Archive | September, 2010

This Friday: Walk, Dance, Run, Skip or Jump for Charity

The Gift of Life Bahrain emblem, a Rotary Club of Adliya initiative to help children with congenital heart defects in Bahrain

Everything is in place now for the RCA Pink Walkathon which will benefit two worthy local charities: the excellent Rotary Club of Adliya – of which I am the current president – and the wonderful Think Pink Bahrain. Net funds raised will be equally shared between both charities. Funds donated to Think Pink will go toward the financing of a specialised machine to detect breast cancer especially in younger ladies while those for the Rotary Club of Adliya will go toward our program to benefit Children with Congenital Heart Diseases by purchasing necessary diagnostic equipment for the Salmania Medical Complex, the largest public hospital on the island.

So please do spread the word and come with your friends and family. It’s two hours of doing good that will help countless needy people and their families. Your generosity will not be missed and you will have had the required exercise for the day too!

There is more information on the Walkathon‘s microsite, but briefly the walk will be quite unique: we’ll be starting from Al-Ghous Corniche in Muharraq, walk onto the old Sh. Hamad Bridge through to the Diplomat Intersection then onto the new Sh. Isa Bridge then walk back to the starting point at the park again.

The American Mission Hospital will provide an ambulance and medical staff throughout the day, the RCSI will provide 41 marshals, Rotaract Club of Manama & Salmania will help too with 12 marshals, the Muharraq Governate have been an excellent help right from the start and will provide the Community Police, the Ministry of Interior will provide a police car to regulate the flow and ensure the safety of the participants and will also provide a motorcycle outrider, Manhal Water will provide free water for all participants by placing five watering stations along the route and of course the Muharraq Municipality allowed us to use the Al-Ghous Corniche for the event which is very generous of them indeed. There are so many I would like to thank for working so hard at making this event happen. I’m sure that it will go without a hitch because of these excellent companies, volunteers and government organisations.

So please do come. We’ll start the registration at 1.30 PM and start the walk at 3.00 PM sharp!

Entrepreneurship

I’ve been to a nice seminar this afternoon at the Entrepreneurs Organisation, of which I’m a member, exploring ways to grow one’s business. The EO’s education, or “learning” program is quite good and is the one most important reason (so far) which attracted me to the group. They organise excellent seminars and workshops led by experienced entrepreneurs or someone of international import to share his or her experience with us. As my business is experiencing growth, this particular seminar, “Grow your business” was of particular interest to me and my team. It featured Steve Strauss, an accredited author, entrepreneur, lawyer and syndicated columnist. I invited Rachel Heywood who is the producer and director at Gulf Broadcast whom I thought would not only benefit from the seminar too, but could also add value through her experience.

Through the short couple of hours we spent together with leading entrepreneurs in Bahrain, the interactive discussion was very interesting and listening to each other’s experiences was eye-opening at some times. Almost like bulbs going on as the discussions continued with this sophisticated group.

One of the questions raised was how us as individuals translate the term “entrepreneur”. I listened to several definitions, and although they were quite correct and true, I still was uncomfortable with most of the definitions because I thought that they lacked something which I can’t put my finger on. Ultimately, I spent a few minutes thinking about what it meant to me, and I think that I finally came to a definition which encompasses the meaning of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship to me personally which I’m going to share with you here:

An entrepreneur is an incubator of innovation through which opportunities are created that ultimately benefit both himself and the larger community. The byproduct of this process is the creation of collective wealth.

What do you think? What does the term “entrepreneur” mean to you?

Flogging the dead horse

Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) is to get a hi-tech overhaul to boost its edge and bring it up to international standards. [source]

What? AGAIN?!

Isn’t it high time to just bury the carcass and be done with it? Shall I count the number of times this particular call was made and the amount of money spent on it to “bring it to international standards” in the past couple of decades? Jeeze, this bloody television station must be the most invested in in the history of broadcast and it’s still a completely unwatched and unwatchable station. And when it is watched, on those rare occasions, we see it being either completely unprofessional, or pouring fuel on sectarian tensions in this country.

So who benefits from these perpetual calls to flog the dead horse then?

Mo exotic “experts” most probably, and let the local companies die on the wayside because, well, because they’re local (say that last word again while pinching your nose as if you smelt something really nasty) and don’t have the necessary experience. I’m not sure how they’re supposed to ever get that experience if the wealth of the country gets syphoned off to exotic experts and their suggested foreign companies. But, that’s how the cookie crumbles I guess.

So…

“The media must take advantage of the liberties in the prosperous era of His Majesty King Hamad to promote national unity and combat wrong ideas,” he [HRH the PM] said.

I wouldn’t hold my breath your royal highness. I’m afraid – with all due respect, sir – that with the current structure and constitution of that organ, it is an unachievable goal. The events of the last couple of months alone are ample examples of their failures and are innumerable to mention here again.

You would; however, quite easily achieve that goal by shutting down the IAA including the not-so-illustrious BRTC and open up the airwaves for independent radio and television channels to be established here. If you do, I can guarantee that you will unleash such a wave of creativity which will make this country the envy of the region. We have the talent, the will and the experience to show the whole world what Bahrain and Bahrainis are really about. Just give us a chance to prove it. You won’t be sorry and you would’ve saved good money from being thrown after bad.

US State Dept Censures Bahrain

HM's Media Advisor Mr. Nabeel Al-Hamar, Esq. advised to get a better translator for his paper.

Some of our illustrious press carried a doctored translation in Arabic of what the US State Department spokesman said when asked about the deteriorating security situation in Bahrain. In some of the local press, Facebooked by his majesty’s media advisor and Al-Ayam Media Empire owner Nabeel Al-Hamar (see screenshot) said:

أعرب المتحدث باسم وزارة الخارجية الأمريكية فيليب كراولي خلال اللقاء الصحفي اليومي بالوزارة يوم 16 سبتمبر الجاري عن اهتمام بلاده بالأحداث الأمنية التي شهدتها مملكة البحرين مؤخرا.
وأكد كراولي في رده على سؤال صحفي بهذا الشأن، بأن الولايات المتحدة لديها ثقة بأن البحرين تتطور في طريق النماء والأمن والديمقراطية.

Al-Ayam · 17 Sept 2010

The spokesman for the U.S. State Department Philip Crowley during the meeting, the ministry’s daily press on 16 September for his country’s interest by security incidents witnessed by the Kingdom of Bahrain recently.
The Crowley in response to a reporter’s question in this regard, that the United States to have confidence that Bahrain is developing in the way of development, security and democracy.

undoctored Google translation

UPDATE:
Official Arabic translation via Radio Sawa which does express the same sentiments as in the original English text:

قلق أميركي من اعتقال عدد من عناصر المعارضة في البحرين
16/09/2010 01:02 (توقيت غرينتش)
أعربت الخارجية الأميركية عن قلقها من اعتقال عدد من عناصر المعارضة في البحرين على خلفية اتهامات بالسعي لقلب نظام الحكم في البلاد. وقال المتحدث كراولي:
“نحن على اتصال مع السلطات البحرينية وقد عبرنا لهم قلقنا حيال ذلك الأمر، وفي نفس الوقت لدينا ثقة استقيناها من المسؤولين في البحرين وهي أن بلادهم ينبغي ألا تختار بين الأمن والديموقراطية، هذه هي رسالتنا إلى الحكومة في البحرين.”

وقد تمت الاعتقالات قبل أشهر من الانتخابات التشريعية في البحرين.

Radio Sawa

Compare that with what was actually said and which is clearly available in the transcript of the source video from the US State Department’s website:

QUESTION: There has been a string of arrests of opposition figures in Bahrain in recent days. Human rights groups are also alleging police torture, and this is all seen as sort of a clampdown ahead of elections in a couple months’ time. Given the close relations between Bahrain and the United States, do you have anything to say about this?

MR. CROWLEY: This is something that we are in touch with Bahraini authorities and have expressed our concern. At the same time, we have confidence as Bahrain evolves that you don’t have to make a choice between security and democracy, and that this is the message that we’re sending to the government.

QUESTION: Do you have any reason to believe the government’s claim that these opposition figures were trying to sort of arrange a coup against the royal family?

MR. CROWLEY: I don’t know that we’re aware of any information along those lines for –

US State Dept transcript of Daily Press Briefing on 15 Sept 2010

So please don’t treat us like morons who can’t find sources or people who don’t have the intelligence to discern the truth when it’s staring us in the face.

If you need a Journalistic Code of Ethics to follow, or use as a guide to create your own, here’s a good resource which you might do well to consider.

Mr. Al-Hamar and his empire appears to follow the very same trend of his Egyptian friends.

Confused about Human Rights Societies in Bahrain?

I was a bit confused reading the newspapers this morning regarding two human rights societies. You might’ve been too, so let me remove some of the confusion:

There is the National Human Rights Commission which is different from the Bahrain Human Rights Society. The first is a government organisation established by Royal Decree and the BHRS on the other hand, is a registered and independent and highly regarded civic society which has long been involved in the defence of human rights in Bahrain.

Salman Kamaleddin, assigned president by Royal Decree of the BHRC, resigned after just 4 months at the helm. Although he did not declare why he actually resigned his commission so far, it is presumed that the reasons are that he is at odds with receiving orders on what to condone and what to object to.

Soon thereafter another event took place in that the Bahrain Human Rights Society [BHRS] was accused of being sectarian, which got them to be quite understandably publicly angry at the accusation. The government organ in charge of all non-political societies in Bahrain, the Ministry of Social Development stepped in and ham-fistedly aggravated the situation by firing Al-Dirazi and replaced him just today with someone more amenable to the government’s view. The replacement is assigned to head the society for 8 months and is to prepare a supposedly comprehensive report about the society, its finances and work within 2 months of assuming office. The Ministerial order also specifies that a General Assembly is to be convened rather quickly, dissolve the board and elect a new board. Presumably under the new appointed chief. Thus, effectively hijacking human rights work in this country with not a single registered civic human rights society operating here.

The international community wasn’t pleased with the developments and various international organisations condemned the move and called on the Bahrain government to not interfere in civic societies and re-instate the highly respected Al-Dirazi who presided over the BHRS to his position.

Now, just today in the same paper that carried that news, the deputy prime minister is pictured not only meeting Kamaleddin – who has resigned the BHRC’s position – but commending him on a job well done and affirming the importance of Rights societies and their contribution to the health of the country… as if Kamaleddin never resigned and everything was hunky dory with the BHRC!

Didn’t anyone tell DPM that the BHRC’s been practically dissolved with Kamaleddin’s resignation? Or is it back as it was now and Kamaleddin’s changed his mind all of a sudden and has been brought back to lead the Society again?

نائب رئيس الوزراء يلتقي كمال الدين ويشيد بمؤسسة ‘حقوق الإنسان’
أكد نائب رئيس الوزراء سمو الشيخ محمد بن مبارك آل خليفة خلال لقائه أمس في مكتبه بقصر القضيبية رئيس المؤسسة الوطنية لحقوق الإنسان سلمان كمال الدين، أهمية الدور الذي تضطلع به المؤسسة ومؤسسات المجتمع المدني للعمل من أجل الارتقاء والنهوض بأوضاع حقوق الإنسان وتعزيز الحريات الأساسية ونشر وتعميم ثقافة حقوق الإنسان. وأعرب سموه عن ثقة الحكومة في المؤسسة رئيساً وأعضاء لتحقيق الأهداف والتطلعات المرجوة من إنشائها ومواصلة مسيرة الإنجازات في مجال تعزيز وحماية الحريات العامة وحقوق الإنسان.
ونوه سموه بالتطورات التي حققتها مملكة البحرين في ظل عهد جلالة الملك في مجال حقوق الإنسان التي حظيت بإشادة واسعة إقليمياً ودولياً.

Al-Wasat · 17 Sept 2010

His highness expressed the government’s confidence in the organisation’s [BHRC] president and members to achieve the desired goals and objectives of its creation and for it to continue the march of achievements in the promotion and protection of public freedoms and human rights.

translated the bold bits

With this confusion and the absence of some officially registered organisation to take care of human rights and guard against transgressions, I guess the only one which comes to the foreground now is the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights? Ah, sorry, although it’s the most active anyway with a proven track record in defending people from those Bahrainis in Guantanamo, to migrant workers through to political activists, it too has been dissolved by the MoSD and its site has been blocked for some time now. Oh, and both their current and previous presidents found their mugshots featured in a poster along with the “23 terrorists” who’ve been recently apprehended. Their pictures have since been removed in the online versions of the quite nicely designed poster for some reason.

So, you’re on your own.

I hope that clears things up a bit for you now and you can go back to your hopefully relaxing Friday.

Off to find something to continue to waste my time now. Ta taa.