Saudi National Day

Today marks the 81st anniversary (according to the Islamic Hijri calendar, 79th anniversary according to the Julian calendar) of Saudi Arabia's formation and unification in 1932 by King Abdul Aziz. Driving around Jeddah today and you will see the country's national flag up everywhere as Saudi prepares for its only non-religious official holiday of the year.

Saudi Arabia's national flag

A Very Brief History

Before 1932, Saudi Arabia was split into two main kingdoms: Nejd and Hejaz. Abdul-Aziz bin Saud of the Al Saud family (House of Saud) seized Riyadh, the capital of Saudi, in 1902. That was the start of a series of conquests which eventually led to the union of Nejd and Hejaz in 1932, and the established state was named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The name Saudi Arabia comes from the region - Arabia, or the Arabian Peninsula - and the family that ruled it (Al Saud).

Map of Saudi Arabia before formation - shows split between Hejaz and Nejd

Saudi Arabia in its current form

Saudi National Day as a public holiday

While people in Saudi may have celebrated the anniversary of the country's formation before, it wasn't until King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz came to power in 2005 that it was celebrated as a public holiday.

However, while many private institutions close on both of the Eid holidays after Ramadam and Hajj (which are the other public holidays that exist in Saudi), fewer observe Saudi National Day considering it is only celebrated by Saudi nationals. Although you could argue that the expats and students appreciate the day off as well!

As a note, September 23rd is a Friday this year, which is a part of the Saudi weekend (Thursdays and Fridays). When this is the case, the ensuing Saturday is treated similar to a bank holiday. (Think how Christmas and Boxing Day fell on a weekend in the UK last year causing the Monday and Tuesday afterwards to be bank holidays.) 

Celebrating Saudi National Day

Due to the conservatism that exists in the country, you are more likely to see celebrations in the more cosmopolitan places in Saudi, such as Jeddah, which is perhaps the most tolerant and diverse of all of Saudi Arabia's cities.

Here in Jeddah Saudis celebrate by going out; many will visit the Jeddah Corniche, a seaside promenade, where there will be fireworks and a parade. Some families might go out for dinner at one of many restaurants in Jeddah, since eating out is a popular pastime with the lack of entertainment but considerable wealth that exists here in the country. Younger Saudi guys will party out on the streets, painting their faces and cars and in general will enjoy one of the few times that they can let their hair down out in public.

The Jeddah Corniche

Some Saudi youths celebrating in traditional and not-so-traditional garbs

I've been advised by many Saudis not to go out this evening, and I suspect it's because the celebrations can end up quite rowdy and wild during the night. Moreover, Jeddah's already busy traffic at night can become horrendous throughout the celebrations in the evening due to the huge amount of people wanting to go out, particularly those heading towards the Jeddah Corniche. An otherwise 15-minute journey can take up to 3-4 hours!

Google.com.sa celebrates Saudi National Day...

...but personally I prefer their 2009 design

Many thanks to my friend for providing me information on this public holiday and sharing some of her experiences with me. I wish you and every Saudi a happy Saudi National Day!

Some more information:

Saudi National Day 2010

Saudi National Day 2011

Article in Arab News about the progress of Saudi

TEPCO and the Japanese Energy Crisis

A few days ago, The Economist posted an interesting article on the energy crisis in Japan. The earthquake and following tsunami in Japan was terrible, made worse by the nuclear accident at Fukushima. The nuclear power plant that was damaged and went into meltdown was maintained by what seems to be the universally hated Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), an electric utility servicing areas of Japan including the areas affected by the earthquake.

Now the mistakes that TEPCO made in failing to cool the reactor cores was one thing, but deliberately withholding information was another. However, as the article points out, the problems are rooted deeper than what happened during the nuclear meltdown. The main problem with Japan's energy is that there are 10 regional monopolies, including TEPCO, with their profit margins each fixed by the government. Increasing their costs increases their income, therefore prices remain high, almost double what residents of the United States pay for.

So TEPCO is not only involved in the current energy crisis in Japan, but also represents the structural issues of Japan's energy business. Despite the shout-out for change, some people want TEPCO to remain as they are for now so that they are able give out compensation. Earlier today it was reported that TEPCO has started to send full compensation request forms for businesses, a process that started with evacuees on September 12th. Details are sketchy, and considering the forms for individuals are 60 pages long, I assume this will be a long procedure. The problems for service and tourist businesses include the fact that the rate of income decrease won't be equalised by the compensation because "Tokyo Electric said it would exclude a portion believed to have been caused by reasons other than the crisis". How large this portion will be is worrying.

And that's not to mention that Japan, as a whole, is suffering. 15 799 people died in the earthquake and ensuing tsunami. To have survived this, but lose your home and business by a meltdown that could have either been prevented or handled far better during the disaster is adding insult to injury.

So yes, it's hard to sympathise with TEPCO, even though they too have been joining the Japanese people in their drive to conserve energy (the statistics of which are outstanding, by the way). TEPCO are planning to costs, and are considering cuts to pensions and workforce. I'm also hearing reports of a loan-waiver call, contrasting to what Japanese officials denied to do back in May.

Understandably, confidence in nuclear energy has plummeted. Reformers want the break-up of these energy monopolies that are stagnating the development of innovation for green-energy technologies, which are right on their doorstep. A split between energy transmission and generation would allow new firms to enter with new ideas on how to handle Japan's energy, as The Economist explains. I don't know enough about the energy business, let alone what Japan's is like, however it seems that long-term, sustainable changes need to be taken as soon as the victims of both natural disaster and company ineptitude are compensated accordingly.

Beginning New Ends

I have one more year left of living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

All going well, in a year's time I'll be at university, studying for a degree that will hopefully lead on to a career in journalism. My ideal degree (though not necessarily the one I will end up in) is Philosophy, Politics and Economics. I feel its principles are in almost all areas of the media today, and as I look further it seems that the decisions we and those around us make are governed by the social, political and economic aspects of society.

Whether we like this or not is immaterial. But having an awareness of how these principles affect our lives means we have the ability to change them. We are not made to be cogs in a machine. We have our rights and our responsibilities, and as members of our local communities and citizens of our countries we should adhere to both. For a long time, my parents have been emphasising the need for the recognition of both rights and responsibilities; freedom does not lie in the Land of Do-As-You-Please. People (and when I say people, of course I am making a generalisation) are quick to spout the phrase "It's my right!" but very rarely do I hear the words "It's my responsibility!".

So yes, I've started to take an active interest in freedom. Political freedom, economic freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of thought. This issue of freedom first struck me whilst reading George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and has stayed at the back of my mind ever since. I consider myself to be 'free' and not in spite of the laws, rules and codes of practice that I have to abide to, but in part because of them. If freedom is made up of rights and responsibilities, then following these regulations whilst retaining my rights grants me freedom.

Of course, it is never as simple as that. Read anything about the DR Congo in the past twenty years and you'll see personal liberties stripped away like confetti. Do they have freedom?

Then there's the issue of religion and spiritual freedom, a matter which is so large in itself that I have no plan in the immediate future to venture into!

Finally we have Saudi, a country which I have so much to learn from, and so much to learn about. There are many misconceptions about Saudi, but as the spotlight draws ever closer to the country in this age of oil, what is fact and what is fiction needs be cleared up. Western misconceptions here are popular thought in the States, or in the UK.

So I hope you find this blog interesting. Intriguing. Entertaining. Or, at the very least, not a waste of your time.