Much has been written about the development process that has been going on in the Kingdom for the past two decades. The writers, however, have sought to explain how mistakes and shortcomings naturally came with the process. Criticism of mistakes and shortcomings they avoid although many officials stress the need for transparency and openness and encourage criticism as a means of making progress.
It is natural for humans to err, and any criticism of development projects is intended to evaluate and breathe life into ailing projects.
This requires us to replace the old dictionary — overflowing with hailing, praising and exaggerating — with a new one that truly reflects our national concerns and interests. The new dictionary must accommodate questions such as “Why?” and “How?” and let people know what benefits stand to be gained from which project.
One major mistake made in the country has been that from the beginning the development process has been dependent on a foreign workforce. We relied on others to carry out our modernizing and development.
After years of poverty, we suddenly had wealth and power and became masters who commanded obedience. The result was a psychological and social gap which separated us from professional and technical jobs and accomplishments. Had our development drive relied from the onset on Saudis, the essentials such as work ethics, innovation, trial and error and other principles and values would have originated within the country.
Consider the case of Asian countries; Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and China all developed into industrial states. The difference between them and us is that while such expressions as “hard work” and “production” have become part of their social fabric, we settled for comfortable office jobs.
This led to a steady increase in unemployment rates and, at the same time, more foreign workers coming to the Kingdom. Perhaps the only exception here is Saudi Aramco, which is now largely run by Saudis.
Another major mistake that accompanied our modernization drive was that all major projects have been concentrated in the country’s three major cities: Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. The urban centers have everything while many rural areas lack even the basics; this situation led to a wholesale migration from rural areas to urban ones.
Even when the old dream of having women’s universities was looked at, the planning was done in a manner further consolidating the old approach to doing things — only big cities should have universities and let the provinces settle for a small college or two.
