JEDDAH, 20 August — In the face of Saudi Arabia’s quick and increasingly thorough immersion in the Information Age, there has been much discussion regarding how to structure access to the world of high technology here in the Kingdom. A great deal of this discussion has centered on the impact electronic information is having on social issues in Saudi Arabia.
One concern is that nuclear family life is being disrupted and communication within families is withering due to the proliferation of communication via the Internet. This is an issue with which every nation that has been exposed to the Internet, en masse, has been compelled to wrestle.
To some, the solution is to limit the time one can spend online, in order to force people to invest more time with their families. However, when discussing the regulation of something as far reaching, all-encompassing and multi-faceted as Internet communications, the dialogue needs to include all of the repercussions of the proposed regulation.
In Saudi Arabia, and the world over, there are fewer and fewer businesses of more than minor consequence that do not rely heavily on the Internet for their communications. From receiving sales orders, to distributing information to the general public, to keeping in touch with clients and potential clients via e-mail, even the proprietors of small to medium sized businesses spend a good portion of their day online. To limit how much time the general manager of a commercial concern can spend answering e-mails, for example, might be to restrict commercial activity in Saudi Arabia in a fashion that may prove to be prohibitive to future foreign direct investment.
In addition to crippling Saudi Arabia’s infant e-commerce industry altogether and dampening the benefits of the new e-government initiatives, such limitations would force interests in nearly all industries to resort more heavily to relatively expensive and increasingly obsolete methods of communication such as fax machines, long-distance telephone calls, and letters delivered by post — not a good idea in a country where the postal service has an abysmal reputation. Even more serious a concern is that such a limitation would only serve to demonstrate to potential foreign investors that CNN, et al, are correct in portraying the Kingdom as a “backward” nation, an idea which is very distant from the truth.
Could society impose a double standard, one for individual use and one for commercial activity? Even if such a system could be created in a technically workable fashion, under Shariah, all, in theory, must be treated equally by the law, whether they be individual citizens and guests, or corporate citizens and resident companies.
The question then arises: How does one protect the integrity of structured family life in Saudi Arabia without posing time limits on Internet use? Looking abroad, one sees that this is being dealt with by the families themselves. Beyond imposing unnecessary and potentially prohibitive restrictions on commerce, and beyond excluding the Kingdom from an exchange of information and ideas now taking place on an unprecedented, global scale, there is the issue of how much power one is willing to just voluntarily surrender. Indeed, it is difficult to conceive of a power which is more personal and more private than the power people have in governing the affairs of their own household.
To invite the assumption of such a power by the government, rather than opposing such an intrusive measure, simply because it would remove the “burden” of managing one’s household from the shoulders of families themselves, is to invite an increase in governmental authority akin to that envisioned by Orwell. An intrusion of this type is so severe, in fact, that I doubt the government in Riyadh would even accept such an “invitation,” especially in view of the concept that Shariah places a premium value on privacy, and, in theory, shuns such intrusions.
As a general rule, when people look for help in bearing “burdens” of any kind, one of the last places they should look is to a government department or quasi-governmental agency.
As former United States President Gerald Ford reminded the world in 1996, “The government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is powerful enough to take away everything you have.”
While, as can be seen in most countries around the world, a system wherein families regulate themselves as regards the relationships between their members is far from perfect, it should be readily apparent that inviting a total stranger to govern even the smallest aspect of one’s family life is not an acceptable or well thought out solution. In fact, such a solution might only introduce yet another barrier to communication by and between family members. Further, Shariah encourages families to settle their problems on their own, within the family’s structure, between the family members themselves.
Rather than asking the government to impose time limits, with the hope that such an imposition would force husbands, fathers and sons to communicate with their families on a regular basis, be persistent in addressing these issues within the household yourself — even if the initial reaction by the negligent family member is one which creates greater neglect and/or actual tension within the home.
To ask that the government institute a regulation that imposes time limits on Internet usage might only serve to inhibit foreign direct investment at a time when the Kingdom is making strides in diversifying the national economy. It could also cut the Kingdom off from the free flow of information and ideas enjoyed by the rest of the industrialized world, all while relinquishing the most personal and private power each of us has in our possession.
In the end, all that might be accomplished by such a measure is that the errant husband or son might leave the home altogether and spend most of his free time in a sports cafe. Rather than making the family’s “dirty laundry” a public concern, experience the joy of settling a familial issue in the privacy of your own home.
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(Robert Jason Huf is an attorney, currently acting as a consultant for The Law Firm of Dr. Khalid Alnowaiser, which is headquartered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Huf welcomes responses to this article. He can be reached at [email protected].)