‘Wish others on their events’
about 40 years ago, ministry of information issued a circular forbidding the hotels, and perhaps other establishments, from playing any kind of music in their restaurants without prior written approval. the decision included playing the piano in the hotel lobby, and we only mean playing and not singing, which is another disaster.
the ministry went too far and made the duration of the license (approval) one month, to be renewed monthly upon desire. the secret behind that was to prevent music in the last week of december to stop the participation of christians and the world’s celebration of christmas and the new year.
i remembered this unfortunate decision when a foreign resident told me that he and his compatriots have been keen on listening to kuwait radio in their local language broadcast over the years for a limited hours, as they want to know the state of affairs in their homeland and get entertained during the long hours spent inside their cars due to the routine traffic congestion.
they said what really hurts them is that the radio does not congratulate them, even once a year on their national or religious holidays. we repeat “not even once a year”, and they are surprised by this unjustified act of the country of humanity. the aim of broadcasting in foreign languages is mainly to win the love of the expatriates among us for our issues. how does this equate with the refusal to congratulate them on their holidays by allocating only ten seconds in a year, especially as their holidays undoubtedly have a great place in their hearts?
i did not believe my ears, so i searched and found out that the geographical space covered by the radio includes most parts of the world in the east and west- even australia, north and south america, as well as arab countries, the far east, east and southeast asia, while the broadcast is in arabic, urdu, persian and english.
as i became certain of the unfortunate information, i contacted the official responsible for the foreign transmission in kuwait radio and explained to her what is disturbing most listeners, and how nice it is for the radio to address and congratulate others on their holidays or national occasions, even for one minute a year, not only to win their hearts but out of general taste.
she asked, “how do we broadcast the philippines 365 days each year and do not congratulate them on their holiday? i answered, “do you mean congratulating christians, for example, on christmas? then she said, in a harsh tone, “this will not happen, because the radio is kuwaiti and the religion of the state is islam. it is not within my jurisdiction, neither me nor the radio, to congratulate others”. i also replied her in a harsh tone for the strange position she had adopted after i found myself facing an unjustified exaggeration difficult to overcome.
i have no objection to her logic, and this is her mentality. i do not blame her in the absence of a clear government orientation, but i am saddened by this confusion in policies and trends. the employee, especially the intellectual and religious hardliner does not know that he has to implement the state’s policy, and not his own desires and personal whims.
we hope the first official responsible for foreign broadcasting, and the new undersecretary of the ministry, munira al-huwaidi, would intervene and make radio broadcasting more gentle and humane.
