And I thought the opening of Oman's largest Lulu Hypermarket and the launch of the National Geographic exhibition would be the only interesting piece of news from Salalah today! Apparently not! 
Protesters gathered outside the Governor's office yesterday after Friday prayers and evidently they have not moved and won't until their demands have been fulfilled. I sent my brother to investigate. They've been chanting 'People want an end to corruption!'.الشعب يريد اسقاط الفساد
.
What demands? They want the following from His Majesty the Sultan:
.
(1) An end to corruption in the government
(2) More jobs for people in need
(3) increase in salaries for the poor, widows and divorced women
(4) Lowering prices
(5) An end to financial and administrative wasta in the government and private sector
(6) And other demands.
It'll be interesting to see how it turns out. The police are standing around watching. Nothing violent.
.
Here's a video of the demonstrations last night in Salalah. Evidently protests have erupted in Sur, Sohar, Shinas, and more in Muscat. What is going on in the Arab world?!!
.
.
Lulu post will come later!
Oh my God. This must be a bad sign. Salalah is so peaceful.
ReplyDeleteWHAT? Protests in SALALAH?!!!!! What is going on?!!!
ReplyDeleteAli
Fair demands, hopefully they'll keep it peaceful.
ReplyDeleteThat is something I never thought I would see.
ReplyDeleteIt's absolutely what I have expected, the government has nothing but to listen to their demands if it wants peace, enough is enough for corruption,poor salaries,high unemployment rate and so no.
ReplyDeleteThe ball now is in the government playground whether to have an immediate response or to bear the consequences.Nothing than that>>>>>>>>>>>>
u r on quoted by media check it out http://tinyurl.com/4p3mqd7
ReplyDeletehaha i distinctly remember a certain blogger saying that people in Salalah are too lazy to protest :p
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCheck this link..
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/02/26/uk-oman-cabinet-idUKTRE71P1IX20110226
Yikes, Day of Rage has also reached there!!
ReplyDeleteThe Sultan is providing all the facilities to his fellow country men.
ReplyDeleteBut there is still some aberration in the ministry; not to forget that the sultan in trusting the ministers well.
Now, Corruption is one of the core drawbacks in Oman Ministry. Definitely, it should be ended. But, when it comes to unemployment; a question to be asked, whether the people are ready to work hard for the country and are they dedicated to their job? Mostly, they are not; hence the investors cannot rely on Omani people for employment and are forced to recruit expats. Sorry to say, the Omanis should change their attitude in this aspect.
finally we are doing something NO Maki NO Makbol ><
ReplyDeleteWow, I've been looking for a good place to read about Oman, and I believe this is it. I will be moving to Oman after the Summer and would love to know as much as possible. I am more of a language enthusiast myself and hope to pick up on the Arabic dialect while I'm there.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
In my zeal to update I trashed my last comment. Arrggh. Take Two.
ReplyDeleteOriginal Comment:
May peace and justice prevail. Thank you for the coverage.
Update:
It seems concessions have swiftly been made, according to
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201122620711831600.html.
What is key - for everyone- is stability.
Two demonstrators reported killed by security forces in Sohar.
ReplyDeleteLove Salalah. Miss it so much. Would love to see more youth programs there for the Omanis so they can have more jobs. Hope the education system brings in more extra-curricular activities and maybe even makes some mandatory (if possible)I love the Omanis. Want to see them be happy. . .
ReplyDeletewhat's going on now?
ReplyDeleteI cant believe this could happen in salalah
It's very hard to believe that these sequential uprisings in the middle east is purely "coincidental". I've lived in Oman for six years and I love that place and humble, kind Omanis. Compared to some other poverty stricken Arab nations, Oman is heaven. If Omanis can roll up their sleeves and work as hard as expats they will have nothing to complain. Unemployment is common in any country including the super powers like the USA. People have to work with government to minimize unemployment. I don't know how protesting against a reasonably stable government will solve the listed problems. Nobody has a magic wand. Voice your thoughts using non-violence. An eye for an eye will blind the whole world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog and comments. Has been painful to watch events in Bahrain, my first home away from home in the Gulf, and now Oman, where I have many dear friends. Cannot agree more with the rhetorical question: 'When did we stop thinking?' An awakening, indeed. Peaceful, even better.
ReplyDeleteGreat posts and thanks for the personal insight into what is going on in Salalah. On Sohar I would just say that you should be careful not to confuse news reports, however respected the organisation, with actual confirmation. Reuters reporting eyewitnesses saying that 2 have died in Sohar is NOT confirmation.
ReplyDeleteHopefully things have slowed down. Yes some of the reasonable requests ( better word than demands ) have been looked into. Yet some of them have been a bit unreasonable. Oman is a very unique and peaceful country, please do not disturb this peace. The Sultan is a very great man and has done wonders for his country. He is just one man and cannot solve all the situations for his people alone, Therefore he has passed on some of these responsibilies to others in office to be implemented. Please work together to bring about the same wonderful and peaceful atmosphere. I admire and love Oman and Omanis
ReplyDelete