According to reports, Saudi Arabia has pledged $ 3.25 billion aid to its neighbor Yemen for development projects and to ensure the country's security and stability. At a time when world is passing through worst economic and financial crises, Saudi government has set great examples for others to emulate. Yemen is struggling to counter an alarming humanitarian crisis as more than half of its population is living under poverty while unemployment and militancy is increasing in the country.
Recently, a suicide bomber killed 96 soldiers in a massive attack in the heart of Sanaa and two other would-be attackers were arrested. The fact is that poverty, hunger and unemployment are the main reasons of terrorism in different parts of the world. Most of the countries affected by terrorism don’t have enough resources to provide better standard of living, employment and basic necessities to their people. This is the main reason why countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen have become breeding grounds for militancy. Due to poverty and unemployment militant organizations find it easy to hire new recruits and use them according to their wishes. Past experience proved that growing militancy can't be contained through the use of power, airstrikes and killing people. Financial assistance, employment opportunities and development can provide better results in fighting terrorism and militancy. (Khawaja Umer Farooq, Jeddah)
Media responsibility and regulations
This refers to the story, "Wrong reporting by media unacceptable" (May 22). Yes, wrong reporting by media is highly reprehensible and somehow the public has to be protected from such hyped, sensational and untrue reporting, resulting in unwarranted confrontations and violence. The problem is that many of the international media are owned and controlled by a few rich people, who mostly follow right-wing Zionist agenda in a subtle way. A muzzled media in most Third World countries, including the Muslim countries, compounds this. Those who follow Rupert Murdoch's saga will understand how deep and wide the malaise has spread, which will surely bring down many more senior politicians and public figures.
We should follow Islamic injunction even when reporting — factual reporting and objective analyses. Even now we see that many of the big Western media outlets hardly portray injustices and ethnical cleansing by Zionists. The Israeli-Palestinian issue is the crucible of many mutations of extreme and deviant ideologies.
We have many powerful television news agencies, such as, Fox, Sky, BBC (ex-Bush and Blair Corporation), CNN and many others, which have perfected the art of biased reporting to such a flawless level that many get convinced by their arguments and debates on some very critical issues facing the world. We know that in the run up to Gulf, Afghan and Iraq wars, none of the Western media ever fulfilled their true journalistic responsibility but instead joined the war mongers to prepare and soften the public opinion. Millions perished during these wars, which have also broken up these countries along the ethnic and sectarian lines. During the early days of the Iraq war, most of the Western media portrayed one sect as being discriminated by Saddam and Bathists, but the truth was far from this. The vast majority of the world bought these lies. And now we see retributions and revenge attacks based on these old media lies.
Some countries have television channels that are government-funded and portray the best of the country, especially in terms of art, culture and social issues. However, responsible and independent media, both print and television, are the eyes and ears of the people who need to be informed, especially on governance and other pressing political issues. Without full transparency, accountability and objective reporting, nations cannot take civilizations to a higher level. The media's role is also to further improve the tolerance thresholds of politicians and public figures by exercising robust oversights through probing questions and interviews. We need to enact strong rules and ethical standards to prosecute those responsible for slander, libel and misinformation. For this, there should be an ombudsman with sweeping legislative powers to set up commissions of inquiry in times of breach of conducts of journalists and editors. (Seif A. Somalya, Jeddah)
Letter to the Editor: Helping Yemen overcome crisis
