Nobody disputes that Saudi Arabia is going through a difficult time; it requires us to work hard and to achieve some quick results. I say “results” because good intentions alone achieve nothing. The real problem is the slowness with which decisions are made and executed. Orders and directions take a long time being studied and analyzed.
Details are lost among the many committees that are formed, which weaken the results of the studies. This is how things are done here — from one isolated committee to another without concentrating on what concerns the average Saudi.
Last Monday, I read in a newspaper that the University of Sanaa in Yemen had opened its doors for Saudis to study as external students.
The university made a quick and intelligent decision based on the difficulty young Saudis have in gaining admission to our universities.
We are busy organizing meetings and forming committees to consider the decision to cancel the recruitment of maids and drivers from Indonesia. Really? Does that decision warrant all the palaver it has produced? Will the absence of Indonesian maids and drivers paralyze our society and economy?
Does nobody instead consider what will happen to our society and economy if many of our young people cannot get a university education?
The problem of Asian workers is relatively unimportant, but I chose it to prove how slowly decisions are made and how what is of little importance receives too much attention.
All government agencies should take a good look at the mechanisms for making decisions and make the process shorter. We simply cannot afford to proceed with our traditional slowness in the present circumstances. Delaying decisions will only make problems bigger and that much more difficult for committees and conferences to solve. What we require now is both flexibility and quick decisions.
- Arab News From the Local Press 30 August 2003
