Nothing lasts forever

As the saying goes nothing lasts forever. In the recent announcement of the Labor Minister, we Filipinos, working in Saudi Arabia must pay attention to start planning from now. Our contract termination can happen anytime and it's best to be prepared for it. If not financially, mentally as well. Being expats, we must not take it for granted that we will be here forever. It's not a question of 'if' we leave but a question of 'when' we leave.

Expat Workforce to Be Cut by 100,000 AnnuallyP.K. Abdul Ghafour, Arab News

Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi

JEDDAH, 12 October 2004 — Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi has announced the government’s plan to cut the number of foreign workers by not less than 100,000 every year.
Addressing the Shoura Council on Sunday, he said the ministry had adopted a three-pronged strategy to solve the country’s growing unemployment problem — by rationalizing recruitment, training Saudis and increasing the cost of foreign manpower.
The minister was answering questions of the Shoura members related to the new labor law. “No law can satisfy the wishes of all parties,” he said, adding that the new labor law was an effort to accommodate changes in the labor market and protect the acquired rights of both employers and employees.
The labor minister strongly defended the end-of-service benefits (ESB) being distributed to workers. “The ESB has become part and parcel of work conditions in the Kingdom. Over the years, it has become a right which cannot be infringed upon,” he said, while thanking the committee that drafted the law for retaining the ESB clause without change.
“The ministry considers ESB an issue that cannot be bargained or backed down on,” he told opponents of the provision.
Gosaibi made certain observations about the current law, which exempts five categories from its purview — members of an employer’s family including his wife, children and parents who work in his firm; 2) domestic servants; 3) workers in ships with a tonnage less than 500 tons; 4) expatriates recruited for temporary jobs for a period not exceeding two months; and 5) players and coaches of sports clubs and associations.
He said the exemption of millions of household helps from the purview of law would leave them without any protection. He also expressed reservations on reinstating a worker terminated from service as per Article 78 of the law, saying the return of a worker against the will of his employer might cause endless problems.
The minister proposed establishment of of a special fund from fines collected as per the law and using it to improve conditions in workplaces.
Gosaibi emphasized the need to solve the problem caused by the inflow of cheap foreign manpower. “This can be done only by increasing the cost of recruitment,” he said and hinted at plans to impose a new charge on recruitment.
He opposed the idea of putting unemployed Saudis on the dole, saying it would hamper the ongoing Saudization drive.
Expecting a six percent growth rate this year, Gosaibi said the economic upswing would create new job opportunities for Saudis in the private sector.
Asked about the prospect of fixing salaries for Saudis working in private companies, he said: “We cannot ask an employer to give a worker what he requires.”
“Intermediate and secondary certificates have no value in the job market now and we cannot introduce impractical salary scales for those holding them,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Gosaibi as saying.

Saudi Edict Bans Mobile Phone Cameras

After a week that the Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia announced that camera phones were not illegal (see previous articles), the religous leaders countered that such devices are illegal. Read on until the end and you will find out that even dolls and stuff animals are now illegal in Saudi Arabia as well.

It makes one wonder, who has the final say in such matters. Who's in charge of establishing the policies?

Saudi Edict Bans Mobile Phone Cameras

Thursday September 30, 2004 3:46 PM


AP Photo NYR115

By ABDULLAH SHIHRI

Associated Press Writer

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has issued an edict barring the use of cell phones with built-in cameras, blaming them for ``spreading obscenity'' - a final resort after a ban on their sale and import to the kingdom failed to dent their popularity.

Camera cell phones have caught on fast throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East, particularly in oil-rich Persian Gulf countries, prompting concerns about privacy in places where people undress, ``theft'' of reading materials at book stores and newsstands, and corporate espionage by employees.

As a result, the devices have been banned by gyms, retailers and companies in many nations. Even in the United States, where camera phones have taken longer to gain popularity, there is a bill in Congress that would make the taking of illicit photos on federal property a crime punishable by up to a year in prison and fines.

But the concern goes even further in conservative Muslim societies, where religious authorities complain camera phones are misused to photograph women without their knowledge.

A wedding in Saudi Arabia ended in a brawl over the photographing of women, and young men in the glitzy malls of the United Arab Emirates have been warned by police not to surreptitiously photograph female shoppers. In Egypt, a women-only beach on the northern Mediterranean coast bars cameras and all cell phones are checked on entry to make sure they don't have cameras.

So far, however, only Saudi Arabia has taken the drastic step of banning the import or sale of camera cell phones and declaring them religiously forbidden.

The phones are still available despite a ban in March on their sale and import, easily smuggled in from neighboring Bahrain or the Emirates. But cellular shutterbugs risk having their phones confiscated, being fined or even spending up to a year in jail.

Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Al al-Sheik, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority, announced the religious edict Tuesday in remarks to al-Madina daily newspaper. The devices, he said, were ``spreading obscenity in Muslim society,'' the newspaper reported Wednesday.

``All citizens should renounce this (the use of cell phones with cameras) ... for it can harm everybody without discrimination,'' the paper quoted him as saying. Violators ``should be strictly confronted and punished.''

Saudi Arabia, birthplace of Islam, is one of on whether the phone ban was purely for social reasons or if there was a political motive as well.

``This is more of a social matter,'' said Sultan al-Bazie, a media consultant and analyst. The phones have been ``banned right from the start because they often infringe on people's private lives.''

But Mai Yamani, an analyst with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, said the ban also had security implications.

``There is the social aspect, of course, but there must also be a security concern in a country where photography is generally banned,'' she said.

``The war on terrorism is giving the authorities a good excuse to impose more and more restrictions. This is like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.''

A wedding party in July in southern Saudi Arabia turned violent after a female guest was caught taking photographs with her phone, according to newspaper reports. Scuffles broke out and spread to the men's section. Some guests reportedly were hospitalized.

Women are sensitive to being photographed, especially without their veils. Such celebrations are segregated in Saudi Arabia, allowing women to shed their black veils and loose outer robes.

In another instance, a Saudi woman was expelled from her university in March for taking pictures of unveiled colleagues with her phone and posting them on the Internet.

``First they banned dolls, then they banned stuffed toys and now this. I don't know where all this will stop,'' said Turki, a 20-year-old student in Riyadh who did not want to give his full name and who owns a cell phone camera he bought locally.

Last December, the Interior Ministry announced a ban on importing dolls and stuffed animals, and gave merchants three months to get rid of them.

Because of their popularity, the ban on camera cell phones could fizzle like a similar crackdown on satellite dish antennas. Several years ago, the government launched a halfhearted campaign to ban satellite dishes to placate ultra-religious factions opposed to Saudis watching foreign television channels that show unveiled women, and more.

Despite the ban, rooftops in every Saudi city are covered with them, and subscriptions to a variety of foreign channels are freely sold.

Cell phone snatchers

I guess this is a serious signs of the times. Over 5 years ago, you can walk in the streets with pockets full of cash and jewelry and not get bothered. Now, you will hear instances of phone snatching in broad day light. They do not even discriminate the type of phone they take. In one instance, the culprit even used the line so when we called the victims old number, he had the nerve to answer the phone. Like I said, this is a sure sign of the time ahead.


By Joe Avancena

The Saudi Gazette


DAMMAM

SNATCHING of mobile phones from expatriates has become a common crime in Saudi Arabia. Foreign workers, who are often the victims, are advised for their protection not to resist the attackers.

I feel it should be impressed upon our workers and to other expatriates that resisting cell phone snatchers could lead to their injuries, said Philippine labor attaché Delmer R. Cruz.

He made his remark following an attack on a Filipino worker in Jubail who was seriously injured and remained comatose for five days.

Victims should let go the attackers, report the case to the police, and allow the authorities to apprehend the attackers, Cruz said. The police will pursue any case of crime, such as mobile phone snatching, if reported.

Cruz said Remelino Sison Crisostomo, the latest victim of mobile phone snatching, confronted his attacker instead of going to the police and reporting the matter.

On Sept. 18, Crisostomo was in downtown Jubail when a man driving a car passed by and snatched his mobile. He was unable to do anything except identify the snatcher.

The following day, Crisostomo chanced upon the alleged mobile phone snatcher in Jubail who was inside his car. Instead of reporting to the police, the victim tried to get back his mobile from the man by extending his hand inside the driver side window. However, the snatcher closed the window tightly with Cisostomo s hand caught in between. The snatcher then sped the car with Crisostomo being dragged several meters. Crisostomo fell to the ground and his head hit the pavement. Crisostomo sustained serious head injuries, a broken jaw and bruises in his body.

Crisostomo was immediately rushed to Jubail General Hospital by people who witnessed the incident. Because he was in a critical condition, he was transferred to Al-Mana General Hospital-Jubail on Sept. 21. Crisostomo was in critical condition and in a coma for four days.

Last Wednesday, however, he showed signs of improvement, according to Cruz and welfare officer Sotero F. Tornea Jr. who visited him in the weekend. The victim can now talk, is able to recognize his visitors, and recall events.

However, his doctor said he has to undergo surgical intervention for fractures in his face and arms.

Crisostomo is employed as communication technician at S.T. Technology in Jubail. His employer, Hussam S. Abusaid, who deposited SR50,000 with the hospital to guarantee his hospitalization expenses, is closely monitoring Crisostomo s condition. The employer also met with the Philippine Embassy officials, who expressed their thanks and appreciation to him.

Crisostomo s brother, Resty, who works at Jubail Naval Base, visits him everyday, according to the embassy officials. The suspect, a 24-year-old youngster, has been arrested, according to Abusaid, the employer of the victim.

Frenchman killed in Saudi Arabia

Just when the goverments tells you that everything is under control and that the terrorist leaders have been captured, a sad and senseless killing happens again. When will it ever end?


A Frenchman has been shot dead in the Saudi city of Jeddah, the country's official SPA news agency says.
The unnamed man was killed in the city's al-Zahra district at 0100 local time (2200 GMT), an interior ministry spokesman told the agency.

The spokesman said an inquiry was under way into the shooting, but gave no further details of the incident.

Militants linked to al-Qaeda have killed dozens of people in a campaign to destabilise the Saudi monarchy.

On 15 September, gunmen shot dead a British man, father-of-six Edmund Muirhead-Smith, in a shopping centre car park in an eastern suburb of the capital, Riyadh.

In May, two Britons were among six people shot dead by militants in an oil contractor's office in Yanbu, north of the Red Sea port of Jeddah.

Another died in an attack on a housing complex in the eastern city of Khobar later in the month.

BBC correspondent Frank Gardner was shot and seriously wounded in a shooting in Riyadh in June. His Irish colleague, cameraman Simon Cumbers, was killed.

Correspondents say the attacks in the conservative Muslim kingdom, much of whose economy depends on foreign workers, are aimed at driving Westerners out of the country and damaging its oil industry.

Camera Phones not prohibited in Saudi Arabia anymore

At last a bit of good news.

By Intisar Al-Yamani

The Saudi Gazette

RIYADH

The Ministry of Interior made it clear that there is no law in the Kingdom that prohibits camera mobile phone use and trade provided it is used lawfully.

We are more concerned about how camera mobile phones are being used than whether a person owns one or not, said Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Ministry of Interior.

Turki noted that the police have the right to confiscate prohibited possessions under the Kingdom s law and camera mobile phones if they are being used for crimes and harming others.

Al-Turki said that restrictions on camera mobile phones at private functions such as those held in exhibition halls, are the responsibility of the organizers of the events.

The customs authorities have their own restrictions on prohibiting camera mobile phones coming into the country, he said.

We are concerned about camera mobile phone use in public areas and places, like trading establishments (malls), said Turki.

He assured that random searches will not be conducted on individuals and cars will not be searched specifically for camera mobile phones unless police suspects that camera phones are unlawfully being used by particular individuals.

Turki also noted that if a specific law was to be devised prohibiting mobile phone ownership, trade and personal use in the Kingdom, then the Ministry and security authorities in the Kingdom would ensure that individuals abide by it.

Turki s remarks Saturday sharply contradict a report in the Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Riyadh, which implied that camera phones are banned and can be seized at any time.

Turki was quoted in the newspaper as saying one of the basic duties of the security officials is to stop or seize anything that violates the laws and regulations of the country and is banned in the Kingdom.

He added: The responsibility of removing such banned equipments fall on the shoulders of the customs officials in the airport, land and sea border posts and even on the internal security men .

But camera phones are not banned in the Kingdom. They can be sold, purchased and used. The line is drawn when such phones are used for immoral purposes.

Camera phones have created considerable controversy, especially in the past year as they become more popular.

The biggest headache for law authorities is the continuing use of camera phones by female wedding guests who take photos without authorization.

Such incidents have erupted into fights between women guests, if not brawls between entire wedding parties.

And in another case, a teacher recently was severely admonished for using a camera phone by taking pictures of her colleagues during a function.

Saudi women adhere to strict customs and traditions that limit what kind of photos are taken of them and how they are distributed. Most photos taken of Saudi women are limited to family use and pleasure.

Problems, however, occur when photos are taken without a woman s permission, then posted on Web sites. In some instances, marriages have ended when such incidents occured.

Another story from the previous article on Religious Freedom

Saudi Arabia's religious hatred
By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | September 23, 2004

LAST WEEK, the State Department added Saudi Arabia to its list of the world's most religiously intolerant nations. It was a step long overdue. The International Religious Freedom Act requires the department to designate each country that has "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom" as a "country of particular concern for religious freedom." Few nations deserve that designation more than Saudi Arabia. But for reasons of politics and corruption, the law's clear mandate was always flouted before.

For years, the Saudi regime was exempt from harsh criticism in official US circles -- an immunity bought with the hundreds of millions of dollars Riyadh lavished on US policymakers, ambassadors, and lobbyists. Former CIA officer Robert Baer laid out many of the disgraceful details in his recent bestseller, "Sleeping With the Devil."

But that changed after 9/11, when a group of mostly Saudi terrorists sent thousands of innocent victims to their deaths. Countless Americans realized for the first time that Saudi Arabia, with its Wahhabi strain of Islam -- a radical, aggressive, and poisonously intolerant creed -- was the incubator of the world's most virulent anti-American savagery. The old speak-no-evil wall of protection began to crack. One result is the addition of Saudi Arabia to the State Department's list.

"Freedom of religion does not exist," the department states in its report on Saudi Arabia. "It is not recognized or protected under the country's laws, and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam. Citizens are denied the freedom to choose or change their religion, and noncitizens practice their beliefs under severe restrictions. Islam is the official religion and all citizens must be Muslims."

The report notes that "conversion by a Muslim to another religion is . . . a crime punishable by death if the accused does not recant. . . . The government prohibits non-Muslim religious activities. Non-Muslim worshippers" -- millions of foreign-born Christians and Hindus work in Saudi Arabia -- "risk arrest, imprisonment, lashing, deportation, and sometimes torture for engaging in religious activity that attracts official attention."

That is clear enough as far as it goes, but Ambassador John Hanford, whose office compiled the report, took pains to assure the Saudis that it would go no further. Asked at a press conference whether the listing of Saudi Arabia should be seen as a "pressure tactic," Hanford replied:

"Oh, no, no. Uh-uh. No. These designations are ones that we make with a certain degree of sorrow because these are valued relationships, particularly in a case such as Saudi Arabia. But the US Congress has laid out for us a standard that we feel we must follow."

Secretary of State Colin Powell likewise did his best to allay Saudi fears. "This is not to punish them, or in any way to show displeasure," he assured Al Arabiya, the Arab satellite channel. "One should not see this as anything but two friends talking to one another about a problem of mutual concern."

Not in any way to show displeasure? Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi fanaticism is the root from which Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda draw their ideological sustenance. It is the ultimate source of the hatred that destroyed the twin towers three years ago -- and sawed the heads off two American engineers in Iraq this week. We will never win the war on Islamist terror unless we shut off the wellspring that feeds it. That means speaking bluntly about Saudi Wahhabism and the kind of country it has shaped.

Saudi Arabia is the kind of country in which an eighth-grade textbook teaches that Jews and Christians were cursed by Allah and turned into apes and pigs, and in which ninth graders learn that on the day of judgment, "a Jew will hide behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or tree will call upon the Muslim: `O Muslim, O slave of Allah! There is a Jew behind me, come and kill him!' "

It is the kind of country in which a guest worker from India can be arrested for leading Bible studies in his home. Brian Savio O'Connor was beaten and threatened with death unless he agreed to renounce his faith, Christian news services have reported. "My legs were chained and I was hung upside down," he told friends who visited him in prison. "My captors alternately kicked and beat me in the chest and ribs."

And it is the kind of country, let's not forget, in which Muslims, too, can be hideously victimized -- as when the state morality police, the "mutawwa'in," forced a group of teen-age girls to stay inside a burning school building because they were not wearing the head scarves and black cloaks that female Saudis must wear in public. Fifteen of the girls died; 52 were injured.

Saudi oil fuels the world, but the enemy we are fighting is fueled by the feverish religious bigotry that is Saudi Arabia's other leading export. Unless we squarely face that bigotry, and cast a cold eye on the regime that sustains it, the war on terror is one we will not win.

Religious freedom

It’s ironic for a religion that preaches tolerance to be denouncing religious freedom. A friend of mine told be that in the days of their prophet, Christians and Muslims lived side by side in complete harmony. So why is it that the opposite exists today?

24 September, 2004
SAUDI ARABIA
New false accusations brought in court against O’Connor, an Indian-born Christian
by Lorenzo Fazzini

Details about the arrest point to a plot by Islamic police against the Christian man who has been in jail for the last six months on charges of “evangelisation”.

Riyadh (AsiaNews) – Brian Savio O’Connor, a Christian imprisoned since March, was finally brought before a judge in a Deerah area courthouse (in Riyadh) for his first trial hearing. The proceedings lasted 90 minutes.

In addition to the known charges of drug use, selling alcohol and preaching Christianity Mr O’Connor was accused of possessing pornographic movies, this according to Middle East Concern (MEC), a Christian advocacy group in the Middle East that has been following the his case. MEC claims that charges against O’Connor are false, a fabrication of the Mutawwa, the Saudi religious police, designed to incriminate him because of his Christian beliefs.

O’Connor has been in prison since March after being abducted by the Mutawwa. In police custody he was tortured for a day and received death threats if he did not abjure his faith. Later, he was placed in the custody of Saudi courts and has been in prison for the past six months.

In his court hearing, O’Connor had no defence attorney and had to be his own legal council.

Initially, the court told him to speak in Arabic but given his limited fluency in the language he requested the assistance of official interpreter which was granted.

The presiding judge was not present in the early phase of the hearing; his assistant was and displayed a hostile attitude towards the defendant.

According to the prosecutor, the Indian-born Christian was caught selling liquor to a man hired by the Mutawwa to pose as a buyer. The serial numbers on the banknotes the buyer used in the transaction were recorded before the liquor was purchased. Since O’Connor was found with the banknotes he was charged with selling alcoholic beverages.

The prosecutor also charged O’Connor with possession of video material containing pornographic movies and storing Christian material on his computer. The defendant did admit to owning bibles and video material but denied his movies had any pornographic content. Asked why he had the videos, he answered that it was private material for personal use. The judges however disagreed and accused of “evangelisation”.

In all, O’Connor had a hundred biblical video CDs. They included excerpts, documentaries and movies about the Holy Scriptures. Some 60 videocassettes contained shows from US TV preacher Benny Hinn by the Trinity Broadcasting Corporation. O’Connor’s computer also stored an electronic version of the Bible.

The judges asked the defendant whether he had any Bible. He said that he had brought some copies from India [Editor’s Note: O’Connor has been living in Saudi Arabia for the past six years] to the study the Scriptures. They then asked him whether he knew that bringing Bibles into Saudi Arabia was illegal. O’Connor said that he brought them legally. “At the airport, customs officials did not confiscate them,” he pointed out. The Court concluded that the defendant “was not aware” that “such books” were banned. However, it did accuse him of owning Bibles in languages he, himself, did not know perfectly, namely Arabic and Urdu, and this, for the authorities, constituted evidence that he was using Christian books for the purpose of “evangelisation” and was thus involved in “preaching Christianity”.

O’Connor did in fact organise private study sessions with Urdu and Arabic-speaking people. However, Saudi authorities have not adopted any final rules on banning Bibles from entering the country. Sometimes officials confiscate them; other times, they let them through. Some border officials let them through for personal use as long as they are not in Arabic; in other cases, people who had their Bibles confiscated can get them back after complaining with customs authorities.


To the evangelisation charge, O’Connor replied that he did not think that private religious meetings were illegal. To back his claim he referred to a report published in ArabNews on April 9, 2003, where it was clearly written that “non-Muslims can practice their faith in private”. The Court said that the claim was untrue upon which O’Connor exhibited a photocopy of the Riyadh edition of the Arab News article. The Court asked that a copy of the article be found so that its contents could be verified.

Despite the Court’s misgivings, the right to worship in private has been recently confirmed by Saudi authorities. On September 17, Lebanese daily The Star quoted a Saudi government official saying – in response to the US State Department report on religious freedom – that “non-Muslims who live in the kingdom do not have places for worshipping like churches because they are not citizens. [However,] they can practice their religions freely inside their houses”.

Furthermore, on September 19, Saudi newspaper Okaz quoted Mutawwa chief Sheik Ibrahim bin Abdullah al-Ghaith saying that “[although] Saudi Arabia will never allow public displays of their faith, [it] does not prevent non-Muslims from practicing their religion”.

The next hearing in the trial has not yet been scheduled but O’Connor will be able to confront his Mutawwa accusers. For now, “Brian said he was happy to hear that many people are praying for him and fighting for his release [. . . and] wants to thank them for their support,” Middle East Concern reported.

According to Saudi authorities O’Connor must be an “exceptional” person and the leader of a group, backed by outside powers, that seeks to promote Christianity in the country. This, they infer from the many letters O’Connor has received during his months of incarceration. In fact, upon hearing of his arrest, many Christian organisations started a campaign on O’Connor’s behalf out of religious solidarity urging Christians from all over the world to write a letter expressing solidarity and support to the imprisoned Christian from India. Western Embassies –especially those of the US, the UK, and Canada– have been putting pressure on the Saudi government to free O’Connor.

More importantly, the contention by Saudi prosecutors that O’Connor has many foreign contacts is based on the fact that he used many post-office boxes. However, since he could not have a personal box himself he had to rely on those of friends.

With the trial finally under way, certain aspects of O’Connor’s March 25 arrest are coming to the fore showing how he was set up by the Islamic religious police.

Someone contacted O’Connor by phone saying that he was “interested in Christianity” and wanted to meet him to talk about it. After agreeing to an appointment, O’Connor left home for the meeting. He did not make it there because he was stopped by Mutawwa officers and driven away. He was brought to a mosque where he endured beatings and torture. “I was hung from the ceiling,” O’Connor told friends who visited him in prison, “and they played football with my head.”

There, he was held for 24 hours since, under Saudi law, suspects arrested by the Mutawwa can be held for “only” a day. The following day, he was taken to the Olaya prison and charged with drug use, liquor sale and preaching Christianity.

An unmarried Protestant, Brian O’Connor was employed as a luggage handler for Saudi Arabian Airlines, Saudi Arabia’s national airline company.

connor.bmp

They don't want work that's too tiring

How would you expect for a nation to excel when its people who are hired to do something not very complicated (like take census) quitting because they did not feel up to it? How can you help people, paid SR200 a day, quitting because the money is not enough? SR200 is already half a month salary for the tea-boys in this country. How can you help people who complain that getting information for 11 families a day (or 1.375 family per hour) is too much? Yet you hear stories of local staff (junior) wanting to immediately become managers although they do not have the experience nor the right attitude to be a good staff let alone a good manager.

Enumerators Find Census Too Tiring

RIYADH, 21 September 2004 — Kafah Al-Dakhail, a census supervisor of five enumerators in Deriya district of Riyadh, said that two of the five men quit the group saying the job was too tiring.

Al-Dakhail said that census employees have the right to quit if they did not feel up to it.

Two of his employees had left the job after they felt tired and dissatisfied with the reward which they thought was not worth their time and effort.

The supervisor said that there are many reasons for the enumerators to quit — such as pressure of work, long hours of fieldwork, the nature of the area they work in, and lack of flexibility and the poor financial reward, which is only SR200 per day.

He said that new census employees were hired to fill the vacancies.

People have been raising various complaints about the census operation.

A citizen, for instance, said that the census application omitted many important questions such as how deeply the head of the family was in debt and what was the total debt of the entire family.

Another Saudi, Abdullah Al-Shamrani, said: “The application should not ask questions like how many video games or TV sets are there in the house. It should have asked whether all the furniture in the house are all paid for or installments are still due.”

A census official said that the enumerators faced a lot of difficulties in counting the people inside heavily guarded housing compounds.

He said the problem was however being solved by supplying the management of compounds with applications in Arabic and English to fill out. Abdul Muhsin Naser Al-Awaji, a census employee, told Eqtisadiah that the census operation is “difficult and exhausting.” He said the toughest problem faced by the employees is the absence of the man of the house.

Al-Awaji also said that the time given to finish the work is not enough. He is expected to cover 11 families a day.