SAUDI columnist Khalid Al-Wabil tweeted: "If we paid the largest public relations company in the world to distort our country's image, it would not be as successful as we have been." Sheikh Muhammad Al-Ghazali said once, "You do not have to be an agent to serve the interests of your country's enemies. All you need to be is ignoramus." I posted a tweet the other day along similar lines: If major intelligence agencies around the world worked together to smudge the Kingdom's reputation, they would not achieve the same success some of us had achieved. Last week, social media websites had countless videos that portrayed the Kingdom negatively. In one of the videos, a person said it was permissible for a husband to beat his wife. However, Saudi laws incriminate such action. Another video showed a sign posted on the doors of a café saying "Women are not allowed in and cannot buy coffee." According to the café manager, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) had instructed the management to do so. Another video showed a scholar claiming that there was a homosexual jinn in the room that was packed with people listening to him. To convince his audience, the scholar imitated the way the jinn walked. Yet another video showed a man talking about houris in the heaven, using explicit language. He said they did not need any make-up or beauty creams to invite attention. Then the camera panned slowly and showed a man dancing and clapping his hands as if he was waiting for the doors of the Paradise to open so that he could see the houris. These videos are available online and must have been seen by tens of thousands of people inside and outside the Kingdom. Let us now look at some of the government officials and how they contribute to smudging the country's image. Over a month ago, the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs instructed female members of municipal councils should be segregated from their male counterparts and closed-circuit TV screens should be used to facilitate communication between male and female members. There is no law in the country that requires such an arrangement. The Shoura Council's annual meeting attended by the King himself takes place inside a hall full of male and female members. They have never been segregated. However, it seems that the ministry has the freedom to violate the law. Such news reports have become the talk of the town. People all over the world make fun of us. Recently, I have seen a video of a Dawa activist calling upon the public to wish harm to President of Youth Welfare Prince Abdullah Bin Musaad Bin Abdulaziz for a trivial matter. We all still remember how the late Ghazi Al-Gosaibi and how Adel Fakeih, former ministers of labor, and historians like Abdullah Al-Ghedhami were lambasted and in some cases accused of being apostates by Dawa activists. These attacks harm no one but the country and Saudis in general. Most of the people involved in these malicious attacks and shameful videos seem to be ultraconservatives who put tribal loyalty before anything else. The "fatwas" issued by some of these people could have a negative impact on the country's economic development. If we do not lay down deterring laws to stop these irresponsible people from committing follies and spreading scandals, the Kingdom's image will continue to be tarnished and distorted. Over time, the potential investor might think twice before venturing into the Saudi market. Tell me what kind of a lunatic would put his money at the mercy of a zealous Dawa activist or an ignoramus who might cause harm one day to his business. These actions will also have an impact on Saudis themselves, who will prefer to spend their vacations abroad, instead of wasting their time and money in the country. I heard on the grapevine that the Presidency of Youth Welfare was going to sue the individual who appeared on video inciting people to curse its president. I hope the presidency initiates legal action against him and the judiciary issues a fair judgment in the case. Such legal actions will raise public awareness and curb this negative phenomenon. I believe there is a number of cases pending before the court filed against Dawa activists who made obscene statements against government officials. No final decision has been issued in such cases yet as the dispute continues over competence and jurisdiction. As a country, we must prevent anyone issuing a fatwa or religious edict except the members of the Senior Board of Scholars. We must prevent members of the public from trespassing on people's privacy and harming businesses. The individual who ordered the café to post a sign and not allow women to buy drinks and others like him should be stopped. Does the Haia have powers to cause harm to businesses? As far as I know, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is solely responsible for ordering a business to allow or not to allow women on its premises and the usually the order is based on a court verdict. If we plan to attract investors and create job opportunities, two things we desperately need: to reassure investors of a safe environment and create such an environment conducive for investment. Every one of us must respect the sovereignty of law and public peace. Anyone who tries to divert from this direction or disturbs public order should be held accountable for his action. It is a sad thing to show these negative videos at a time when we are paying millions of dollars to public relations agencies worldwide to improve the country's image. It takes one negative video to make any public relations agency fail in its mission in improving our image. Then what is the point of paying huge amounts of money to these agencies? We should remember that anyone who engages in such rabble-rousing in the name of religion and with a view to intimidating people is undermining the country's sovereignty and deliberately causing damage to our society. Some of us have harmed the country's image over the past four decades and have been the reason why millions of riyals in development projects have gone into waste. Enough is enough. We need to build a strong citizenry, enhance our economy and diversify sources of national income. The last four decades have been controlled by the so-called Islamic revival. The main figures of the movement have made themselves guardians over other people. Nobody questioned them. The only reason the movement gained momentum and popularity was that the general public thought well of its figures and expected them to deliver a lot. Logically speaking, how could a country rise and develop while outsiders do the job of the state, put obstacles in its way and even claim that government officials are traitors and apostates?
