IN the holy month of Ramadan, some expatriate workers who work as drivers of water tankers take advantage and raise prices to SR700. Some recruitment brokers, mostly expatriates, raise the monthly salaries of housemaids to SR6,000. The other day I read in the news that municipal officers in Makkah had confiscated large quantities of fake Zamzam water bottles. It was also reported in the news that two tons of rotten dough had been confiscated by the authorities and that several expatriate workers had also been arrested. These are only some of the many stories that have appeared in the newspapers this month. I am sure there are other stories that were never reported, stories that are more terrible than the above. What is going on is simply chaotic. Our markets are chaotic. To outsiders, we look as if we do not have monitoring agencies that are able to control illegal activities. Frankly speaking, if some expatriate workers continue to engage in illegal activities such as the above, then our social security and public safety are in grave peril. In fact, the survival of our society will be in great danger if we do not curb these illegal activities that are carried out in broad daylight, something that is unfortunate. Almost everyone knows or hears about these activities on a daily basis and we are not doing anything about them. We have to take action, all of us. As members of the public, we should not stand by watching expatriate workers engaging in these activities without reporting them to the authorities. All of the concerned authorities should adopt draconian measures and run non-stop inspection campaigns to protect the security of our society. This is, after all, our country. Any harm that our society sustains will affect every member of society. We should act responsibly and perform our duties as good citizens for this chaos to stop once and for all.
