obviously an educated man himself!) announced that this is un-Islamic (not haram, but makrooh, I believe he said)....Well! I’m a new revert to Islam, but I can’t remember what page of the Qur’an that is on!"
"These girls went to the effort of organizing a great activity (that should have been organized for them) and then everything was dashed by a closed-minded official."
And then perhaps these newspapers are only being used as table mats or firewood by our bureaucrats. I can only conclude by smothering my face into a pillow and screaming ‘HELP’ at the top of my voice! At least I won’t have to pay anyone anything for that!
— Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]