Letters to the Editor [Archives:1999/44/Letters to the Editor]

Dear editor,
Reviving past hatred and malice is not a trait of a regime that believes in democracy peaceful transfer of power. Therefore, stability, peace, prosperity would never be expected to prevail in our country if the ruling party continues its illogical attitude towards other political parties. In other words, instead of repeating the past disputes and wrong acts done by others, a wise leadership will better seek a settlement. It is better if it paves the way for concrete achievements for nation that has constantly stood beside in difficult times and crucial situations.
Unfortunately, the government doesn’t seem to show any serious consideration for the public. The country requires burning issues and participation of all Yemenis in this endeavour rather than engage its attention on past disputes, conflicts, wars and whatever. The people have naturally become totally pessimistic and hopeless nowadays when as they see the government officials in any gathering, press meetings or interviews repeatedly recalling and talking about their oppositions’ past deeds. Would this be considered national achievements accomplished by the regime?
What I would like to state is that everybody has a past life which is a mix of good and bad. However, it is fair to deprive someone of one’s rights because of one’s past. In that sense, all the people living in this planet can be considered guilty. But, they should not be denied of their political rights, neither should the ruling party block their way to gain power. In fact what has happened so far is enough, and I believe that it is time we did something for the next generation. So let’s leave at least some good precedents for them to remember.
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Dear editor,
I will be very glad and thankful if you gave me the chance to express my views through your esteemed newspaper. We looked forward to the presidential elections to usher in a new hope for a better tomorrow. Giving people a chance to choose their president is certainly a good sign for a better future. So we hope that the elected president will not fail us and that he will do his best to combat corruption which has prevailed in almost all spheres of our life. Fighting corruption will not be effective by mere speeches; It will be better seen in concrete actions. We do hope that the president will be sincere in his commitment to build the new generation based on education.
Reforming the judiciary from corruption should be one of the presidents’ priorities. To put the right person in the right place is also a very crucial thing. However, we should not expect that the president will do this all by himself alone. All the people should come together to achieve what they desire and aspire for. Therefore, the president should be very careful to select a good team different from those in the past who proved themselves as nothing but crooks. By this he will be able to carry out what Yemenis look forward to.
Finally, all my thanks and wishes to all the staff working in the Yemen Times headed by the son of its late founder. Hats off to the Managing Editor Mr. Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadi for his marvelous articles.
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A Promise Is A Promise
As a permanent reader of the Yemen Times, and one who has a strong interest in following all its articles up, I want to be among the first to congratulate you all on the new and magnificent complexion of the newspaper.
The only thing that I want to remind you about is that a promise is a promise. You promised that Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Saqqaf’s life would be published in a book. You also mentioned that further information regarding this would be published in the forthcoming issues of the Yemen Times. But you did not do so and we saw nothing. I wish that you would be able to explain this out.
We are longing to see the book of the person who made history. Will we see it soon? I hope so.
Abdulrahman Khaled
Al-Meghlafi
Dear Abdulrahman,.
The Yemen Times has already published a book about the life of its founder in Arabic only to commemorate the 40th day of his unfortunate demise. However, that issue was not distributed and was not for sale for various reasons. The YT will be issuing the second version of the same book in the year 2000. Please bear with us as the book will not take long; It may be worth your waiting for.
The Editor
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Illiteracy
Our society suffers from various problems which hinders its growth and development. One of the most serious problems is illiteracy.
As for example, I live in a building which consists of 22 flats. There are only three women who can read and write. Can you believe it?
They are all mothers and there are at least five children in each flat.
When I ask them why they do not join literacy classes, they say “When can we do that?”, “there is no time!” However, they spend their afternoon’s in chewing qat, smoking Mada’ah and chatting.
Their children, on the other hand, play all the time with the dirt in the streets till late hours in the evening. They bother people, fight and are more exposed to accidents. When their bad results show up, their mothers start crying and ask why they failed. I really wonder how we can have a good future for our society if our future generation is being raised by illiterate mothers. We need to eradicate this illiteracy. There should be some efforts made to create an awareness. Illiterate mothers should know the importance of education for themselves and their families.
Therefore, we should cooperate and leave no stone unturned to build future the generation.
Aswaan Abdullah
Taiz
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Today’s Youth
If we look carefully at the youth of today, we will notice that they are moving towards a destructive destination. This horrible condition compels us to appeal to God and say “God we do not ask you to change the destiny, we only ask you to be merciful.”The youths of today are divided to three main groups; the first of these groups is pursuing the latest fashion which really gives a dismal, a disgusting picture. The second group is pursuing singers, films and songs. They seem to know nothing except these singers and heroes. Furthermore, they go on wearing T-shirts that have the pictures of their favorites. If you ask anyone of these guys about scientists or inventors who have devoted their lives for the sake of well-being of the humanity, the casual answer you get is “I don’t care” or which is very distasteful to say. The third group includes those who have nothing except hanging around in roads killing time, courting girls, troubling passers-by, etc. What is worse is that the younger children are following suit.
In short, the situation of the youth in our country is really very critical and needs to be remedied. The youth should not waste their time in an idle manner. They should invest each and every minute they have in creating a better tomorrow for themselves and the country. They should not imitate the world of stupidity but pursue achievements and creativity. Will they do so? We hope so.
Hilal Abdul Gabzy
Taiz University
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Dear Editor,
I am from Yemen and I live in Saudi Arabia’s Capital city Riyadh. I have been working at King Faisal Hospital for the last 17 years in the nutrition section. I love my country and I am planning to move there by next year. I welcome any messages to me through e-mail to my address below. I will be happy to reply.
Samir Kaifah
–mail: [email protected]
Saudi Arabia
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Dear Editor,
I’m a British citizen who lived and worked in Hodeidah for eight years. Since then, I have returned to Ecuador, South America, where I previously worked for more than 20 years. Living in Yemen was one of the most valuable experiences of my life. I am very happy to have found the Yemen net on the Internet. I wish to send greetings to all my friends in Hodeidah.
Richard Allen
Email: [email protected]
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Dear Editor,
I usually visit your very advanced web, which is great and doing a tremendous job for such web sites in the Yemeni democratic sphere. I was teaching an American diplomat Arabic, and I asked him about his impression about your paper. He said it neither fits the British nor American variety of English but is styled in the local tongue. Moreover, every now and then it gives some paraphrases which may be intended to have the same translation meaning in Arabic while it does not have that exact phrase in English. That is the only candid advice I wanted to give you. There is another comment concerning your beneficial and informative site. Why don’t you lay out an area in the web for advertisements exactly as in the paper, as many of people I met told me they look for jobs through your great web. Unfortunately they did not find their desire fulfilled. I think such a page may give opportunity for them to take part in skipping out your pages and contribute in the opinion poll. I request ask you kindly to give this comment a careful consideration.
With my best regards.
Abdulilah Mohamed Taki
Dear Abdulilah,
We are seriously considering your advice. In the near future, you will witness a lot of change in the standards of the paper regarding the way articles and columns are written and translated. We are currently working on it. Your other comment is interesting, and we will propose it to our advertisers and study the feasibility of such an idea.
Thank you for your follow up!
The Editor
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Dear Editor,
Thanks for an excellent newspaper. One request – please do not put a colored background on articles (as the “fight against qat” article this week.) It takes longer to print out and does not copy as well as a white background. I use articles to circulate to my college students. So this is important to me.
Margaret Curtis
Western Kentucky University
U.S.A.
Dear Margaret,
Thank you for your letter. We will try to not have a background in articles in the future. However, you can still avoid printing the background by deselecting “print background” from the page setup item of your browser.
The Editor
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Dear Editor,
I am writing from ‘TTG Middle East and North Africa’, the leading travel trade publication in the region. In our December issue, we will include a special feature on Yemen, which will look at developments in the tourism industry.
I noticed that you recently produced a supplement, ‘Yemen’s Tourist Guide’. Would it be possible for you to send me a copy? I am interested in receiving as much information as possible about the country’s tourism industry. Our address is below. Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Sarah Antoniou
TTG Middle East & North Africa, Cyprus
Dear Sarah,
We have actually received hundreds of such requests, and the number of the guides in stock is getting lower. Despite that, we will hopefully be sending you one copy of the guide. Wishing you all the success in your project.
The Editor
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Dear Editor,
I am a Yemeni living abroad with dual nationality, I am very interested in young graduates from the Sana’a University in order to create a local Yemeni research institute. I knew Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf very well(may his soul rest in peace). Please help me in this regard.
M. A. Al Sayadi
Dear Al-Sayadi,
The best we could do is post your letter here. Perhaps whoever is interested can contact you by email. Or we, at the Yemen Times, can be the intermediary between you and whoever wants to join you in your noble efforts for your country. Good luck.
The Editor
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Naseem’s Point of Weakness
Naseem is a very good boxer, and alhumdolillah a Muslim. But in my opinion, as a Muslim, he should be more humble, and the music and dancing that he enters the boxing ring with are not the acts for Muslims.
I believe that Naseem prays to God all the time and reminds others that he is a Muslim and thanks “Allah” after every win; But the things that I mentioned above give a false impression about Islam.
Naseem has received many blessings; He should now practice Islam more strictly, and with the will of Allah he will continue to be blessed and continue his success.
Yazakala Kairan
Email: [email protected]
Dear Yazakala,
Naseem has an official website on the Internet, and you could turn to it when you have time. I think that it is the best way you could reach him through the net. Go to (www.princenaseem.com) and send an email to him through that web page. On our part, the best we could do is have your letter posted.
The Editor
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Dear Editor,
I have working experience of more than seven years as a feature writer with major English dailies of Pakistan including The Frontier Post and The News International.
I have contributed a large number of stories on social-political, environment and health issues and several articles including features and book reviews to the Sunday magazines of the above mentioned newspapers.
In a global village every newspaper has to cover events happening in every corner of the globe to keep its readers abreast of the changes around the world. And in important regions special correspondents are needed for exclusive coverage to the happening there.
In Pakistan, which is an important country of the region, reputed newspapers have correspondents.
I offer my services for appointment as your correspondent in Pakistan. If given chance I would prove my worth.
Ahmad Naeem Khan
Dear Ahmad,
I regret that we cannot accept your application, as we do not for the time being cover international news. However, we are studying the possibility of having an international news page, and if we ever decide to have that page, be sure that we will contact you.
The Editor
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Dear Editor,
I have composed four humble lines, which I take the liberty to send you. I hope that you will appreciate them, and find them worth publishing in Yemen Times. I assure you that I will take no offense if you decide otherwise. These four lines would be dedicated to Anne-Catherine et Jean-Christophe.
FOUR LINES
“Wait, wait, don’t hesitate, be patient,
Let the days go one by one, don’t count,
Life is laugh, joke and only gay,
It doesn’t deserve a tear in your eye.”
Abdul Qawi Deehan
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Dear Editor,
I refer to your Issue No 39 of 27 September and in particular to THEY SAY … I SAY (Salwa M Sarhi). I have visited Yemen annually since 1993 and witnessed the decline in tourism consequent upon the various kidnapping incidents and reported acts of terrorism. In January this year I met with the Australian Ambassador to Yemen (resident in Saudi Arabia and on his first visit, I believe, to Sana’a) to discuss the perceived threat to Australian citizens touring your country.
His attitude reflected the Australian Government’s: there was a big threat and Australia has placed Yemen on a list that includes Chechnya and Afghanistan as places not to visit!
Those of us in the know recognize the nonsense and unfairness in this, but until the Australian Government relaxes its formal advice to travellers there will be few visitors to Yemen from Australia, which is a potentially large market. Only this month I was due to accompany a group of 20 distinguished people from Melbourne but this has been postponed for 2 years. I speak Yemeni Arabic fluently and worked in the south of your country during the British era. I have many friends from that period and care deeply for Yemen and its people.
When I was last in Yemen I also met with the Director of Antiquities and have also corresponded with your Tourism agency, to recommend that Yemen send a cultural display to Australia which, with local sponsorship, could tour the country and thereby help to dispel the myth of savagery that so discourages visitors. In spite of my efforts absolutely nothing has eventuated from your end and, until there is some official and commercial interest in improving the country’s image, it will be a long time before we can have groups of visitors from this part of the world.
I would like to help further but I feel helpless!
Michael Crouch
East Perth, Australia
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We will wait!
Many teachers are not teaching, though many schools are waiting for them. Those teachers are not teaching, not because they do not like to teach, but because they have not got the chance. They studied for 16 years or more having the hope of being employed after their graduation. But alas, they did not find what they dreamt of. Two batches of graduated students are eagerly looking forward to the day they become employed. Most of them have become disappointed, and on the other side, students in colleges are disillusioned. How could they concentrate on their studies well when they feel insecure about the future.
Let’s assume that schools do not need more teachers; but then why should there be so many foreign teachers. I am not against the idea of bringing foreign teachers, for some of them are well qualified and useful. But I am against the notion of delay in giving employment to those frustrated teachers at the cost of their efficiency in future.
Efforts are being made to ensure a high performance in teaching. It is a fact that can not be denied. But I want to ask, how many times do teachers receive any training since they enter the domain of teaching? Also, why has not the new prescribed book for the third level of the secondary school been distributed yet? And where are the cassettes of the English books to be taught, or why are they prescribed if they are not important? All these questions remain unanswered. Until we know the answers we will try to be optimistic, because we know that the circumstances are to blame. So hoping for a better tomorrow, we will wait.
Khalid Ali Ali Al-Quzahy
Al-Dhubr – Mahweet
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Congratulations
Congratulations from Amsterdam to the Yemen Times at www.yementimes.com for getting your 1,000,000 hits at your website.
G. Wassink
Dear Wassink,
One million thanks to you my friend.
The Editor

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