Here is a joke about Yemen’s present economic condition. An old man went to the market in Aden to buy fish. The salesman said the price was five riyals a kilo. Shocked by the price, the old man shouted: “I used to buy fish from here for two riyals when the British were here!” The salesman answered, “Bring them back and I will sell it for one riyal.” The message is clear though the joke is a bitter one. The country is passing through difficult times. Managing the country’s economy with insufficient resources and a modern history of strife and confrontation is no cakewalk.
I recently visited Yemen in the delegation accompanying Kuwait’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak. It was the 15th anniversary of Yemen’s unification and the celebrations were in Mukalla on the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The city is a beautiful one and the folk songs are effusive in their praise of the beauty of the women of Mukalla. A well-known poet sang, “O maids of Mukalla, the cure for all our maladies.” Some cynics, however, parodied him, changing the word “cure” to “cause” which resulted in “O maids of Mukalla, the cause of all our maladies.”
In the course of our talks, the Yemeni premier congratulated the Kuwaiti women on their historic victory in their struggle for political rights. The instruments of women’s political involvement, like many other things in our midst, were borrowed from the West. At the same time, the social and cultural realities in Arab countries often prevent women from enjoying their full rights. Yemen’s constitution, however, encourages women’s participation in political activities. Unless society and culture wholeheartedly cooperate, the constitutional provisions are of no use. In what was formerly South Yemen, all constitutional efforts were made to empower women, reduce narrow tribal loyalties in politics and discourage polygamy but there was very little impact on society or the local culture. Though the people were supposedly united in a single party, the killings rooted in tribal and regional issues continued unabated.
Medicine — or the cure for maladies — is one of the basic requirements of a poor country which has high rates of diseases and mortality. Special care should be taken to make quality medicine available to the public if the country wants to develop and preserve its human resources. A story going around these days, on the other hand, is worrying. According to the story, the prime minister went into a coma after taking some locally-produced medication. Now if a prime minister is exposed to such danger, how much worse will the situation be for ordinary people? This is not an attempt to find fault with a country in the early stages of its development; it is meant as a reminder that the authorities must not shirk their responsibilities.
It is not difficult to find part of the reason for Yemen’s economic problems. A major portion of the national budget goes for improving the country’s security on both domestic and external fronts. The huge spending on internal security with an utter disregard for development is a phenomenon in Arab countries that deserves careful study and analysis. In Yemen, as in other Arab countries, special emphasis is given to security even though no country has any design to attack Yemen presently or in the foreseeable future.
On the contrary, the horizon presents clouds of internal clashes of varying hues. It is obviously the inevitable consequence of neglecting important issues for a long time. Potentially the most dangerous is the absence of a planned educational system.
This circumstance paved the way for hard-liners and extremists to dominate the system. The younger generation was left to the mercy of teachers with extremist views. Poverty combined with illiteracy and a one-sided education was ideal for the growth of extremism. Unless the underlying causes are stamped out, the evil will only spread.
The government needs both courage and determination in order to liberate society from extremism. Yemenis do not lack either courage or administrative skill. That has been proven by Yemeni immigrants all over the world. More than half a dozen prime ministers in Asia can trace their origins to Yemen.
The business skills of Yemeni immigrants have played a dominant role in the economic development of more than a few countries. In short, the economic woes of the country cannot, be attributed to a shortage of human resources. It is rather the failure to channel those resources in the right direction.
What Yemen requires is concerted Arab effort, particularly from the Gulf, to get rid of whatever is slowing the pace of economic development.
A corollary to this is of course transparency in administrative activities. A nation is not made by large posters of national leaders on buildings and rooftops. Nor does it consist of patriotic songs on radio and TV. It is rather a vision of progress as well as long-term and unselfish planning for its achievement.
— Mohamad Alrumaihi is professor of political sociology at Kuwait University.
