By Asma Al-Muhammad
Okaz newspaper
BECAUSE I know the youth of my country very well, I was encouraged to stand up for them when they were the target of a recent smear campaign on social networking websites which highlighted some recent incidents that negatively reflected them. The actions of a misguided minority group should not reflect negatively on the majority.
Social networking websites circulated a video clip of two young Saudis involved in a horrifying drifting accident in Riyadh. In a special television interview, a number of ex-drifters admitted that some traffic policemen pass on information to drifters that protects them from getting caught. The problem of drifting has been debated many times and solutions have been proposed but no one has implemented them. It’s hard to believe that children who were brought up and raised by loving families ended up dying in a horrific joyriding accident that left their bodies in pieces but such stories are unfortunately common during the end of the year when students take to the streets and celebrate with such reckless behavior.
The Jinn incident saw groups of young Saudis being arrested in Al-Khobar and Hafr Al-Batin after a campaign titled “The National Day to Invade Dwelling Places of Jinn” encouraged them to storm abandoned buildings allegedly haunted by Jinn and take pictures or videos of the supernatural creatures and upload them onto the Internet. In Riyadh, the case of the abandoned Araqa hospital has come under media scrutiny and no department or ministry has come forward to claim ownership and explain why the building was abandoned.
Finally, the case of the girl being harassed in a Riyadh mall by a member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was one of the most infuriating incidents being circulated in the social media. In the video clip, she is asked to leave the mall without any justifiable reason. There are no clear laws that govern the behavior of shoppers and it isn’t clear how having manicured nails is a violation of any law! When the girl documented the incident with her cell phone’s camera, the mall’s security guards who are supposed to protect shoppers, asked her to leave.
When she refused their request, police were called to escort the girl out of the mall.
Police are still investigating the incident. This case may be forgotten with time but there should be clear laws that are understood by everyone so such an incident does not happen again.
Our youth need to be contained and supported and we need to put more trust in them instead of putting them down and reflecting them negatively. Perhaps it is time they should be under the umbrella of a ministry that addresses the issues they have.
