I would like to commend the media for their swift and detailed reporting of the Makkah school tragedy and for rightly pointing fingers of accusations and demanding action from those responsible. The incident, which has evoked so much emotion and fury among the general public has brought to the forefront sentiments against government officials in general. This is something rarely seen though bottled up for too long. It is about time the media took charge of matters and reflected the ill-will prevaling on the street toward the utter incompetence and ineptitude of some of these officials, if not most of them.
Apart from the disaster, which is unforgivable, I am not quite able to find words to describe my rage when I read that certain parties did not allow good-intentioned Samaritans to help in putting out the fire because they were male and therefore should not enter a girls school. Who gave these people the right to decide whether these poor children and teachers should live, die or suffer? In fact, who are these people in whose hands the fate of our daughters and sisters lies? Do any of the parents know them? Have they specifically agreed to give them this gargantuan responsibility? I was under the impression that this right was reserved for the Lord Himself. Had it been their daughters or wives or mothers who were being skewered alive, I wonder if the outcome would have been different.
It is time these people realized that they will no longer be able to hide behind the veils of secrecy and silence and that they will be required, and indeed challenged, to answer for their actions or more importantly their inactions. We are sick and tired of these bureaucrats and others, taking no responsibility and facing no accountability for their appointed jobs. We are now a nation that has reached a critical mass in terms of the size of the population, and this desperately requires leadership, vision, and responsibility on the part of these officials.
Otherwise we will forever be stuck in a never never-land as we are today and have been for a while. Whilst the rest of the world is racing toward the 22nd century AD, we are perilously sliding toward the abyss of ignorance of the 22st century BC. In truth, even then there were civilizations better geared than we are here at present. We seem to be hopelessly insensitive toward the needs and will of the people. This must change.
And it is the media’s role to express these needs and keep them in the forefront, and to hound those who oppose them or do nothing about them, in particular when they have been appointed and are getting paid to do a particular job.
In closing, I urge the newspapers to continue on this fine path of expression and to lengthen their strides forward for all of our sakes and the sake of our children for whom we pray that they not face what other less fortunates have recently faced. And God bless.
— Rakan Alireza is a Saudi businessman based in Jeddah.