By Sara Ford
KUWAIT — The first word any Westerner ever picks up in Kuwait is "Inshalah". Its literal meaning is "with God's will or help". But having heard it most often when coupled with unfruitful requests for supplies, assistance, directions or help you could be forgiven for mistaking its meaning to be: "You have got two chances mate — Buckley's and none."
This is because of a sometimes charming, but often irritating, cultural etiquette that dates back to the Bedoin heritage. In this culture one must always help one's friends. This is known as "wasda" and extending as much hospitality as is possible to strangers something the present day Bedouins are still famous for. This also fits in with the idea that to be a good Muslim one should never refuse a friend or let anyone down. So rather than embarrassing you and themselves by answering in the negative when being asked for directions, for instance, people in Kuwaiti will have a shot at it (even if they haven't a clue where you want to go) — much to the frustration of Westerners who often end up completely and utterly lost. As for wasda the practice is thoroughly ingrained in all areas of life right up to the government level — where the more powerful your friend the more powerful your wasda.
Bectel, a very large oil company which was helping with mopping up operations has completed its contract this year and along with it have gone many companies employed for cleaning mines and other debris. However in terms of the oil and the bombs it seems the job is not really finished. A bomb disposal I spoke to told me "the desert will never be safe. We've cleared 250,000 Rockeyes (anti-personal mines the size of a man's shoe) from the beaches and desert — but we estimate there is another 350,000 still out there under the shifting sands".
Just before I returned to Australia a Rockeye was washed up on a popular beach. It had to be exploded by the bomb disposal experts. A month before a young Bedouin shepherd boy was killed when he tripped on one. He was walking in the middle of the moving flock.
An environmentalist described some areas of Kuwait as a national embarrassment. Advisers from all over the world have warned the government of the global ramifications of not cleaning up their backyard properly but for now it looks as if they have done as much as they are going to.
Unattractive place
Kuwait is not a very attractive place but apparently it never has been even before the war which has done minimal damage. It is said that this is because the extremely wealthy monarchy who are the government have little interest in the place except as the source of their wealth. When you consider the phenomenal wealth in the country surprisingly little is spent on social welfare of of the trappings of wealth there are fewer democratic freedoms available to Kuwaitis. Their education system is fairly draconian. There is no freedom of speech for dissidents. Though the Kuwaiti ruling class is one of the wealthiest in the world even they have little real power over the oil which made them so wealthy.
Kuwait isn't terribly large for a country. It covers an area roughly the same size as Melbourne with almost the same number of people — a little less than three million. More than half of this number — a few less since the Gulf War — are guest workers. The Kuwaitis themselves are the direct descendants of the 60 tribes who established the small seaside town of fisherman, pearl divers and semi-nomadic Bedouins. Nut the discovery of oil (Kuwait now produces 60% of the world's oil, more even than Saudi Arabia) rocketed a very traditional very religious tribal society into the 20th century capitalism.
The oil is owned by British Petroleum and various United States and Japanese interests. The Getty family being one of the major beneficiaries. The Kuwaitis merely live off the royalties. Since the war new arrangements have been made. The US now receives 10% of its oil for free and Britain has a similar deal receiving 4% of its total oil expenditure for free (in gratitude of services rendered).
Among ordinary Kuwaiti people who did suffer to some extent at the hands of the Iraqi occupation forces, the pro-American pro- Bush support after the war was at fever pitch. But since the US presidential debate between Perot, Bush and Clinton was broadcast the Kuwaitis are not waving the American flag quite so vigorously any more, and they thank their lucky stars that their country produces oil not carrots!
Only the descendants of the 60 tribes are recognized as Kuwait citizens. People born in the country even third or forth generation are not recognized as Kuwaitis and neither are children adopted by Kuwaiti families. Citizenship was offered to the nomadic tribes of the region in the 1930s but few took up the offer never having needed it in the past. Now the benefits are enormous and there is a section of society who are fairly bitter about their situation.
Citizenship is sometimes bestowed on individuals as an honor rewarded for services to the state. It is also possible to be stripped of citizenship for crimes committed against the state.
The average unlettered Kuwaiti receives 200 dinar from the government or A$1000 per month whether they work or not — though there is no unemployment. Most Kuwaitis work in the public service sector. Very few Kuwaitis would do work any more menial than white collar work. The public sector is a nightmare of inefficiency and absenteeism. Often people will only show up for work when a friend is in need of their services that day. You need wasda whenever you have to deal with the state. While Islamic religion is strongly anti-racist, the evolution of the laboring class since the discovery of oil has led to very race-defined layers of work and class. The poorest earners in the country — the street cleaners, maids, servants, drivers and laborers builders generally came from the poorest countries in the world — Egypt, India, Sri LAnka, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Philippines, Asians Lebanese and Turks generally work in service industries as Restaurateurs, shop keepers, small business nursing. These guest workers come to the country in droves from the poorest parts of the world. They are often illiterate, often very young (15 years and older) earning between 50-60 dinar per month if they are lucky. It is "good money" where they came from but not in Kuwait itself. They generally become household slaves.
The next layer is predominantly European — doctors, dentists, computer specialists, environmental consultants and teachers.
Sheiks and Sheikas
Kuwait's first family, the Al Sabah's blood relatives of the Emir-Prince Jabber Al Sabah, are at the top of the tree. They are in fact above the law. The Emir now in his 80s was almost singlehandedly fathering his dynasty — until his 70s. He would marry a Bedouin girl every week, divorce a short time later, pay her and her family handsomely and any offspring would be given all entitlements of Al Sabah: 500 dinar per month in the womb 1000 dinar per month for the rest of its life outside the womb.
There are many stories about corruption and "un-Muslim" behavior of this class but the average citizen sees themselves as powerless and having no business addressing the conduct of a sheik or sheika.
Only the royal family could run for parliament up until the Iraqi invasion. Some minor changes were made to the system as a token gesture at increasing democracy. The progressives in politics in Kuwait are the ones pushing for government independence from the monarchy. These are, of course, very few and very quiet. The last sheik who spoke out like this was in jail for 20 years before Iraq invaded.
The Muslim religion has a very powerful influence in the country. There are mosques everywhere which call people to prayer five times a day.
Most Kuwaiti men still get around in their traditional grab, for work purposes. It is a much cooler way to dress in the summer when the temperature climbs to well over 50 degrees. Women usually wear long flowing garments and keep their head covered. Some of the more fundamentalist Muslim women wear the traditional black cloak from head to foot — some with their face exposed, some with only their eyes, some completely covered. Male fundamentalists never wear western clothes and avert their eyed from temptation: ie they will not even glance at a women in a
Religion has a profound role in the lives of most Kuwaitis. I know of a teacher whom the authorities are trying to get deported at the moment for unwisely saying to his students "there is no God in this classroom but me."
The fundamentalists or Mullahs or sections within are banned for the occasional bomb scares and explosions that occur around the city in areas perceived to becoming too Westernized. They have strong influence (big wasda) as far as government migration policy goes at time too.
Cutting off the hand of the thief is still on the books — though it has not been put into practice for many years. More often people, the authorities claim that theft does not happen in the same way they claim that AIDS does not exist here. Certainly no Kuwaiti would ever commit a theft, one police officer told me (while I was reporting a robbery). Any person other nationality who committed theft would perhaps serve time in prison but most commonly would be deported.
Women's conditions
I have been told that police commit most of the rapes in the country. Road checks are a daily occurrence where people are checked to make sure they are carrying their Civil ID card, a licence for being in the country. Westerner women are rarely more than ogled by police but I know Indian and Asian women who are terrified of driving alone at night for fear of being stopped by the police. Last year two policemen were convicted of the rape of two women and the murder of one. Because they were Kuwaiti they spent no longer than two months in jail.
Kuwaiti women still do not have the vote in their own country but there is a push for change from the more powerful women and academics.
Both men and women live in the family home until their wedding day but male children have a lot more freedom. Marriage traditionally is arranged and the newlyweds may not necessarily know each other well. It has become more popular to marry for love and for a man to choose his own wife/wives, he can have four at a time. She can only have one husband.
The numbers of Kuwaiti men who marry westerners has grown in such a proportion that the government has seen fit to introduce marriage gifts of 4000 dinar to Kuwaitis who take Kuwaiti wives.
Kuwaiti marriage is not recognised in any other country outside of Kuwait. To divorce, a man simply has to turn on the spot three times and say "I divorce you" three times. But for a woman to obtain a divorce she must go to court, "The Palace of Justice" and prove her husband unfit in some way.
In education it is common to see boys favored for further education to for a place in an expensive English school over level woman outnumber men in the fields of Science and Medicine. But men still dominate higher paid fields of commerce and engineering.
Western women have more freedom in some respects and there is a high demand for native English-speakers in the work place. Nevertheless what a western woman looks like will have a great deal to do with whether she gets the job or not.
However, any lone woman walking up a street will come in for major sexual harassment expect for the cloaked women. There is a tendency for western women to cover up more than is usual after a period to avoid conspicuousness.
There are many horror stories concerning the plight of Filipino and Indian housemaids. Both Philippines and Indian embassies have halfway houses attached which are filled to capacity with women who have run away from their employers with stories of beatings, rapes and other cruelties.