June 17, 2007

truth and reconciliation, anyone?

نسخة طبق الأصل (مع حذف الأسماء وتصحيح بعض الأخطاء الإملائية والنحوية فقط)

12 يونيو 2007

السيد الفاضل نائب الأمين العام للجمعية البحرينية لحقوق الإنسان

يطيب لنا أن نبعث لكم خالص التحية والتقدير، ونود الإفادة بأنه قد بلغنا بأن الجمعية تعتزم إقامة ورشة تشاورية لمناقشة ما يسمى بقضية المتضررين من الحقبة السابقة بعنوان" مشروع الحقيقة والإنصاف والمصالحة في البحرين" بتنظيم من لجنة التنسيق للانصاف والمصالحة ويشارك فيها ممثلون عن جهات ومنظمات خارجية دولية.

وبناء على ما سبق نود التأكيد على أنه وبحسب القانون، ضرورة مراعاة الجمعية لإتخاذ عدد من الإجراءات قبل عقد الورشة، على النحو التالي:

- التقدم للوزارة بطلب تصريح لإقامة أي فعالية يشارك فيها أشخاص من خارج المملكة.

- يجب التقدم رسميا لوزارة الداخلية بطلب الحصول على تصريح دخول أجانب إلى المملكة قبل دعوتهم لحضور أية فعالية مرفقين كشفا يبين أسماءهم وجنسياتهم لاستكمال الإجراءات القانونية.

كما ونود التنويه إلى أن اللجنة المنظمة للورشة ليست مسجلة رسميا بوزارة التنمية الاجتماعية، لذا فإن النشاط يجب أن يتم تحت مظلة أي جمعية مسجلة في وزارة التنمية.

وننتهز هذه الفرصة للتأكيد على إستعداد الوزارة للرد على كافة الإستفسارات المتعلقة بتنظيم الفعاليات والإجراءات المصاحبة لها.

وتفضلوا بقبول فائق التحية والاحترام.

التوقيع

الوكيل المساعد لتنمية المجتمع

(الرسالة مذيلة بشعار الوزارة البديع: نرتقي بالفرد .... نرتقي بالمجتمع)


OK so what's new in that you say? Did you know that there is now Safari for Windows? I didn't until yesterday. It is still Beta with bugs as frequent as my attention span that read "this program has encountered problems and needs to close down now". It is downloadable (No ministry's permit required so far) from:
http://www.apple.com/safari/download/


June 13, 2007

Samarra, or losing your right to Al-Aqsa

Another day, another heroic act by victorious Sunni Supremacists in Iraq, to the delight of friends and sympathizers everywhere. A high and holy symbol of abominable Shia polytheism has been razed to the ground. A far holier act, on a far holier front, than razing 100 world trade centres anywhere, twin-towered or otherwise.

Their joy must have multiplied by seeing and reading the reactions of the Shia leadership. A flurry of condemnatory statements followed by a call to a demonstration or two. There is no happier coincidence than incompetent impotence properly veiled in the garb of the politically responsible.

Their joy must have reached a climax by the bombing only few hours later in Beirut. Publicity-shy, they can’t believe their luck of June 13th as their historic act became yesterday’s news in a flash. Al-Manar no less pushed the Samarra bombing to minute 17 in their prime time newscast.

But there is a far happier lot with wider smiling eyes than our Sunni Supremacists brothers: our Jewish Supremacists cousins. If the former, on whatever ground, can get away with demolishing the holiest of the holy for others amid the cheer or silence of most, so can the latter. Their road towards Al-Al-Aqsa has never been more saintly and righteously paved.

June 09, 2007

government by the fault free for the fault free

By default, a constitutional, absolute monarchy is absolutely fault- free, unless royally decreed otherwise. So, a gentle public service reminder to fellow commoners of this faultfreeocracy: Next time you want to open your mouth to complain about key thing or turn your accusatory finger at key person, you better double lock your facts first. Chances are (at a regal 98.4%) that the fault may lie right at your doorstep (if you have one), or in your indoor wiring, or in your own brain wiring. This doesn’t lock you out of your constitutional right to complain (within agreed low decibels), only cordon you off from unnecessary embarrassment, not to mention a defendant dock at courtly places.

So when the Inherently Elevated, Ma3ali Minister of Electricity says that the source of your melt and swelter power-cut home is your neighbor’s extra room for his newly wed son, then this is a fact to switch by. A dimmed fact is that all new electrical installations to mega projects in Diplomatic Area, Juffair and Seef, each with load requirement exceeding entire villages, are express-approved by the Minister personally and /or the Undersecretary.

And when the Happily Elevated, Sa3adat Minister of Labour says that your productivity is a third of your European co-worker, he is being charitable rather than normally candid. His productivity of nations tables indicate that your colleague’s productivity, and hence salary, is almost 7 times as such. If you are a special case of a Danish Bahraini (person not company), your productivity and hence salary expectation should multiply by M= (3e+b)/ (e+b), where e is no. of years lived in Europe, b is no. of years in Bahrain, lived or otherwise. It goes without saying that it is impeccable statements like these by a former member of the opposition that strategically extend the tenor of any less than strategic minister.

At a slightly lower strategic level, when Her Happily Elevated, Sa3adat Minister of Social Affairs, says that Bahrainis are lazy bunch who prefer to be unemployed than take tough challenging jobs, she is damn sure of her facts. For years now, female graduates of Social Work at U of B (from the wrong noble sect) have been refusing productive opportunities in air-conditioned textile sweatshops paying wholesome BD 90 in favour of their impossible day dream of lazy jobs at her sect-set Ministry.

Back to higher levels, certainly the spokesman for the Naturally Elevated Minister of Interior is on the right side of the law when he declares that a broken neck, savage beating or a lost eye to a rubber bullet are unfortunate but normal consequences for participating in illegal rallies. The law surly does not protect the foolish, let alone the faulty variety.

Now, if I left you with the impression that this is the faultless ruling over the wholly faulty, I apologize. High authority has long recognized this imbalance and has been doing its utmost best to rectify it, by virtue importing an impeccably faultless variety. And here you can expect impeccably spotless treatment. Not only are our new citizenries’ necks sound and safe, their utmost privacy is also guaranteed. MP Sheikh Hassan Sultan would only be allowed a brief fleeting moment with extracts of a list of their names, and only in a closed room in the presence of the Ministry of Interior’s next of kin, Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Muawdah. The Minister assured us –perhaps inadvertently- that all, repeat all, newly naturalized citizens have homes and jobs, and so are no burden on the economy. (Apparently security payroll is not considered public purse). How is that for a faultless record?

The summery executive summary? Buy a generator.