Do images such as this reassure or panic the public? (picture credit: Arab News)

When it comes to many issues, be it driving or otherwise, religion, and long beards, the Kingdom has always made the headlines. However, Saudi Arabia has been in the news recently for what could be an emerging health pandemic. The disease, named the Coronavirus, was first discovered and identified in the summer of 2012. Since then at least 30 people have died in Saudi Arabia from the Coronavirus according to the World Health Organization as reported by Reuters on the 31 May.

The country’s Ministry of Healthy has been criticized over a number of issues related to the Coronavirus. First up was the issue of firing the doctor who discovered the first case in the Kingdom and reported the virus (for the full story click on the link here for the piece on the UK’s The Guardian.

However, recent criticism has focused on a lack of transparency when releasing information about the Coronavirus. An article yesterday published in the English-daily Arab News was particularly scathing (by Saudi standards). I’m linking the article here and will quote in full below.

A specialist in infectious diseases said that withholding information by the Ministry of Health about the spread of the coronavirus following the deaths of the infected patients is significantly damaging and provides no benefit.

The specialist spoke on the condition of anonymity. He said citizens and residents in Saudi Arabia have the right to accessible information about the disease.

“I do not know why the Ministry of Health discreetly hid the information of the first case of Coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, and the infection got to Al-Ahsa region where the disease has appeared and is starting to spread. They bear the responsibility for this,” he said.

The specialist suggested that the reality seems to be withheld from the domestic public opinion, and the public does not know if the ministry has detailed information about the spread of the virus and refuses to disclose it, or whether they have not reached any conclusion. He said the Ministry of Health looks at research centers in Saudi universities as competitors when the relationship with research centers at universities should be a complementary relationship, not competitive.

He added that MoH indeed prefers to discover the scientific research on diseases via universities abroad rather than Saudi universities, although there are a number of Saudi universities that enjoy a huge potential and have reference laboratories recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO).

However, the Ministry of Health refuses to cooperate with them because they perceive them as competitors in spite of their supportive work with the MoH, he said.

He said preventive measures taken by the Ministry of Health lacks transparency, with no announcement about where the spread of infection started and whether it originated in Al-Ahsa or came from abroad. He also noted that ministry did not give any scientific information or details about the reasons for the spread of the virus.

“Unfortunately there are no details and nothing was published except the number of cases and deaths. This is not enough. It does not allow us to investigate the causes of the disease.”

Today, he said, there are more than 30 cases, but there is no clear information about the source of the disease and we do not know the results of the investigations.

What’s prominent here is that the article is a translation of a piece from Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper. Both papers are owned by the Saudi Royal family and the fact that these opinions are now running in the local press doesn’t bode well for the Ministry of Health. There’s no name associated with the ‘specialist’ and no invitation to respond by the Ministry.

There’s a significant lack of information about the Coronavirus, and when there’s a lack of awareness about a public issue such as a suspected epidemic people will seek information from other sources, most especially social media. However, if a public body reveals too much information they will be open to criticism that they are creating an unnecessary panic. There’s an interesting take on this issue by one public health blog, the Avian Flu Diary, that I’m going to quote below (do read the article in full if you have time).

We may simply be seeing a public relations backfire created as a direct, and 100% foreseeable, consequence of an overly secretive Saudi risk communications policy.

If there’s one thing you can count on in a crisis, it’s that rumors and speculation will rush in to fill any information void.

The other possibility is that this outbreak is somehow substantially worse than we are being told. But if that’s true, it seems unlikely that they could keep it hidden for very long.

Which puts us in a watchful waiting mode, looking for any indication – one way or the other – of how this outbreak is playing out.

It’s hard to see how this case has brought to light any positives for any of the parties involved. However, if there’s anything to be learned my hope is that the Ministry hires a public affairs agency that is specialized in such crisis communications, as this issue has the capacity to become much bigger and at a pace that few communications people would be able to handle. Remember SARS anyone?

Al-Mady is a media veteran and knows how to handle journalists through the use of techniques such as block and bridge (picture source: Arabianoilandgas.com)

There’s few companies which have a better reputation in the Middle East than SABIC. Founded almost forty years ago, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation has grown to become one of the world’s largest chemicals businesses and one of the top 100 corporations worldwide. SABIC is the largest public company as listed on Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange.

But no matter how well you try, there’s always some things that you can do better. SABIC’s CEO Mohammed Al Mady was at the World Economic Forum last week which was held in Jordan. Al Mady was speaking on a panel discussion alongside Saudi Arabia’s Princess Ameerah al-Taweel, the wife of Al Waleed Bin Talal and one of Saudi Arabia’s most outspoken women when it comes to female rights and the issue of change in the Kingdom.

Unsurprisingly, the issue of women’s employment in the Kingdom came up. This topic has been a major issue of debate over the past couple of years as the Kingdom has pondered how best to get women into work without upsetting cultural sensitivities.

The below quotes are from an article on Arabian Business which are a discussion between Princess Ameerah al-Taweel and SABIC CEO Mohammed Al Mady. It makes for an interesting if embarrassing read.

While a member of the audience during a separate WEF session on the Arab employment crisis, Princess Ameerah challenged Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) CEO Mohammed Al Mady to explain why his company had not “opened the door” to Saudi women.

Al Mady defended the company by saying it had employed 50 women, but the audience laughed when it was revealed SABIC had 20,000 employees.

“We have been slow for sure,” Al Mady conceded.

“That was not really by design that we want to be against women or anything, but we want to get the best practice done in Saudi Arabia because there are many mistakes that have happened and it really gives bad names for the employees and the employers.

“Now we’re in a position to get the best practices and do it in our company and you will see a big change.”

Well, yes, it’s not the best publicity for SABIC especially when one considers that most of SABIC’s plants are in the Eastern Region where women have been employed in mechanical roles by Saudi Aramco. However, what Al Mady did was a classic public relations tactic; he blocked and bridged. The technique is well-known and allows the interviewee to switch attention back to a key message or talking point. And Al-Mady spoke about a perennial favourite, military conscription. Below are quotes from both Arabian Business and Al-Arabiya.net.

“The countries have to work very hard in how to change the perception of their youth so that they can accept the existing jobs.

“How do we change them? Governments have to probably draft them into the military for six months before they go into the job market … [to] give them resilience, [teach] them how to be modest, how to work, how to take the ladder step by step until they reach what they want.”

“It gives them resilience… they have to take the ladder step-by-step before they get what they want. The countries have to work very hard and have to change the perception of their youth so that they can accept the existing jobs… The people themselves need to change.”

While I’m not completely sold on the concept of military service (it hasn’t done many favours to Egyptians, Syrians or Lebanese) Al-Mady’s block and bridge captured more headlines than the female employment gaffe and it says a great deal about Al-Mady’s media skills. If only more CEOs had his media abilities (maybe that’s a subject for another, future post).

Freedom of expression or expression of national institutions? We’re still very much in the latter camp in the Middle East (image credit: http://www.menassat.com)

There was a fairly low key but important discussion this week in the UAE’s Federal National Council. The body, the closest thing that the UAE has to a parliament, welcomed Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s Foreign Minister, to discuss the issues of the media and the work of the National Media Council, the UAE’s regulatory body for the sector.

The below excerpts are from an article in Gulf News which ran this week. Have a read through the quotes:

The National Media Council came under fire from the House for its “weak role in [the] Emiratisation of the media, dominance of foreign media content and lack of plans to promote the [UAE’s] cultural identity.”

The NMC was also criticised for the lack of coordination between the media outlets and universities, lack of training programmes for journalists and broadcasters, and a failure by media outlets to address concerns of citizens.

The FNC also voiced concern over the UAE’s low ranking in the press freedom index. Ali Jasem, a member from Umm Al Quwain, said the UAE ranked 158th on the Press Freedom Index last year.

Shaikh Abdullah said he expected that the ranking will improve once the new media law is issued with an article that bans jailing journalists for exercising their duties.

Shaikh Abdullah said discussions in the FNC lacked a uniform stand on the issue of freedom of expression.
“Some members demand a higher ceiling of freedom and less control, while others call for censorship, which is confusing,” Shaikh Abdullah said.

Shaikh Abdullah reiterated that the NMC respected the editorial policies of all media outlets operating in the country and that it never intervened in their work or nature of their content.

“The country’s policy is to leave the executive work to the media outlets, whether owned by the local governments or the private sector, so that there will be no contradiction between [the NMC’s] work and theirs,” he added.

Shaikh Abdullah said media outlets are “our partners and they are wholeheartedly contributing to the UAE’s media strategies.

It’s fairly common in the Middle East for the media to be seen as a tool of government policy. The media reiterates the government line and rarely engages in debate. This viewpoint hasn’t changed much despite attempts by global media outlets, newswires such as Reuters and Bloomberg, to write uncensored about a range of social, political and cultural issues.

What’s noticable from the above is that even in a country which is fairly media-friendly by the standards of the Middle East there’s still a view that the media needs to be an instrument of policy which ‘promotes cultural and national identity.’ I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been raised in a part of the world where a strong, independent media fosters debate, promotes transparency and holds others to account. How far are we from this state of affairs in the Middle East? Your guess is as good as mine. However, in the meantime I’ll keep flying the flag for a media sector that has the teeth to do its job and act as an independent voice for discussion, debate and originality.

Allegedly three Emirati men were kicked out of Saudi Arabia’s largest cultural festival by the religious authorities for “being too handsome”. The three men were asked to leave Janadriyah and then deported from Saudi to protect the virtues of the Saudi women present. The story was broken in America by Jezebel and the piece makes for a very entertaining read.

There’s been literally thousands of pieces now written on this and the ensuing ‘outing’ of one of the men, an aspiring actor whose name is Omar Borkan Al Gala.

Unfortunately ladies, which Omar obviously exists the story is a hoax. LiveLeak website was one of the first to break the news of the hoax and this is how whoever was behind the public relations coup did it.

Let’s start firstly with the facts. We have three Emirati men who were kicked out of Janadriyah. Firstly, this is feasible. Riyadh is a conservative place and the religious authorities are present at Janadriyah to monitor all the naughtiness that goes on. However, having been to the Festival a number of times these three would have had to have whipped off their kandouras/thobs to get kicked out such is the amount of inappropriate behaviour that can occur at Janadriyah.

There was an incident at the UAE pavilion when one of the religious authorities objected to Emirati singer Aryam’s presence at the event. He himself tried to force her removal but was instead arrested by the National Guard. The incident was captured on Youtube and is below.

The other apparent truth is that one of the three Emiratis who was outed was present at Janadriyah. However, he had gone into the family section where single male bachelors are not allowed and started dancing. His dancing apparently wasn’t to the taste of everyone present and he was asked to leave the area according to LiveLeak which quotes from a news piece which now seems to have disappeared.

And that seems to be the basis for what then happened.

Someone with an active imagination, a good deal of time and a great deal of media talent spotted an opportunity to seed a story with Elaph.com, an online website that focuses on news in Saudi Arabia. The original story, which has disappeared into the caches of the internet, wrote that three Emiratis had been deported from the Janadriyah Festival and Saudi Arabia for being too handsome. There was a quote to this effect from an ‘unnamed’ Saudi official.

The story quickly snowballed after getting picked up by the English press in the Kingdom, and one of the three men, Omar Borkan Al Gala, apparently outed himself on his Facebook page. The man became a celebrity overnight. He’s been interviewed worldwide and he’s already picked up acting work.

The story surrounding Borkan Al Gala, which loosely translates to Volcano of Love, contains numerous inaccuracies. The first is deportation from Saudi Arabia. As an Emirati and a GCC National he cannot be deported from Saudi Arabia under these circumstances. I’ve never even heard of a GCC National being deported from one country to another. Strike one…

Secondly, the other two Emiratis have never been outed. You’d think that they’d be in on the act as well and keen to grab their fifteen minutes of fame. But unfortunately, the ladies will have to wait for their pictures to be plastered over the web. Strike two…

And finally, the story broke via a news website from an ‘unnamed Saudi official’. Saudi officials rarely speak out of turn, especially on such a topic. It took over a week for Al Gala’s name to be ‘leaked’. In this day and age of instant social media updates, I’d have assumed that this story and the identity of the three Emirati men would have been the news item on both Saudi and Emirati Arabic-language Twitter networks. But no, that wasn’t the case. Strike three…

I’ve got to give it to Al Gala. He’s made the most of the opportunity, of the ignorance about Saudi Arabia, and of the lack of fact-checking on this one. It’s a fun story and one which doesn’t do any harm. But seriously, being too handsome for Saudi? Have the Emiratis met any Saudi boys lately? In the words of my partner, “Saudi men are much more attractive…”

He got kicked out of Saudi and I didn’t? But I’m impossibly handsome (source: http://www.hippobrigade.com)

Emirates Airline had a taste of not to get things right this week after announcing its financial results for last year. The below quotes are taken from www.arabianbusiness.com.

Dubai-based Emirates Airline has posted a 52 percent increase in profits to $622m in the last financial year.

Meanwhile, Emirates Group – of which the airline is a subsidiary – posted a 34 percent increase in profits to $845m, helped by a 17 percent increase in revenues to $21.1bn.

For Emirates Airline staff, much of their potential compensation is paid in the form of bonuses which they receive if the company hits certain targets. It seems that the company however is not paying out bonuses this year. This disappointment is clearly reflected in the comments section of the Arabian Business piece which I’m posting below.

Posted by: Euro Friday, 10 May 2013 12:26 PM[UAE] – UAE

It is a very sad day for all Emirates Airline employees. Not a single dirham was shared with the men and woman working for the airline. Huge profits and nothing was given back to the staff. Zero profit share.
I am guessing Emirates is part of paying off Dubai Inc’s debt??

Someone at Emirates has had the sense to post a follow-up piece for Arabian Business stating why bonuses haven’t been paid, apparently due to targets not being met. However, wouldn’t have it been wise to have focused internally on the messaging rather than going out in the media and trumpeting the growth whilst forgetting or not focusing on how to assuage the feelings of those who have done their best to deliver on that profit, namely Emirates’ staff?

You can read the follow-up story here. I can’t wait for the comments to come rolling in.

I do feel for anyone who has to communicate on behalf of a government body in the Gulf. That’s especially so in places where there’s conflicting, divergent views resulting from a strong cultural diversity and significant business interests with the outside world. I remember the late Yasser Arafat often getting away with making one point in Arabic and then saying the exact opposite in English (there’s many other examples out there too). With the advent of the internet, social media, and a horde of citizen journalists out there in cyberspace it’s no longer possible to say explicitly different things to different constituents.

In this week’s The National newspaper in the UAE there was a great example of the above. On the 22nd of April police from the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah announced a bikini ban for the area’s beaches. Ras al-Khaimah is a beautiful part of the United Arab Emirates. With a population of just over a quarter of a million people Ras al-Khaimah is known for its pristine beaches, and also for its rapidly growing tourism sector and free trade zone. However, the Emirate is also conservative. Trying to balance the two interests, tourism and tradition, isn’t easy as the below quotes from The National’s article on the 22nd April illustrates.

Bikinis have been banned from public beaches in the emirate as police urge residents to “use common sense” and dress modestly.

The municipality and police have put up signs on public beaches that state: “All coastgoers should commit to public morality and modest clothing”.

Offenders will be given a warning and after a second warning, they could face an unspecified fine.

The two most popular beaches in Ras Al Khaimah are located next to hotels where swimmers sunbathe in thong bikinis or trunks alongside women in burkinis, a modest full-body swimsuit designed for Muslim women.

On weekends and at sunsets, RAK’s public beaches fill with women in full hijab, who come with their families. Women in swimwear are a rare sight at these beaches and there are no women-only beaches in RAK.

In a plea to the public, police urged beachgoers to comply with “public morality and dressing modestly” to respect the country’s traditions and culture.

The move followed complaints by families about tourists who attended public beaches wearing indecent clothing.

The public have greeted the ban in Ras Al Khaimah, a conservative emirate with a large Emirati population. In RAK, it is common for women to dress for the beach by putting on more clothing so that they do not attract attention from men.

“I totally agree with that [ban] for us because it’s not a respectful thing to have on our beaches,” said Hessa Ahmed, a 31-year-old Emirati mother-of-two.

Many people, like Ms Ahmed, would like tourists to cover up but are too shy or polite to approach them. Her last visit to the beach ended abruptly when a man and woman in revealing swimwear sat near her family.

“I wasn’t sure about what she was going to do,” said Ms Ahmed. “I was afraid she would take off her top. So I preferred just to drive away just in case anything was going to happen, so I would just be away and my kids wouldn’t see them.

“There was no sign or board to inform these people you shouldn’t wear this, you shouldn’t wear that.”

Ras Al Khaimah has adopted a lenient approach to public dress in hotels but customs remains overwhelmingly conservative in public spaces, such as shopping malls.

The above was a great piece and insight into the challenges facing a country that is looking to adapt culture with business. And then came the follow-up article the next day in The National.

Police have backtracked over their statement that bikinis and tight trunks are banned from public beaches.

Revealing swimwear is not officially outlawed but strongly discouraged because of cultural sensitivities, police clarified.

“We respect the rights for people. We follow UAE law,” said Maj Marwan Al Mansoori, the head of public relations and moral guidance for RAK Police.

“Our campaign is not about catching people. We just want to tell people about our culture and our community.”

“You should respect our culture and our community rights but you have your rights,” said Maj Al Mansoori. “If it is under our law, you can do it.

“We wanted to tell people what we are thinking. It is communication between cultures. We want to explain this to people.”

It’s worth reading both articles in full, and to put this in its full context few Westerners will use a public beach in Ras al-Khaimah; all the hotels have private beaches which are fully equipped and only for the use of guests. However, such communications outreach isn’t going to help draw foreigners to a part of the country and world that has everything to offer. Perception is everything, especially online when social media is involved. The more people who talk about an issue, the more that issue or perspective is believed no matter its veracity.

This is a reminder about the challenges of trying to get the communications balance right in today’s connected world, where a tourism can view such news pieces while booking their vacation just as easily as a local sitting for a tea and reading the morning newspaper. Media relations is a tough job and I do hope that lessons are learned from this and that the right balance is found, both in terms of educating foreigners coming in (can you really tell someone what to wear after they’ve seen the glossy brochure/website, booked, traveled and arrived) and in preserving local cultural norms. And remember, if nothing else works there’s always the burkini!

The burkini! Foot flicking and hands on hips are optional (credit alrasub.com)

According to Kuwait’s social media scene the Kuwaiti Ministry of Commerce has of the end of March banned all sales of Red Bull to those under 16 years of age. The below are a news piece from Kuwait’s news agency Kuna and an image shared over twitter of a Red Bull fridge with a sign in Arabic saying that Red Bull is not for sale to those under 16 years of age. Here is the same info on a discussion forum.

The article from Kuna on Kuwait’s decision to ban Red Bull sales to those under the age of 16. There’s no publishing date on this however (credit: Downtimes)

And a sign on top of a fridge which states that no sales of Red Bull are allowed to those under 16, which is supposedly from a Kuwaiti grocery store (credit: UAEwomen forum)

Kuwait’s Twitter community has also been focusing on the news, but surprisingly the topic hasn’t been trending outside of the country.

Kuwait Banned Red Bull, Hahaha xD , I Didnt Like It Anyways , Long Live Barbican ♥

— вαѕѕαм αнмє∂™ (@BassamSays) March 26, 2013

Whether this is all true or not, as it always the case with the internet the story is spreading especially in Arabic. The news can now be found on sites across the Gulf in Arabic. The fear may be that other GCC countries will follow Kuwait’s lead (such an action wouldn’t be unusual). However, it’d be fascinating to know what Red Bull has done to tackle this issue. There have been suggestions that Red Bull has upped its ad spending to tackle the issue, and that may explain why there’s little news of this in Kuwait’s vibrant media scene.

However, Red Bull has avoided the spotlight before. If you do read Arabic have a look at this piece on Red Bull apparently employing women to hand out cans in Riyadh back in December. Some would say brave, others would say silly.

Women walking outside of Riyadh’s Kingdom center apparently handing out Red Bull to passing motorists (credit: Murmur website)

Latest #Dubai_Police patrols, now at your service. http://t.co/rVkJ7JSpFI—
Dubai Policeشرطة دبي (@DubaiPoliceHQ) April 10, 2013

In preparation for the hard work of bringing law-breakers to justice, the Lamborghini and its driving team were dispatched to Dubai Mall to drive around the world’s largest shopping center and pose for pictures. The aim? To show tourists “how classy Dubai is”.

But Dubai Police didn’t just stop there. The news was followed a couple of days later by the announcement that they’d be adding a Ferrari as well. After all, just having a Lamborghini alone is so passe, especially since the UK, Qatar and Italy also did the same several years back. The Ferrari FF is cheaper than the Lamborghini and sells for 900,000 Dirhams or just over US$250,000 dollars. The supercar is slightly zippier than the Lamborghini (I’ve been told) and does 0-100km in a 3.7 seconds. And it has more storage space, including room for two Krispy Kreme dozen donut boxes and paper coffee cups.

To your left, the Ferrari FF. And to your right, the Lamborghini Aventador. It’s Dubai’s version of toys for the cops (credit: Emirates 24/7)

With impeccable timing, Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority also announced that two new Salik toll gates would be going live on the Dubai-Sharjah border. The gates will collect a toll of 4 Dirhams from each car that passes through them, and the full story plus lots of interesting comments can be read here on ArabianBusiness.com. One adventurous resident posted his take on both stories. I like the idea.

Dubai’s new Ferrari fund, brought to you by the RTA (credit: @danielmarcevans)

On a serious note, most of us could agree that we’re living in an age of austerity. Dubai itself hasn’t been immune from the global economic drop, and the city-state will have to pay US$22 billion of debt next year according to rating agency Moody’s. Most countries worldwide have had to cut back on spending, and if this idea had been ventured in Europe you’d probably find someone losing their job. With so much money to pay off does this send out the right message about debt and responsibility, both on a local and a global level.

While both supercar stories make for great PR, I wonder what thought went into the decision especially with the timing of the two new toll gates. Have the silly days returned to Dubai? For a city that has done so much good and yet still has many challenges to face, I do hope not.

No mention has been made if Dubai Police have insurance for the Lamborghini or the Ferrari.