Khalaf Al-Harbi Okaz newspaper I AM aware that the title of this article is not an appropriate one to read, especially in the early morning. However, this is just one out of a million articles published in the morning papers. It cannot be compared to the heaps of garbage piling up in Makkah these days after cleaners in the city went on strike to protest nonpayment of their wages for months. Do you think the piles of garbage in Makkah are an appropriate view to look at? If we had different minds and consciences, we would have seen a documentary film on the National Geographic Channel about the recycling of garbage in Makkah, the cleaning operations during the day and the work of the research centers attached to the cleaning companies. Traditions and customs, however, made it imperative for us to deal with only one cleaning company and accept whatever it may give us. In an interview on MBC, the Egyptian actor Hani Ramzi asked the famous Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Isa about the problem of cleanliness in Egypt. The journalist answered: “You mean the problem of garbage because cleanliness was never a problem.” In any city around the world where you smell garbage, be aware that it is the smell of corruption that has infiltrated your nostrils. Away from the garbage, the text messages being sent to guardians of Saudi women informing them about their movements whether they are going out or coming back to the country is a gross violation of their privacy. Many complicated rules and regulations had fallen on the heads of the Saudi women because they are seen as “special”. So please preserve their privacy just out of consideration to this very “specialty”. Jim Riley, an astronaut at NASA and the dean of a US data systems university, said in a lecture before the members of the Earth Sciences Society in Saudi Aramco that he was optimistic about the participation of the Saudi woman in space programs. He said this participation could be achieved through women scientists or technicians. The poor Saudi woman cannot drive, let alone in space. In countries that are keen about the preservation of the environment, there are special boxes installed for metal, plastic and ordinary garbage. We need huge boxes for various kinds of garbage, including a special box for the fake certificates, another one for medical errors, a third for faulty projects and others for various other kinds of corruption. In this way we can recycle corruption. You enter a hotel in Jeddah and you will find a paper near the washbasin informing you that the hotel is an environment-friendly facility. You just look from the window and you will discover that the Red Sea has become black because of environmental pollution. The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs has admitted that about 97 percent of the local municipalities are unable to supervise projects. The remaining 3 percent are kept only to be referred to in official statements. In light of this, there is no need to speak about the garbage in Makkah. ([email protected])
