Focus (Opinion) Of the Week - Issue 40

40 - Oct 2 thru Oct 8 2000, Vol X

On Physics and Good Government

COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
“Being as the rulers and the people are made up of the same ingredients, why doesn’t the Government recognize that we are not just dead meat, without any feelings, desires or aspirations?” said Mubarak as the family started on a long awaited family trip to Aden, they have been planning for 10 years now.
As the father prepared for the first set of curves on the Sumara Pass remarked: “I thought you wanted to be a Physics Professor in a university, so what is this political nonsense you are starting now?”
Murad Jr., who has just finished his elementary education answered for his brother: “Maybe he realized that the only people who are making money are Government officials or political activists, so he now opts for a career switch”.
The Mother, Fatima, saw some good sense coming out of her sons: I was beginning to worry seeing Mubarak fooling around with pulleys and having to look at so many different dials just to find the time of day! Politicians and government officials only use paper and ink to do their jobs, which they get free from the Government or their political organization. I have sold half of my jewelry just so Mubarak can carry on with his scientific studies. I hope we won’t have to sell the house when he starts on his career as a bona-fide Physicist. I have always told him that Physicists, or any scientists or intellectuals for that matter, never make money. In fact nobody has ever shown me a house and said: ‘Look there, that is the house of a scientist!’ Maybe scientists and scholars live in tents like Bedouins. How many poor scientists, artists and intellectuals are roaming the streets not even being able to afford lunch for the day, let alone build a house. Your father has tried for the arts, but if it was not for your father’s inheritance and mine, you kids would have never tasted meat, let alone studied Physics”!
Murad the Elder, wanted to fully understand what Mubarak was really getting at: “No, Mubarak is really just criticizing Government officials. What is it that is bothering you, son?”
Mubarak was trying to measure the lengths of the drops he saw as they wined their way up the Sumara, as he answered: “some of my associates in the University and myself tried to form a scientific society, along with some other people, who are interested in Science. However, to get the association inaugurated we have been subjected to so many hassles and bureaucratic routine – not to mention the excessive scrutiny – that we feel like outcasts and suspicious criminals, rather than sincere citizens seeking to advance scientific knowledge. How can we hope for the country’s development, if scientists and other serious minded intellectuals, professionals, artists and craftsmen, cannot work collectively to advance their own particular fields. Even if we want to hold a routine meeting, the Government must be informed, and we may be refused such a meeting, and held accountable to the Government for holding any ‘unauthorized’ meetings! Scientists from abroad make us feel so embarrassed, when we hear about the ease of dealing with their Governments, in those few instances that they have to deal with the Government. When we also hear about the substantial support in funds and facilities that they receive from the Government and the promotion of their work to harness private and corporate donations and support, we become depressed. We have not been able yet to determine which Government agency is responsible for regulating our work, since half a dozen agencies have to ‘coordinate” with each other in this task.”
The mother cut in: “See what I mean, if you have opted for a Government position, you would be on the controlling side, telling people the appropriate time when they can have breakfast, not just when to hold a meeting. See how powerful and important a person is when he becomes a Government official”?
Murad added another advantage: “They also travel overseas free, build great palaces, and each family member has his own car, from the time he is still in his mother’s womb or in the test tube, as the case may be”.
Then the father started a long political lecture: “Murad, you should not believe that government work or politics is the magic road to wealth, just because some corrupt officials have turned Government into a conglomerate of mixed narrow interests, none of which functionally serve Government’s essential roles as the provider of public services and as an effective regulator of individual and group interaction among the members of the public. You see son, ‘good Government’ should show results that are felt and appreciated by the vast majority of the population. That is then what justifies the Government demanding reasonable obligations from the citizens, such as taxes, military service and adherence to reasonable regulatory requirements or restrictions. However, when Government serves to just cater to the narrow interests of a small select element or elements of the population, and functions without regard to sound managerial and ethical standards, one is bound to be confronted with so many improprieties, not just in the Government, but in society as a whole, and certainly a wider distance between the functions of the Government and the interests of the country as a whole. Moreover, confusion and misunderstandings create an atmosphere where words and expressions fail to take on their normal standard definitions and meanings and the application of law becomes subject to the whims of those who are responsible for the enforcement of law and order in the society. What is worse is that norms and values become distorted and society is in disarray. Murad, your conception of ‘Good” Government is in need of better orientation.”
Murad now seemed confused: “None of what you see hits my mind at all. From what we see, Government is just a good time for those who are involved in it, and those who ride on the bandwagon.”
The father tried to balance his attention to all the lefts and rights he has to make before finally reaching the top of the ever beautiful Sumara and to teaching his kids the ‘good’ side of Government, both of which are now of equal importance: “What we should not forget is that the Government and the people, in general, should see eye to eye on most issues of public affairs; we can’t have the Government look at matters in one perspective while the public view reflects a whole different orientation. Accordingly, the situation is not just an indication of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ Government, but more a question of what is right and what is wrong. In this respect, one would think that the public is the party to decide and the Government is obliged to serve accordingly. The conscience of Government must always lie with the public. Only then, can it be said that a society has reasonably reached maturity as a democracy. Anything otherwise is no more or no less than child’s play.”
Murad commented: “Mubarak carry on with your Physics then, you will have a tough time trying to put our father’s idea of Government into play in this country, with all the other distorted ideas on Government that plague most Government officials these days.”

After 4 Decades of Revolution:
Nothing up for Grabs

Silver Lining
Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi
Managing Editor
Nobody can deny the fact that the 26th September Revolution 1962 has considerably improved the life of the Yemeni people in comparison with the situation under the Imam rule. However, what has been achieved during these four decades does not meet the aspirations of Yemeni people. The priorities of the revolutionaries are still ours today. Political, social, economic stability, good health and education, fighting ignorance, illiteracy- these all were the priorities of the revolution. However, they are still our main headache today after 38 years.
During this period the country was embroiled into the turmoil of several problems, mainly political which in return created instability that considerably slowed down the process of development in the society. After 4 decades we even failed to abolish the tribal vengeance which has been claiming the lives of many Yemenis since then.
Of the main concerns of the revolution was introducing good education and health, enhancing law, justice, security and fighting against the “chains” of the Imam’s jails. Unfortunately, these efforts to achieve the aspirations of the folks could not hit the nil on the head and put us on the right track.
We have many schools and universities but “Do they meet the development needs at a time where more than 70% of population are still illiterate”? We have many hospitals but they are empty even from Aspirin at a time where thousands of Yemenis still die of malaria. Yes guys, prisons of the Imams were demolished but we have many jails belonging to various (Imams) sheikhs in different areas all over the country. Security and safety is still something which we need as we need water. The absence of law and order and justice is more visible in the cases piled up in courts for many years and other lawless practices by influential guys at the power center.
By and large, I do not mean here to put down or deny the achievements we have made so far since 1962. Rather, I simply do not want the priorities of the people in 1960s and 1970s be ours today. Our concerns today should not be to teach people to read and write only; they should be to live up to the challenges of the time and fight against the illiteracy of computer and internet. They should be to combat cancer and other serious diseases, not malaria. In short, we need another revolution in different arenas of our life. It is only this way could people realize the real change their revolution had made in their lives.