Yazan...I am really sorry

The crime I am about to write about is also one I am guilty of.

The crime I want to write about is not the brutal killing of the little boy named Yazan. The more shocking crime is the lack of public outrage concerning Yazan’s story. It is the complacency towards a suffering that many of us could have turned into a lesson of compassion and empathy.

Yazan is a Jordanian 5-year-old child whose mother and father were imprisoned at the same time. This left Yazan in the custody of his aunt, whose husband abused, tortured and viciously inflicted pain on this little child’s body. Yazan gave up at the end and fell into a coma. He died few weeks ago.

Yazan was laid to rest today.

For days I read about Yazan’s dead body laying at the hospital waiting for someone to claim this innocent angel. As if the lack of justice in his life was a foreshadowing of the misery he would endure in his death. The thought did cross my mind of claiming him and preparing a funeral for him. Every time I thought of doing something, I was worried of being judged as pretentious and butting into business that is not mine.

As I read news of Yazan, I had a strange feeling of detached sympathy. I somehow believed that my reaction and contribution wouldn’t count. There will be others who will take up the cause of Yazan and deliver justice to this little boy. The faith I did not have in myself was sadly misplaced in others.

As I learnt that Yazan’s misery is finally put to rest, I also saw images of his funeral. A funeral I thought would be a crowded show of love and apology to this child who fell victim to a system that failed to detect his suffering. A funeral that turned out to be a gathering of no more than few kids who were pictured seated in front of lecterns on the ground of a mosque reading Koran while this little boy’s body laid wrapped in white cloth waiting and desperately “wanting” to be interred.

The gist of what I am writing is that whenever one detects injustice, and whenever one is blessed enough to do something about it, one should rush to do it. I hope I won’t be faced with a similar choice again. But if I do, I will go by what my gut feeling tells me to do and I really won’t care what cynics might make out of it.

Setting the record straight!

This is a post that I have been itching to write for quite sometime.

In the spirit of “A person who does not speak out against the wrong is a mute devil”, I feel compelled to write about a story that I am personally fully aware of and that has gone too far in its absurdity and mutiny.

This is the story of Najwa Tourism and Investment Company (NTIC).

The story began with Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) calling for investments in areas falling under its jurisdiction. The idea of the Golden Triangle was heavily promoted by ASEZA, where Aqaba, Wadi Rum, and Petra would form a touristic haven for Southern Jordan showcasing the beauty and uniqueness of that area.

In 2006 NTIC approached ASEZA and proposed a multi-million dinar touristic project in Wadi Rum. A plot of land was identified and agreed on. A big signing ceremony took place with ASEZA announcing what would be the first-of-its-kind resort in Wadi Rum.

What followed later sounds more like a nightmare than a preparation for an exciting project promising growth and development in an area that desperately needs it.

As NTIC embarked on extensive and costly exercises aimed at producing designs of the highest quality that are responsible and that safeguard the integrity and beauty of the area; while others were busy conniving with only one aim: to sabotage and undermine every effort of this investment company. The tactics they resorted to ranged from intimidation, to cheap shots aimed at the owners of this company, culminating with an act of outright violence against a group of individuals who were on site to carry out needed tasks to proceed with the execution of the intended works.

This latest act of aggression went unreported. The aggressed were urged not to file any report or complaint in fear of retaliation. The hooligans who decided to take matters into their own hands and to blatantly break the law went unpunished. When calls for accountability and protection were made, they all fell on deaf ears. To date, the incident has been ignored, even though all those concerned in the security and safety aparatus of the country were fully aware of it.

The end result was that NTIC along with several other investors called off their plans to develop projects in Wadi Rum. The area was simply unsafe and under no control. The absence of the rule of law and the prevalence of the law of the jungle had definitely deterred many from venturing into any meaningful development of Wadi Rum.

Today I read on one of the online news services that NTIC has sold the land in question to a Saudi investor for millions of dinars. A fabricated story that is nothing but a continuation of the web of lies that has surrounded any meaningful effort to do anything of substance in Wadi Rum.

As I read this story I wondered until when will we be held hostages for petty politics and mediocre media reporting? The reporter in this online story did not even bother to check out his/her sources let alone the resources of the story such as the image shown of the owner that belongs to a complete stranger, but then again an obvious attempt to add flare to a bogus story.

Here I must add a caveat that I have no personal interest in NTIC whatsoever. By being privy to the specifics of the design I developed great respect towards the sincerity and dedication with which the intended project was approached. NTIC went through all the proper channels in answering the calls for investment by ASEZA. NTIC spared no effort in hiring the best to deliver what they hoped would be a master piece complimenting the beauty of the area without competing with it. NTIC stuck to their end of the deal. They put their money where their mouth is. The inability of ASEZA to secure the very basics that any investor looks for, and that is the assurance of the rule of law serves only at robbing ASEZA of any credibility and weight in its calls to invite investors on board.

What ASEZA did in leaving NTIC fend for itself while it was fully aware of the specifics of the grievances faced by NTIC throughout the project development process shows incompetence and shortsightedness in the way it handles its affairs.

I wonder what excuse ASEZA has in totally turning a blind eye to what is obviously a terrible breakdown in its chain of command. Until we get clear answers, and until it gets to exercise its authority fair and square, I suggest we replace the last “A” in ASEZA to anything but Authority.

Finally, what happened with NTIC and the other investors planning to venture in Wadi Rum might have been a small setback for any investment company. However, the biggest losers out of such chaos are not the companies who can freely take their investments elsewhere, but are the very residents of the areas where the private interests of a corrupt few are arresting the development of their entire communities.

Gross National Happiness and Jordan

In 2001 I moved back to Amman after having lived for over 15 years overseas. My move came with the absolute conviction that I was doing the right thing. I never regretted my decision. In fact I always felt fortunate for having the choice to do so.

Coming back with me home was a feeling of romanticism of how things are done here in Jordan. What many perceived as retarded customs or invasive traditions, I was so willing to consider as simply part of the culture. I guess this was due to the fact that I had lived in many different so called developed societies that were far from being perfect or developed in the human sense. My attitude when I moved back was one of empathy and an unconditional acceptance of the way our society is run.

It is only lately that I am starting to feel suffocated by the pathetic state I find our society in. I suddenly realize that in our quest for development we have lost sight of what really matters while consistently failing to preserve anything of meaning. Instead, we have opted to hold on to false claims of entitlement only to legitimize a debilitating general state of laziness and demoralization that the majority seems to be suffering from. It has been extremely hard for me to come face to face with the ugly truth that our situation today is at best pathetic and at worst mediocre.

The disconnect that I am seeing among the various strata of our society is a further evidence of how a whole nation can live in denial and turn a blind eye waiting for some magic wand to come and do the job for it. In general, I feel that the majority of people are unhappy and feel alienated for many reasons. The end result is that we happen to be a bunch of disconnected class groups who have nothing in common except for one thing: We all seem miserable and unhappy.

What is behind this unhappiness? I am no expert on this. However, I recently learnt about a measure that was started in Bhutan and that has gained some merit lately: Gross National Happiness (GNH). GNH is an attempt to define quality of life in more holistic and psychological terms than Gross National Product. “While conventional development models stress economic growth as the ultimate objective, the concept of GNH claims to be based on the premise that true development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occur side by side to complement and reinforce each other. The four pillars of GNH are:

1. The promotion of equitable and sustainable socio-economic development
2. Preservation and promotion of cultural values
3. Conservation of the natural environment
4. Establishment of good governance”

One question I will leave you with: How does Jordan score on the above four pillars?

On that note, I rest my case.