Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Dear brasscat,

Yes, you are suggesting ideas. However, it's my opinion that leading newbies into thinking that the Saudi Labor Laws are a reliable and to be trusted recourse, that their embassies will leap to their defense, or that it would be good to agitate for a teachers' union in the Kingdom are far more likely to lead people into difficulties rather than solve any problems they might encounter.

Regards,
John

[brasscat]

Black mold happens when the airconditioning is turned off for a period of time in a humid climate. Jeddah on the Red Sea is quite humid.

Aussie Bill's situation was dire, the regular channels were not responding. So out of the box action was needed. Given I have retired twice already, creative action was not difficult.

PMU was actually worse than mentioned, alot of innocent people would have gotten hurt. So anyplace where names were identifiable were left out.

[John Carpenter]

Is this because of our efforts?

Seen the latest


Arabia clamps down on bloggers, news sites, others
Publishing to the web now requires a licence
03 Jan 2011 14:46 | by Dean Wilson in Dublin | posted in Internet

Saudi Arabia is beginning a major internet clamp-down, starting with blogs, forums, news sites, personal websites, electronic archives, chat rooms and online ads.

New regulations were approved by Dr. Abdulaziz Bin Mohee Al-Dien Khoga, the Minister of Culture and Information, which will require licences for the operation of an e-publishing site within the country when the laws come into effect in a month's time,

Anyone who writes on a blog, online newspaper, or similar form of electronic publishing will be required to meet the following obligations: they must be a Saudi national, over 20, hold a high school or higher qualification, be of good conduct and behaviour, and hold an appropriate licence given by the Ministry.

Editors must also receive special approval by the Ministry in addition to obtaining a licence, while all licence holders must publicly display their licence information on their website. The licence will last for three years, by which time a renewal will need to be sought. Exceptions to these rules can be employed at the discretion of the Minister.

As part of the application process web users must supply information about their web hosting, data which will presumably be used to take non-complying sites offline.

Failure to comply with the new regulations can result in a number of penalties. The user will be ordered to �correct� the content of the website, or, in other words, remove the offending material. They will need to pay a fine, they may be required to pay compensation to an individual in addition to the fine. And finally their website may be partially or fully blocked, for either a period of time up to two months or indefinitely.

Saudi Arabia said that this does not constitute a breach of freedom of speech and said that it will act in a transparent manner in the conducting of the new laws, but the news is likely to upset a lot of bloggers and web users in the country.

If I had a hand in this I am happy that they noticed but saddened by their reaction to these problems. It won't be effective, of course, but this is because the decision makers got their jobs because of Wasta!

[babur]

It's been going on for years. The Saudi media's wants to give the impression that something's being done, directed by the government, if you can call it that, who need to save face every now and again.

Bloggers in the Middle East don't have to be computer geeks to post whatever they want, whenever they want and get it read worldwide. They only get caught if they mention their names. Most people in Saudi blog and read other blogs using a proxy outside KSA. Government censorship is just window-dressing.

[veiledsentiments]

It is like how they censor the local TV channels, but everyone has a dish that picks up anything and everything. On Saudi TV a husband and wife can't even kiss on screen... and you can switch channels and watch "Sex and the City." They can't control the internet any better than they can Sat TV.

VS

[Al-Mansoor]

Censorship. Yes. Look at these poor countries and the reaction to Wikileaks... tut tut tut. The authorities might as well take everything off line, that way they won't have to deal with censoring anything. Citizens can find other forms of entertainment. Walk across a highway, sniff polluted air, stand next to a smoker (ahem!),... the options are endless.

[John Carpenter]

[John Carpenter]

Since I started this thread, I have been to the Sharia (and been successful) and have also been told that the blocking of Dave's ESL Cafe in Saudi was due in some part to my actions. This really stimulates me. I have a number of people in the Kingdom keeping in touch and the fall-out at PMU has been extraordinary. The new Chair has been replaced by a Core teacher with no administrative experience, the new Dean is a person who a previous Dean tried to have removed and the number of registrations for the Pre-beginners class is down to 7, from a previous high of three classes. Some teachers from the Core have been dropped to the Prep because there are fewer students going from Prep to Core, and this is PMU's way of avoiding paying overtime. The person now living in my old apartment at Oryx 1 is preparing the old Oryx 3 for staff to move back to, as they are planning to get rid of Oryx 1. Those in charge still refuse to deal with the problems at hand. Oh well!

[Imdramayu]

Isn't the new compound Bilal for PMU faculty? If so, it looks quite nice and seems to be OK.

What do others say who now live there? Is it much better than Oryx?

Im

[John Carpenter]

There were two Bilad compounds (not Bilal) at one stage but when I left there was only one and it was the 2nd best one. Many people complained about Bilad. It did have grass but was very run-down, and 'favourites' were able to avoid living there. I understand that PMU is now critically short-staffed so there may be some liveable units available there now.
Jason

[Saudi4Ever]

Has the housing situation improved? I heard the compound they are on now is known as one of the best in Khobar and is family oriented.

[scot47]

Reading this ancient thread, I wonder what happened to some of the inmates of PMU, eg Brasscat.

Are any of the original teachers still around ?

[John Carpenter]

I am the person who wrote the initial blogs. I ended up taking the Rector, Issa (MOD edit), to court and he paid me 80% of what he had misappropriated in order to avoid Sharia Court and I accepted otherwise I would have won my case but not been paid. I was then banned from teaching in KSA and went to Afghanistan to teach. Brass cat is no longer there and I only know of 2 people who may still be there. Oryx is no longer a Western Compound and I don't hear anything good about it now

[mnruman]

This was a great read, thanks John Carpenter for your detailed insight. It may be an old article but its value to anybody deciding between taking a job at PMU is priceless.