• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Kuwait Airways Indian police Spurs beat LeBron to buy 10 storm compound, James again, Boeing 777s9 capture10 godman down44 Cavs 92-90 Max 26º Min 13º FREE www.kuwaittimes.net NO: 16349- Friday, November 21, 2014 WhereWhere theythey livelive See Pages 4, 5 and 6 Local FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2014 2 A reporter’s life in Kuwait: An hour in police custody By Ben Garcia his past week, I was detained by the police while investigating a story in TFarwaniya for Kuwait Times. Let me start by saying that reporting in Kuwait isn’t easy for anyone, especially for an expatriate like me. There are many chal- lenges including a lack of official communi- cation, lack of organized information or gov- ernment statistics, language barriers and for expats especially, the nascent fear of being caught by the police while out investigating a story. One of my worst fears was realized this week when I was detained by the police for taking photos with my mobile while the police were arresting an alleged thief. What happened was this: I was in Farwaniya in a small shopping complex when I saw a group of people gathered around a small white sedan. I moved closer to the crowd to find out what was going on and asked several bystanders for details. Shopkeepers had detained someone they suspected of using stolen civil IDs to obtain smartphones. They had called the police and were holding the suspect until the authori- ties arrived. Since I was without a camera, I took a few photos with my mobile of the scene and the suspect. Many others among the crowd were taking mobile photos too. The reality is that we live in an age of ‘citizen’ journalism as well as social media and many photos and videos of such types of events are now com- mon in Kuwait. Recently, a police officer was videotaped with his mobile at a police sta- tion in Kuwait forcing an expat to do pushups. Photos of car crashes taken on mobiles or fights in The Avenues captured by smartphones are now common. After a few minutes, the police arrived to arrest the suspect and to hear the story from the shopkeepers. At that point, I again snapped a few photos of the events with my mobile. That’s when one of the arresting offi- cers saw me and called me over to him. He asked what I was doing and why I was taking photos with my phone. I tried to explain but he took my mobile from me and then asked for and seized my civil ID. The police officer then told me he was detaining me. I asked the officer to please release me because I wasn’t in anyway involved in the incident. He told me to explain this the police station because he’ll be charging me with taking photos of the incident. Walking along with the police officer to the police car was quite awkward and embarrassing. I was- n’t that worried, but knowing that you are being escorted to the police car was a heart- pounding and shocking experience. People were staring at me as if I was one of the rob- bers too. I saw Filipinos offering sympathy at my predicament with their eyes. Perhaps they were thinking I did something wrong. officer tell another that I too should be police officer explained that I had taken pho- I would like to say that though I was terribly But anyway, I was placed at the back of placed in the jail and that they would be fil- tos of Ministry of Interior officers without shaken by the episode, the Ministry of the police car with the alleged mobile ing a case against me for ‘misuse of a per- permission and this was illegal. After another Interior officers treated me with profession- phone thief. I was in shock but I remained sonal mobile’. Since there are no statutes in half hour or so, the police officer asked me alism and courtesy. At no time was I mis- calm. When I checked the time, it was noon the press and publications law with regards to delete all the photos from my mobile and treated or mishandled in any way. and I was on my way to the Farwaniya police to personal mobiles, I wasn’t sure where I then told me I was free to go. At the end of the day, I was just doing my station. On arrival at the police station, the stood legally. There is a very negative impression of job which is to keep the Kuwait Times’ read- other suspect was taken to the jail and I was So I called the newspaper and explained MoI officers and police stations in Kuwait, ership informed. But it’s all part of the life of placed in a holding area. I heard one police the situation to our managing editor. The especially among the expatriate population. a reporter in Kuwait. Local FRIDAY, NOVEMEBER 21, 2014 Local Spotlight Scribbler’s Notebook The boya thing in Kuwait Five reasons why Kuwait is a great place to live By Muna Al-Fuzai By Jamie Etheridge [email protected] ife today is not only about straight men and showed up with her girlfriend inside the toilet area. women, who look and live their lives as normal The cleaning lady spoke to this boya who had male [email protected] Lpeople within the two well-defined gender cate- body features and looks, and told her to get out gories. Things are becoming more complicated and because this was a ladies’ toilet. Yet her female friend n journalism, you can spend your whole life writing confusing because we have girls who look and act as stood up for her, claiming she “is one of us”! I was about negative things. From wars to corruption, from men and they are known here as boyat. They are in the there and could not figure out what she meant by Inatural disasters to common accidents, there is an grey zone and we the public have a problem of not “one of us”! It was a scene which everyone watched endless supply of bad news. Those who work in the knowing how to deal with them when we come across and felt puzzled about. The boya seemed embar- business quickly acquire an immunity to the constant any of these tomboys, especially if you have to share rassed, but this is the ugly truth of being in a society flood of horror and sadness (if you don’t, you won’t last the toilet with them! that doesn’t know how to deal with uncommon things long as a journalist.) The bottom line here is that we as a conservative and I don’t blame anyone. The same can be said for Kuwait. There is a constant society are not trained in how to deal with this boya I know that boyat suffer even from men and they and steady stream of negative news (KUNA notwith- thing. Many of us despise the idea but it is becoming are not easy with them because they penetrate the standing). The economy lags behind its regional peers part of our life today, whether we like it or not, and egoistic male world and this is hard, especially in Arab despite nearly two decades of multibillion-dollar budget there is nothing we can do. Technology today has pro- societies. Western societies have developed methods surpluses. Corruption is endemic and growing worse. vided these girls with medications to help them build on how to deal these concepts, but we don’t and I The divide between expatriates and locals has deep- a masculine body, and indeed the catwalk is not in don’t think we will. ened and xenophobia is on the rise. Schools and hospi- their vocabulary. Having a female girlfriend is part of If we were in the West, we would know how to deal tals are failing. Traffic is a constant nightmare. The cost the look they wish to portray. We the public need to with those who live this gender grey area. I think deep of living is rising and rising. know how to deal with them. Should we show them down they suffer in silence because of the way they Sometimes it can all be too much and it’s so easy to some tolerance or just ignore them? Both attempts will are treated by their own societies. I wonder why none get caught up in the field of negativity and complaints. fail, and I know this. of the local NGOs talk about this phenomenon and But as you learn in journalism, no story has just one side. We have two kinds of public toilets - for men and how should we feel and act while dealing with boyat. Of the 3.5+ million people living in Kuwait, few seem women. But which one would a boya use with less Turning a blind eye will not end or solve the problem. interested in shifting to Doha or Dubai. Despite all those harassment from any of those two? Last week I came These people need help or understanding because so annual rankings about the ‘happiest places on earth to face-to-face with such a weird incident when I was in far we have offered none and that cleaning lady can- live’, few of those I spoke with seem to want to pack up the toilet of a cinema at one of the malls and a boya not be blamed for attempting to kick that boya out.

Load more

  47

Copy Link