Kudos to Haia
I was delighted to read that key issues were discussed in a meeting between Crown Prince Salman and the Haia officials. The crown prince commended the activities
of Haia and its service to society. Haia chief Sheikh Abdullatif Al-Asheikh congratulated Prince Salman on his appointment as crown prince.
In fact, this department is one of the most important departments of the government. It invites people to righteousness and virtue and prevents or forbids evil from society — that is a great job. It is the responsibility of every Muslim, particularly scholars and Muslim bodies such as Haia. I thank God that we have the best Islamic teachings and commands from Allah in this regard, which is definitely beneficial for all creations, especially human beings. I would like to quote a beautiful verse of the Qur’an here: “Let there arise out of you a group of people inviting to all that is good (Islam), enjoining Al-Ma’ruf (i.e. Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do) and forbidding Al-Munkar (polytheism and disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden). And it is they who are the successful.” (104:3)
If we sincerely implement and impose these orders of the Creator, then I am sure society will be free of crimes and sins. I wish the Haia to be prosperous and continue promoting virtue, righteousness, peace and prosperity in this great Islamic country. — Zakaria Sultan, Riyadh
Oil prices
This is in response to the column «Burning the midnight oil to reform energy policies,» (July 6). I read the article with much interest, especially the reference to Nigeria among other countries to justify your demand for increase in oil prices in Saudi Arabia. I would like to share with you fundamental differences between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia:
1. Nigeria has only three under-functioning refineries. Worst enough, the full functioning of these three refineries cannot meet the daily petroleum needs of the country.
2. Some of Nigeria›s oil is being refined outside the country and sold to the citizens on ‹scandalous› subsidized prices as has been recently revealed when many top government officials were implicated.
3. Obtaining a petroleum station license for illegal exportation to neighboring countries like Niger and Chad causes an artificial shortage in supply.
These problems, individually and collectively, are responsible for the non-existence of low oil prices in Nigeria. As long as Saudi Arabia is not infected with any of these ‹diseases,› there is no need for an increase in prices. Believe it or not, increase in oil prices will affect prices of everything. Even an upward review of workers› salaries will not be proportional to the increase in the standard of living. This is what is happening in Nigeria.
In economics, increase in prices of goods can be caused by shortage in supply, scarcity because of hoarding, increase in the cost of production and others.
Regularly, Saudi Arabia has promised the world an increase in supply every time there was a crisis among any of the OPEC members.
My candid advice is that the government should either build more refineries to increase the supply or continue using excess oil revenue to maintain low prices as it is now. — Taofik Kolawole, by e-mail
Educating drivers
This refers to the article by Rabia Alavi "How can we stop road rage before it claims more lives?" (July 17). It is very true that road rage, inattention and overspeeding really do kill. I believe that the most effective solution to this widespread problem, especially here in Saudi Arabia, is education on driving.
I am a civil engineering instructor here in Dammam and I always start my ‹Road Technology› class every semester with the presentation of the Saher website.
My aim is to make my young Saudi students aware that there is an existing system in place to safeguard both the driver and the pedestrian and not to collect money from traffic violations, as has been perceived by many. I always ask my students about their driving speed every morning as a sort of a reminder for them to be responsible drivers. I end my class not with the usual «see you tomorrow» but with «please drive carefully» to their delight.
With statistics, such as of, 18 deaths per day, one death case every one and a half hour, injury or disabled every quarter of an hour, etc. on the Saher website, the best solution so far is educating the young drivers. And it should start at home. — Artemio T. Talon, Dammam
Letters: Kudos to Haia
