Al-Madina

WHAT does it mean to live an isolated life in the middle of a crowd? How does it feel to be able to sit among friends yet secluded because your Absher account is suspended and you cannot get any of the government services done?

Such a life is abominable and difficult to even imagine. The family of the person who lives such a life also pays a price. The man of the house is crippled and cannot do anything for his near and dear because to get any of the services, he has to go through his Absher account, which is frozen.

Although suspending the electronic services for citizens in debt is a way to secure the rights of creditors, we must also look at how such action will affect those who are in debt and how they are made to suffer even more because they are denied all government services. This kind of penal action has forced many people to beg for money in the streets and in front of mosques, which shows how deep the problem is.

There is this story of a mother who kept weeping all the time because her Absher account was suspended and she was denied all government services. She said she and her son faced the threat of eviction from their house out into the street while her debt keeps piling up. Another person swears that he does not have a single riyal in his pocket. The condition of his family is worse and they lived on charity. He said he and his family members slept without eating anything many nights.

There are many different stories of suffering, yet the outcome remained the same. We need to find a permanent solution to this problem, instead of circulating stories about miserable people who grope in the dark searching for a glimpse of hope.

Indebted people should be given the chance to reschedule their debts in a way that does not make them suffer more. They should not be made to feel like strangers in their own homeland.

As for people who cannot pay back their debts at all, the good doers need to step in to collect money to pay off the debts and restore the family’s self-esteem.

Officials should act on the basis of the principle that family members of a person in debt should not be made to suffer because of him. Any services through the system that concern the welfare of his family members should remain open to them. How could a person whose services are suspended can pay back his debt in the first place?

Although the suspension of the government’s electronic services brings huge pain and suffering to everyone, but it is more so for the security personnel and soldiers who defend the country’s borders to grapple with from the front lines.

We should deal with this issues urgently because our brave and honest soldiers should not be made to go through this sort of suffering.

The policy of suspending the government’s electronic services needs review. I am confident that officials who deal with this matter are now more aware than ever before about the complications that come with the suspension of the services.

It is important that we develop a new mechanism to tackle the matter, the same way it is important to pay back the debts on time. It is important that people who suffer under the debt burden are not made to bear bigger burdens.