Lift the siege on women

Last week the Supreme Judiciary Council (SJC) adopted an important decision instructing courts to use IDs instead of male identifiers to identify women. Until now women’s IDs have been just a decoration piece for them. Even for taking money from her bank account, she had to bring a male identifier, who can be even a minor child. This condition has been a major hurdle for women to carry out many of their activities.

No doubt this SJC decision would do justice to women and help them restore their rights, which had been usurped by previous regulations. Woman is an independent and intelligent human being who is equally qualified like men to deal with her affairs without the support or advice of her male relatives including father, brothers and husbands, who are likely to exploit their powers to realize their vested interests.

This decision is an important step toward lifting the siege on women. In fact women are seeking more such initiatives in order to help them applying for their passports, get travel permission without the interference of others, especially for women who have crossed their 30s, and those who don’t have male guardians and others who do not want male guardians to impose their will on them. Women need to travel abroad for different purposes such as medical treatment and business or to participate in seminars and conferences. It is ridiculous for women to visit the Passport Department’s women’s section only to hear they must bring their male guardians to apply for a passport. If that is the case, what is the purpose of a women’s section at the department?

There are orphans and widows without male guardians. What will they do if they want to travel? Why don’t they make exceptions in the law? There are many rights women require, including the right to issue passports and IDs for their children. It is ridiculous that a woman university professor or doctor has to get the permission of her male guardian including her children to travel abroad in order to participate in a conference. — By Zainab Ghasib, Al-Hayat

Second edition of Arab Spring

The first edition of Arab Spring is over. It set off a series of popular uprisings against some governments in the name of freedom, social justice and power sharing. It was successful in changing the governments but failed to achieve its objectives. Some experts attributed the failure to the lack of experience of the new governments, which needed more time to realize their goals on the ground. Arab people tried to get out of the darkness of their rulers to end up in the darkness of time, which will not please everybody all the time.

The second edition will be without time or demands. There will be open elections without any end to close the ballot box and we will not know what would be the form the government they want to establish and whether it would have a ruler or a constitution. They want to have a president against whom the people had staged a revolution. The freedom for Arabs means they would not have a president or history or future and this is not their option but destiny.

On Friday, Al-Watan Arabic daily of Egypt published a report saying that intelligence officials from seven countries — the US, Britain, France, Germany, Israel, Turkey and Iran — met in Istanbul to assassinate the future Egyptian president to undermine the country’s security and stability. We don’t know whether it is real or just an imagination. In Yemen, people have agreed to divide their country into six federating units after prolonged discussions. It shows that Yemenis find it difficult to coexist with one another. Arabs are now heading toward tribalism and sectarianism. Israel, Turkey and Iran do not need any nuclear weapon or warplanes or a strong army to defeat us because we have defeated ourselves. — By Dr. Mutlaq Saud Al-Motairy, Al-Riyadh

Money laundering

Economist Fadhel Albouainain has said that a money-laundering cell has been discovered in Bahrain. It was engaged in laundering SR4 billion smuggled from three Arab countries. The report showed that the cell has been smuggling hard cash through King Fahd Causeway to Bahrain to reach in a currency exchange. The money was then transferred to the UAE, at the rate of SR1 million daily. It has been reported that some of these funds came from unknown sources while some others came from criminal operations. The individuals involved in the operations decided to take money by land as a result of strict bank scrutiny on foreign remittances by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. SAMA’s efforts in this respect must be commended while cautioning it about the need to close possible loopholes. According to Albouainain the laundered amount is higher than what has been announced.

Money laundering goes through different steps before it is merged with the legal banking system. The question is what is the source of this money? Does it include profits earned by expats through cover-up businesses? — By Dr. Salim bin Ahmed Sahab, Al-Madinah

Increase in bank capitals

Many companies, especially commercial banks listed on the Saudi bourse, have increased their capital. Total increase in the capital of seven banks amounted to more than SR25 billion. If we add the capital increase of NCB the amount will exceed SR30 billion.

This huge amount is equal to the capital of 10 banks with the size of Bank AlJazira or four of the size of Al-Arabi Bank and two big banks of the size of Inma. The remarkable rise in bank capital shows a marked increase in the financial activity in the Kingdom. All of them have huge liquid money at their disposal and want to make use of them. The move will strengthen the banks’ capabilities to overcome challenges by increasing their reserves.

Now the question is what is the impact of this capital increase on the Saudi economy? First of all, it is an indicator of the Kingdom’s improving financial position and will encourage more people to buy shares in the future. Foreign investors may be allowed to invest directly in shares of companies listed on the Saudi bourse. — By Dr. Salah bin Fahd Al-Shalhoob, Al-Eqtisadiah

Arab initiative for Lebanon

We had asked for it in Lebanon but it happened in Yemen. It was the result of 10 months of negotiations with the support of Gulf countries. The Yemenis have reached a roadmap to establish a six-region federation. It is too early to talk about the move’s success in putting an end to the tribal conflicts, especially when we know that this is not the first time the Yemeni government has been restructured. However, the result of the national dialogue has proved that Yemenis are capable of talking to one another but the Lebanese could not achieve it because of foreign pressure.

The Yemenis were successful in using geography in the service of demography, if that expression is true, to bring the country under a federal rule, allowing its regions to establish modern departments to supervise implementation of development projects and reinforce security and stability. Since the time of independence, the Lebanese have been complaining about unbalanced development across their country and have been demanding “self security” for some of its regions and cities. Lebanon is now unable to exercise democracy in its simple form, exchanging power in a natural way. This demands a sincere Arab initiative for Lebanon to bring its leaders around the table. — By Walid Abimurshid, Al-Sharq Al-Awsat

Woes of technical training

There has been lots of criticism over the technical and vocational training in the Kingdom. All media outlets have criticized the system, especially during the last 10 years. The Shoura Council has found faults with the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) as well as its trainers and administrators. Now the question is where is the problem and what must be done to solve it? Does the problem lie with the TVTC’s curriculum or its facilities or the nature of its training programs? The government spends billions of riyals on the country’s technical colleges and vocational training centers and citizens ask when will they see the result of this huge spending? How can it stop the flight of billions of riyals from the country in terms of foreign remittances by expats?

The most disturbing fact is that TVTC’s academic programs have not been reviewed by an independent agency. TVTC must know that its critics are the well wishers of the country and it should change its ways to make the organization more efficient, meeting citizens’ expectations. — By Fahd Abdu Rifae, Al-Watan