Against this backdrop, every official fears the authority of this modern technology. Officials cannot insult or rebuke a citizen. They cannot even say anything that is in contradiction to what they had said to the media as there are those who are waiting for them to slip up.
In fact, there is a website solely dedicated to spotting and publishing the slip ups of public officials. The website is called “Officials’ Pledges — A step by step follow up of their statements and projects.” Once a mistake is spotted, it will be uploaded to YouTube and become a matter of public debate.
Saudis are competent in dealing with the Internet and therefore they can post critiques. Due to this, officials have become afraid of any exposure of their behavior. Their fears are enhanced by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s directives, which call on institutions to cooperate with the Anti-Corruption Commission.
Furthermore, the chairman of the commission informed the king about the bureaucracy, which is seen by the chairman as a part of administrative corruption.
In the royal directives, the king ordered all institutions without exception to give the commission what it needed within 30 days. If institutions fail to do so, then the chairman of the commission can write to the king.
A number of creative people have provided comical and critical commentary that seeks to uphold ethics and principles and destroy taboos as they consider everything to be open to criticism and accountability. For them, the king represents the ethical controller that can deal with any abuse of power among officials.
A great deal of Saudis who possess the necessary skills to utilize this new technology, have self-confidence to open up and reveal themselves to the outside world when exposing government officials. And exposure does not come at the expense of their strong ideological beliefs. The bold actions of this group of young people represents a kind of social and cultural transformation. The new generation is more open and deals with life differently. Flexibility is the hallmark of this generation and the reason behind this flexibility is that the Saudi society is based on a balanced economic and material base.
The state takes matters of education, health, employment, and housing seriously as is evident by the last welfare package that cost the state some SR250 billion.
This phenomenon is not limited to YouTube, in fact Saudi society has a great sense of humor. Moreover, Saudis are well exposed to different cultures and civilizations. This intercultural interaction only added to the Saudis’ experience that has been employed positively by some and negatively by others. What interests us here are the comic critiques posted on YouTube that are particularly eye-catching.
Omar Hussein is an excellent Saudi comic talent who found his own “theater” on YouTube. Through his well known program “Ala Attayir”, Hussein has garnered accolades from fans. Hussein’s funny jabs at the problems of Saudi society are a statement on the openness of Saudi society as a whole and an example of how wit has expanded with the development of knowledge. Evidence suggests that a key factor behind this change has been the vision of King Abdullah, who has been at the heart of the development and reform process. This royal interest has helped control and monitor different tracks within society to avert a confrontation between these tracks. This policy has also enabled all to express their ideas in an objective and professional manner.
Many of the seminars of national dialogue were amazing and they proposed some great ideas whose objectives are to develop and modernize. They also urge Saudi young men and women to play a greater role in society as we recently saw with women being employed in lingerie shops. The decision to employ Saudi women in lingerie shops came despite the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh’s claim that employing women in shops selling female accessories was a crime. This shows that the king’s balanced reform project was one that no one can obstruct.
For all these reasons, society has started assuming a more active role in which criticism of a number of social phenomena — polygamy, shame culture, financial and administrative corruption — have taken place. This has also helped reinforce positive values such as respecting others’ opinions.
The phenomenon of Omar Hussein is not disconnected from the internal changes, external impacts, scientific development, improved higher education in the Kingdom and general economic stability that contributed to correcting some concepts. The importance of this phenomenon is evident with the number of people following Omar Hussein on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. He has some 72,806 followers on Twitter and another 900,188 followers on Facebook. And yet there is a question that sneeds to be addressed: Why have the people who have challenged social norms not been stopped by officials? Here we need to recall how the late Prince Sultan addressed the outcries of many over the TV show “Tash Ma Tash.”
Many knowledgeable people argue that the late prince used to enjoy every episode of the TV show and that the ideas of the episodes were first presented to the late prince who not only approved them but helped to fight off any attempts to ban what is considered to be an important part of the “critical movement” in the country.
Comedy presented by Omar Hussein is not limited to a particular topic but touches on many other social and political themes. He has criticized many practices and stereotypical concepts. For instance, Hussein criticized the phenomenon of sport analysis in some Gulf countries and in Saudi Arabia in particular. The list of the themes he touches on is long but it includes Ramadan TV shows, media freedom, media regulations adopted by the Ministry of Information, and even the Consultant Council.
Now, whether or not we agree with this new phenomenon, we have to admit that it helps liberate society form its heavy stereotyping. It is only after the spread of this phenomenon that officials have started to change their language and the way they deal with each other. They have discovered that the authority of public opinion is strong and visible.
In one of his shows, Hussein criticized Saudi Airlines (Saudia) when one of the officials told a citizen to eat grass! In another show, a flight is delayed simply because an important passenger is late. Here, Hussein shows that airlines should be respectful by being punctual. He says that the executive director of Saudia has some 29 deputies. He challenged whether the director knows the name of his deputies. He mocked them by saying that there was one deputy for sandwiches, another for contacts, and another deputy for the affairs of the director’s deputy. In his comments on the news regarding the much-hyped wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, Hussein sheds light on some social problems in the Kingdom. He wished them well by hoping they don’t end up like the many marriages in the Kingdom: Divorced, something he says is caused by inequalities between families of both the husband and wife.
Other young men also compete with Hussein. Badr Saleh, in his program “Eysh Elly” and Ammar and Mahmud in their program “Fe’afala” add to this new phenomenon. They all pledge to continue their work to send a message and not to gain fame.
Clearly, this new phenomenon has been registering a marked progress. Previously, it would not have been possible for these young people to present their talents and challenge society.
Indeed, this could not have happened were it not for the official decision and the grand reform project of the king.
