Saudi Gazette
The recent phenomenon of Ethiopia bashing in our country’s media is turning a wee bit malicious. I was surprised at the
recent media campaign against Ethiopian nationals, who have been
singularly targeted by the media for all the ails afflicting the
country.
According to many media reports the Ethiopian nationals
are the main source of all problems. They are the ones breaking into
homes, manufacturing and distributing liquor, selling weapons, involved
in assault and rape cases and many other things that cause discomfort to
citizens and residents alike.
The campaign, which virtually
alleges that most Ethiopians are in the Kingdom illegally, is in many
ways just vilifying one particular section of humankind. The campaign,
as if the problem of sneaking these illegals through the border happened
only two weeks ago, is also unjustified.
First of all I would
like to clear one thing. Any person sneaking through the border
illegally should be arrested and deported; it is within the country’s
right to do so and I want to make it clear that no one is questioning
the action of the government if these illegals are arrested.
But
ironically the border, which is manned vigilantly by our security
forces, is made porous by greedy citizens or residents, out to make a
quick buck for themselves. If these people had the moral courage to
battle this scourge, then the security forces job would become much
easier.
All nationalities living in the Kingdom legally are
positive contributors to society. Ethiopians, like any other nationality
living in the Kingdom legally, too are contributing positively to our
society even in a small level. They hold jobs in the private sector and
contribute to the country’s development and are thanked for that.
Associating
the legal Ethiopian expatriates with the infiltrators is wrong, (… and
no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another) Az-Zumar Chapter,
Verse (7).
Be it any nationality, the moment they take the step to
illegally enter the Kingdom they have already done wrong. From then on
they are ready to take any steps that would rake in the money.
Ironically, every nationality is involved in wrongdoing, so why single
out the Ethiopians!
Social media and the media in general have
portrayed Ethiopians as a major problem that needs to be gotten rid of.
This is wrong. To tar all of a nationality with the same brush for the
actions of few is wrong. And media should be careful when dealing with
such issues.
I remember some time back it was the Bangladeshis who
were under heavy media attack and before that the Chadians. All were
under the scrutiny because a select few went about their way in making
money any which way. I hope the media would target the problem itself
without highlighting on the nationality because the problem will remain a
big problem even if one nationality is driven out and other
nationalities let in.
The problem of infiltrators crossing the
borders every day has been a problem since the establishment of this
country. It is extremely difficult to monitor the entire border of the
country. The border along the south is long and there are difficult
mountains and valleys. It is here the citizens and residents could help
by not assisting the infiltrators. The border guards are doing their
best to monitor the border with Yemen and our sea border to prevent
illegals from sneaking in.
Every now and then the media office of
the border guards releases statistics about their latest busts in which
they seize large number of weapons, ammunition, drugs and liquor and not
to mention the arrest of the smugglers themselves. Despite these
successes, the illegals device new ways to break through the borders of
our country.
The campaign targeted the Ethiopians, but did not
raise the problem of illegal residents in the south. The numbers are
reportedly astounding. For a problem to become a big problem it needs to
start as a small problem first. The small problem if neglected and not
solved immediately will then grow bigger and bigger until it reaches the
stage of a massive problem that will start to threaten our society.
Now
if these illegal ‘Ethiopians’ sneaking through the border are now a big
problem, as the campaign suggests, then I wonder why this situation was
not solved from the beginning. How did they occupy these mountains and
find residence and jobs without getting noticed by authorities?
America
itself could not control the southern borders with Mexico and every
year thousands and thousands of Mexicans cross the border despite the
wall, barbwire and state-of-the-art equipment to monitor the border. In
addition there is a reported surge in patrolling at various points of
the border.
The only thing the Kingdom can take comfort is that
they can learn from the Americans the latest methods in controlling
border crossing and adopt the latest surveillance machines to curb this
menace.
Residents in Asir area expressed their concern about the
problem of illegals living in the mountains. They claim that the
illegals have turned the mountain areas as a base for their negative
activities. The mountains were being used to distill contraband liquor
and also establish liquor factories and the illegals are using sewage
water to manufacture liquor.
The residents claimed that the
illegals are selling machine guns smuggled from Yemen to people, which
is a huge security concern if it fell into the wrong hands. There are
also talks about illegals breaking into homes and shops and terrorizing
people.
One man in a special TV program commented on this issue
saying that police cannot go and even chase them to the mountain because
these illegals are invariably heavily armed. He added that this has
limited police patrol and their presence to the main road.
Invariably
there are reports that some Saudi nationals were smuggling them to
other parts in the Kingdom. This report really saddened me, especially
crimes being committed by the people living in the land of the two holy
mosques.
Such problems do exist in main cities and many crimes are
committed by other nationalities. But there is no such sustained
campaign against them. Crime has no nationality and crimes will be
committed by any other nationality. I remember how the entire world saw
us after 9/11 tragedy. We were upset when we were branded as terrorists
for the actions of a few.
My advice to the media, who are ready to
jump on a virulent campaign, is to take a step back and consider first
the problem and then offer a solution, instead of blindly chasing or
tilting at the wind. We should not apply the principle of collective
guilt on any nationality, as we were subjected to.
— The writer can be contacted at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa
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