Sky News recently reported that the British Ministry of Labor was deeply worried about the problems created by 7,000 immigrants who illegally enter the country every year. The number of violators of immigration and residence regulations in Britain is estimated at 40,000. The British ministry allocated $12 billion for training its people this year. Despite this enormous allocation, the ministry does not have funds for legal foreign workers, let alone illegal ones. Recently, French and British officials discussed the fate of 1,000 Kurdish refugees who locked themselves in a church. The British refused to admit them and were finally prepared to admit 300 if approval could be got from the highest level. As an example of another European country, Germany spends some $50 billion on employment rehabilitation schemes for the private sector.

Let us compare their treatment of immigrant workers with our treatment of legal and illegal foreign workers in the Kingdom. Every 20 minutes a plane from a foreign country lands at one of the Kingdom’s airports carrying hundreds of foreign workers or expatriates. Our country has unfortunately become a testing ground for incompetent expatriates. A large number of Saudi “sponsors” bring unskilled workers into the country at an average profit of SR500 per head. We flood our employment market with expatriates while most countries admit only a limited number. South Koreans, who only admit foreign workers with a master’s degree or oil technology skills, fear the flooding of their employment market if the borders with North Korea are opened.

Once when I went to the local Passport Department, I found an official there handling the case of an expatriate trying to change his sponsor for the 12th time. I did not bother to ask him how many times the expatriate had changed his profession.

I have written countless times about the dangers of indiscriminate recruitment of foreign labor. I strongly believe that foreign workers spread both confusion and dangerous diseases in the country, apart from unraveling the Saudi social fabric. The situation has deteriorated alarmingly in the country; millions of foreigners are coming in legally and staying illegally while at the same time, our young people in the thousands are unemployed. These unemployed Saudis as a result of boredom and frustration are often driven to criminality and drug addiction while other people live on the income of the foreigners they sponsor. After writing a number of articles on the deteriorating social and economic situation, largely the fault of expatriates, I was shocked to discover an expatriate lobby hostile to my writings. They went so far as to call me a Saudi Jean-Marie Le Pen. I accept the nickname as I stand for a noble cause and my objective differs greatly from that of the French ultra-rightist.

The minister of communications recently told the press that three ministries are studying Saudization of the taxi business. His statement further implied that the date of implementation could be postponed to a more appropriate time. People wonder why three ministers should study the implementation of a bold decision made by Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard. He asked that the decision be implemented within a few months. Everyone knows that the limousines on our roads are there with an understanding between the expatriate drivers and Saudis acting as car owners. The three ministries proceed slowly while the syndicate of taxi owners, predicting their losses in millions, rush to defend their rights which they share with the expatriate drivers. The apparent submission of the ministries to the limousine owners’ demands suggests that Saudization may never move further than vegetable salesmen or poultry and milk distributors.

The underground railway — the tube — workers in London recently went on strike. They struck without any fear of an impact on their future social life. In our country nothing has been done to implement a decision made four years ago. It supposedly gave opportunities to Saudi workers in the retail jewelry sector and the idea was to make the future more secure for our youth. At the same time, an undercover syndicate has attempted to keep decision from becoming a reality. The chambers of commerce in the country are also working hand-in-glove with this syndicate. In an apparent attempt to please the syndicate, the chambers recommended the postponement of Saudization of the sector until the establishment of an academy for jewelry salesmen. Are all expatriate workers in the gold souk graduates of such academies? How many of them are? Where are these academies? After four years the decision to Saudize the jewelry sector is about to be buried. The decision to Saudize taxi drivers is likely to meet the same fate if we look at present indications. Fear Allah in the matter of your young people and leave the country’s future to them.

Arab News Features 20 December 2002