There’s a rise in the labelling of certain groups as “other”. Are you considered an “other”?
Has this disturbing tendency ever helped anything—or has it served ultimately to devolve our consciousness into division, suspicion, fear, and hatred? It’s time to get real. Spring came early.
“Ethnic diversity adds richness to a society” –Gary Locke
March madness is a phenomenon where hares go crazy during mating season (March) and they behave in an excited or unpredictable manner. “Then they begin to swerve and to stare, and be as brainless as a March hare” – Blowbois Test. I think spring came early this year.
Two proposals by our esteemed policymakers in Parliament with a potentially deadly backlash: The first is to put a cap on the number of expatriates in Bahrain, (proudly keeping them at bay since they’re apparently a drain on our resources) and not allow more than 50% of the population in Bahrain to be ‘foreign’ at one time. Secondly, and more seriously is to strip away electricity & water subsidies from the same expats and redirect them to Bahrainis only.
SUBSIDISING LIVING COSTS IN THE EARLY 1980’S WAS A WAY OF DISTRIBUTING THE PETROLEUM INCOME TO EVERYONE LUCKY ENOUGH TO LIVE ON BAHRAINI SOIL.
An expat (expatriate) is a person who lives outside their native country, and Bahrain was built by them. The term expat usually refers to early British settlers who stayed on after Bahrain gained independence in 1971, and were a partial element to our success in growing as a nation by contributing their expertise in various fields including health, education, infrastructure, and security. More importantly though and unfortunately not as recognised there was a larger category of expatriates unaccounted for: The South Asians. As we flourished the blood sweat and tears from poor migrant labourers poured into the concrete jungle you see today. Hard workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines came to provide for their families and accepted living in squalor with minimum pay and harsh working conditions in the 1970’s. Without them the GCC would not have been built. This silent workforce endured decades of toil under our merciless sun and eventually blended seamlessly into the magnificent fabric of a tolerant Bahrain, raising their children and creating communities that we can’t live without today. Bahrain is their home, and their radiant cultures are part of what makes this island unique: Indian friendliness, Pakistani pride, Filipino fun, Nepalese strength, British ingenuity; these traits all merged into our culture which already was an eclectic mix of Iraqi, Iranian, and Bedouin background.
Subsidising living costs in the early 1980’s was a way of distributing the petroleum income to everyone lucky enough to live on Bahraini soil. 35 years later things aren’t as simple anymore: As the population booms and resources dwindle we’re at a tipping point and something’s gotta give. The easiest person to point at is non-Bahraini but that’s how we shoot ourselves in the foot.
Drawing lines in the sand based on race is how we got into trouble in the past, and the last thing we need to do is draw more lines and create more discrimination and hatch new eggs of intolerance and hate. Imagine denying a doctor, engineer, surgeon, or even a street cleaner a visa because we are over 50% foreigner capacity! The greatest countries in the world prospered BECAUSE of their diversity, and not in spite of it. The short-sightedness, intolerance, and gall of this policy flabbergasts me.
I BELIEVE THAT REMOVING THE SUBSIDIES FROM EXPATS ONLY WILL HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE ENTIRE COUNTRY…
On a practical level though we must admit that everyone (Bahrainis & expats alike) are used to a cheap standard of living: Cheap accommodation, cheap food, cheap transport, and most importantly cheap labor. What do you think is going to happen if the workforce has to pay double or triple for water and electricity? There’ll be such a sudden and dangerous rise in standard of living that will cripple our ailing economy. If the expats have to pay more for Electricity and water, then everything goes up with them. A sudden inflation in the price of services, products, and accommodation will spell disaster to many businesses and families.There’s a time and place for all policies, and I don’t think this suggestion bodes well for Bahrain as written.
I believe that removing the subsidies from expats only will have a negative impact on the entire country and that it should be studied a little bit more.
There is one proposal floated by the business community that seems interesting: Which is to tie the price of Electricity and Water to the price of petrol. Meaning “ok we’ll all bite the bullet as a nation and pay more for electricity and water, but once the price of petrol goes back up then the price of electricity and water goes back down” This way, everyone benefits from the subsidies, and we manage to keep inflation at bay for a little bit longer until we find another solution. I know time’s tight and so is our budget, but we’re still in December and March is still a few months away. There may be a solution far from March madness, and let’s try to make it work.
