Shaikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the King’s first cousin, is to be copiously thanked for transgressing on people’s livelihoods, because without him venturing into an erstwhile normal enterprise by a select few stealing public land, Malkiya villagers and the vast majority of Bahrainis would not have risen to reclaim what is theirs and to put a stop to this land-grabbing practice.
Without this event taking place, even though Bahrain being a collection of islands, would have had its people landlocked, seeing the sea only through documentary films and postcards.
The wall is now to be removed.
What is just as important, two other councilors from the Northern Municipality have lodged official complaints against more landlords in their area for “confiscating” the sea.
The wonderful thing is that it didn’t take violent action to achieve this result. It took determination, legal means and an honest and courageous newspaper to bring this to everyone’s attention. This is the value of free speech and the freedom of the press. Al-Wasat has proven without a shadow of a doubt its effectiveness in overseeing these transgressions, rather than the usual ass-kissing we get from Al-Ayam.
This is a first of many I hope.
Congratulations Bahrain.
Comments
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I saw the wall on AlJazeera net. Happy that Bahraini triumphed over corruption .
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And not a moment too soon! This is great news! We should never forget that it’s a small island, getting smaller by the day and we’ve all got to live with what she has to offer!
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DIB
You need to take a visit back home…… Bahrain is GETTING LARGER by the day with all the land reclimation!
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This is outstanding development for you. In the end everyone will win.
I enjoyed your filmclips.
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Great, a step in the right direction to fight corruption :). Inshalla wat comes next is better.
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That is fantastic news!
Ash
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Mahmood,
Ever the optimist!
Free speech? The freedom of Press? The war between light and dark? Good and Evil?
Oh please. This is real life and this is Bahrain, where such values don’t exist in the way we want them to. Nothing is as simple as it sounds. I don’t think this chapter is over. I don’t think there is a winner. Far from it, I feel it is just the opening episode of a series (musalsal – 3ala 9olat Chanad) which will open bigger problems that could derail the entire comical “political reform process.”
The reason I have come up with this brain fart right now is that for the first time people are starting to question openly: Where did u get this from? Do u have any legal papers to prove that u own this? and those questions are being asked to members of the Ruling Family and not to third and forth level shakes but to those counted as being among the inner circle.
Do you think Bahrain is democratic enough to allow those hungry mouths and angry people to question the legitimicy of the actions of the selected few ?
If this action against the Malkiya Wall gives people power and the government/regime/ruling elite/slave drivers (call it what u want) caves in to their demands, it will open a tsunami of demands about dozens of trespasses committed by usrpers in our recent and distant history.
And this is written with me being in my complete senses..although in desperate need to sleep. Good night 😉
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this is ALREADY happening! But I’m not sure if it is happening because of the nearness of the municipal elections, or is it out of genuine concern. In either case I don’t care very much for the cause, I do care however that these points ARE being PUBLICLY raised. The optimist in me says that even these actions will not derail the “democratic experiment” but would strengthen it.
I was however dismayed when I read that the PM thinks that the declaration of total personal wealth before assuming middle and high public offices is unnecessary. Justifying the stance that Bahrain already has strict anti-corruption laws.
Yeah sure, we might, but they’re NEVER implemented. Look for instance at the various accusations of mismanagement, embezzling of public funds and non-transparency in operations in the last Transparency Report submitted to the Royal Court. No action was ever taken against named transgressors. The same of course for the previous Housing Bank manager Al-Thawadi and various others.
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Mahmood.. this opens Pandora’s Box… something we are not ready to do. Look at all the atrocities committed by the police in the past. They were all wiped off with the infamous Law 56. Look at all the atrocities being committed today. Look at Ahmed (www.freeahmed.blogspot.com).
This country is going one step forwards and a few steps backwards. You do the maths. It is a lost cause. As far as I am concerned, there is no cause to fight for anymore. Opening the floodgates won’t do anyone any good. I was optimistic one day. I believed in that the beautiful days are the ones we have not lived yet. And I waited. And I hoped. And I dreamed..
Mahmood. I am not the type who makes a fool out of myself by having false hope. The reality of the situation is that it is not in many people’s interest to change the status quo.
And we will go back to the old days. It is Malkiya today. Sitra people are rising. They too want their beach… and I want a beach to lie down and get a proper tan. I am fed up of having only one beach here, where I can’t show off my excess baggage without being labelled. But nothing is going to change because nothing is planned. Whatever gain will be made by Malkiya has been derailed by the Hamad Town constiutional reforms march today. The government may once again make a big fuss about it and it will come to the forefront and Malkiya will be lost forever.
And the transperancy report? What are we thinking of? Transperancy my foot!
[Modified by: princess (princess) on June 17, 2005 07:54 PM]
aaaaeee, wrong tactic!
brain fart in progress in arabic no less of going back on his word to remove the wall and allow Al-Malkiya villagers (and the whole of Bahrain for that matter, it wrong to portray this as a Malkiya only issue) access once again to their beach and sea. He’s now not only NOT removing the wall, but RECLAIMING THE LAND IT CONTAINS! That is, landfilling the sea so that he can increase the size of his plot.
The guy has lost his plot if he thinks that this tactic is going to get him to force “facts on the ground” on people.
Sea? What sea?
So once again the government, the rule of law and the honour of the kingdom as a whole is being sold short, because of ONE SINGLE PERSON who definitely and defiently feels that he is above the law.
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Good news Mahmood. It is always a great feeling when I see justice served.
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A precedent has been set. Now it’s time to reclaim all the other beaches which have been confiscated illegally.