It is truly a “New Yemen” [Archives:2008/1124/Opinion]
Abu Malik Al-Yemeni
One year has just passed since the slogan of “New Yemen etter Future” came to existence, and that was during the campaigning of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, ahead of the presidential election on September 20, 2006. Such a slogan is manifested in the poor situation of Yemen, a precedent that can hardly be seen in any part of the world. The first part of the slogan “New Yemen” is already achieved. It is reflected in the poor situations and hard living standards in the country while the second part “Better Future” doesn't exist at all.
It is truly a “New Yemen” with standards and details, which we have never seen before. A “New Yemen” with the tragic crisis extending from the north to the south and from the east to the west. One can hardly find a village or a city where locals don't complain of poverty, deprivation, epidemics, illiteracy, lawlessness and corruption.
What forced me write this article about “New Yemen” is the furious reaction by the enraged citizens who take to streets almost every day in different parts of the country, venting their anger at the government's poor policies that failed to eliminate corruption and corrupt officials. On this day, the day of writing this article, I am enthusiastic enough to damn corruption that destroyed every beauteous thing in my country and took it into a dirty swamp where rats grow and then defy any honest and sincere calls for establishing a “really New Yemen” that can show more respect for the human values and dignity.
I have learned a lesson from the enraged citizens who stream into streets nationwide that the time of pervasive silence has come to an end and we are getting nearer and nearer toward reality. I have also learned that the snowy ball is rolling down and will never stop despite tricks of the magicians whose noses get swelled when they hear about reality. They then resort to threats and intimidation, and rudely try to cheat minds, have facts counterfeited and beautify every ugly thing, or shape false image of their country to deceive others. Undoubtedly, all such attempts are doomed to fail even if those who administer the country seek the help of worldwide magicians.
The author of these lines is a Yemeni expatriate residing in another country. He is of the hope to return home, and usually draw plans and strategies on his homecoming, but his dreams get destroyed when he sees and hears about the painful situations in his homeland. His decision of homecoming has become like a suicide attempt.
Dear readers, in order not hastily accuse me of treason, being a traitor or hateful toward my homeland, I will raise this question to you, “What attracts you in Yemen so that you can prefer homecoming?” Pleas, tell me about any beauteous thing and goodness that may encourage a Yemeni expatriate to return home even if he/she is residing in Tora Bora Mountains or in the lanes of Mogadishu.
Because of the behavior of a group of people who claim to be natives of this country, Yemen has turned to be a horrible environment thereby forcing the true natives of different age and professional groups to migrate to other parts of the world in search of better living standards. Believe me or not, if Yemen's borders with the neighboring countries are open, all the Yemeni people will flee their homeland to seek better livelihood and safer living.
Nowadays, we never hear anything pleasant or satisfying about Yemen. The local, regional and international organizations release reports about the shameful situations in Yemen that only gives you a shame to the country of expatriation. Yemen is one of the failed or the would-be-failed countries. It stands last in the human development index, corruption has become rampant in all the state's agencies and its ailing economy is unlikely to recover amid the government's poor policies.
The situation of our homeland today makes one burst into tears of blood. The People turned to lament their fate under a totalitarian regime having starvation and poverty of its people, plus chaos, rampant corruption and civil wars, as the most important guarantees for its stay in power. It is now that the Yemeni people understood well that the regime foments conflicts, chaos and civil wars in order for citizens to remain living under the poverty line, fight hard for subsistence and suffer illiteracy and backwardness.
Conditions under “New Yemen”
At the very beginning, President Saleh launched his platform “New Yemen Better Future” in the wake of 2006 elections to finalize Chapter Four of Sa'ada War north of Yemen. Then, he shifted the conflict scene to the southern governorates in order to use force against enraged people protesting peacefully to claim their constitutional rights. In addition, many innocent demonstrators, who streamed into streets claiming a stop to the looting of public and private property, and land grab, were shot dead by the merciless police, whose duty changed from maintaining security and stability into killing oppressed citizens.
Moreover, anarchy and lawless are terribly expanding, particularly as the country turned to live a state of repeated wars that kill innocent people and destroy the country's infrastructure. As the state of law and order doesn't exist in Yemen, citizens are highly concerned about their safety and security.
In the country where we are residing, we sometimes intend to meet Yemeni officials during their various visits and ask them about people's conditions and the country's situations. “Every thing is nice and things are going well” is their only response. But when we tell them about the desire for homecoming, they say, “Why do you want to come back to Yemen since you are comfortable here. It is better for you to stay here and never think about homecoming.”
Once I went to a Yemeni diplomat serving in the Yemeni government's embassy in the country where I am residing and found him sad and depressed. Asking him why he looks sad and miserable, “We will return Yemen” was the only answer he gave to my question. I then asked him why he is sad over homecoming, he replied, “It is not good to return to Yemen and live on less than one dollar a day.” This is a tragedy, but we hope that there is a possible end to such a tragedy. We why said that the goal of “New Yemen” was achieved. Before such a slogan was made, the country was experiencing poor situations, and after the slogan, the situation went from bad to worse.
Source: Al-Sahwa-yemen.net
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