issue number 116 |March 2012 WAGE HIKE LEBANON AIRPORTS “the monthLy” interviews: RITA MAALOUF www.iimonthly.com • Published by Information International sal RENT ACT TWELVE EXTENSIONS AND A NEW LAW IS YET TO MATERIALIZE Lebanon 5,000LL | Saudi Arabia 15SR | UAE 15DHR | Jordan 2JD| Syria 75SYP | Iraq 3,500IQD | Kuwait 1.5KD | Qatar 15QR | Bahrain 2BD | Oman 2OR | Yemen 15YRI | Egypt 10EP | Europe 5Euros March INDEX 2012 4 RENT ACT 7 GLC AND BUSINESS OWNERS LOCK HORNS WITH NAHAS OVER WAGE HIKE 10 ElECTIONS 2013 (2) 12 WILL LEBANON OPERATE FOUR AIRPORTS OR ONLY ONE? 14 IDAL 16 THOUSANDS OF MOBILE PHONE LINES AT THE DISPOSAL OF SECURITY FORCES P: 21 P: 4 17 REOPENING OF BEIRUT Pine’s FOREST 18 VITAMINS & SUPPLEMENTS: DR. HANNA SAADAH 19 PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF IMPOTENCE ON MEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST: MICHEL NAWFAL 20 ALF, BA, TA...: DR. SAMAR ZEBIAN 21 INTERVIEW: RITA MAALOUF P: 12 23 TORTURE - IRIDESCENCE 24 NOBEL PRIZES IN PHYSICS (2) 39 Mansourieh’s HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER 28 THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT LINES ASSOCIATION (INMA) 40 JANUARY 2012 TIMELINE 30 HOW TO BECOME A CLERGYMAN IN YOUR RELIGION? 43 EgYPTIAN ELECTIONS 31 POPULAR CULTURE 47 REAL ESTATE PRICES IN LEBANON - 32 DEBUNKING MYTH #55: DREAMS JANUARY 2012 33 MUST-READ BOOKS: CORRUPTION 48 FOOD PRICES - JANUARY 2012 34 MUST-READ CHILdren’s bOOK: CAMELLIA 50 VENOMOUS SNAKEBITES 35 LEBANON FAMILIES: HAWI FAMILIES 50 BEIRUT RAFIC HARIRI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - JANUARY 2012 36 DISCOVER LEBANON: CHAKRA 51 lEBANON STATS 37 CIVIL STRIFE INTRO |EDITORIAL ASSEM SALAM: THE CUSTODIAN OF VALUES The heart aches proudly when you see them, our knights when the demonstrators denounced the Syrian enemy: of the 1920s and 30s, refusing to dismount as if they “Calls for Lebanon’s independence from the Syrian were on a quest or a journey. Although their lives were tutelage and positions against the practices of Syrian full of disappointments they never gave up. They lived and pro-Syrian officials were distorted by the March 14 independently, proud of their heritage, resisting pressure Forces themselves due to their sectarian divisions and from external forces and Zu’ama and holding their heads racist feeling towards the Syrian presence in the country”. high. They had a dream of a nation that, they knew (The Monthly’s issue no. 67 of March 2008) very well, may never flourish. Assem Salam is one of those professional, honorable, quiet and steady knights On another occasion, he told a diplomat at the American who exhibited and practiced chivalry as a professor at Embassy in Beirut: “Banning certain Lebanese from the university, in his architects’ office, as President of entering your country simply because they expressed Lebanon’s Order of Engineers and Architects, and in their opinion is a kind of oppression nowhere near every aspect of his life. Mighty like the cedars of Lebanon, democracy...”. Surprised at his words, she thought that jubilant like Egypt, audacious and polite like the nobles he must be gloating over his tormentors’ punishment, but of the Round Table, rebellious like Algeria, civilized and he proceeded by saying: “Your stance on the Palestinian cultured like Sumer, Assem Salam is a Shami Arabist, an issue is the problem.” “But you are Lebanese?” she aristocrat, a commoner and universal citizen who has an asked, confused. “I am a Palestinian and a Lebanese. ever-present smile for us even in the bleakest of times. And my children are Palestinian,” he answered. Assem Salam is in hospital, a restless patient and an Assem Salam is a fine knight but a bad investor. He is unyielding knight. His mid-nineteenth century house is a man of the Renaissance in an era of decline. He is a still in Zqaq el-Blat- Batrakieh, surrounded by dominating noble man and I had the privilege of sitting at his round towers of hideous concrete, as if his big heart of gold and the table. The image wouldn’t be complete unless we quote architectural nostalgia he has for Beirut insisted on keeping his words on Solidere: “.. Around 135,000 Lebanese, this house as a witness to an era of hunger, greed and oil. including residents and right holders, were forced to As if he is telling us: this is how I think and how you too leave the area and denied the right to return, and 85% of should think. But as usual, his words fell on deaf ears in the the capital’s urban memory was destroyed, which put an Council for Development and Reconstruction, the Ministry end to the history and unifying role of the downtown”. of Public Works and Transport, the Ministry of Housing (The Monthly’s issue no. 67 of March 2008) and even the Order of Engineers. Neither in A’anjar, nor in Parliament or the Cabinet did they listen to him. Assem Salam has never been far from the events and for the hundreds and thousands of us, he himself is the “There are people in Lebanon who are above and beyond event. He is the custodian of our values. Great men are positions and posts”, he told Abd Halim Khaddam, Ghazi like eagles. They spread their wings in the winds and Kanaan, Rustom Ghazali and their followers at all times. soar high in the skies. Assem Salam, you are the eagle Being blacklisted by them was a beacon of light, not a and the president of both the Order of Engineers and dread to him and a glimmer of hope for this country. He non-engineers. Assem Bek Salam, it is to you we give was forbidden from taking a post, for this would have been the title and the glory. The Cedars of Lebanon, Assi, a threat to the so-called “investors” and “slave traders” of Dijla and Eupherates know you very well and, together this country as well as Solidere. Unfortunately, those who with us, toast you, for aged wine was made for those do not play their Sunni-Beirut card may not be blessed moments. with a moment of peace and tranquility. A noble friend of the late Nassib Lahoud and Walid Jumblat, after the 2005 Assem Salam is in hospital now but forever in our demonstrations against Syria, he did not hesitate to state hearts. 4 | LEADER RENT ACT TWELVE EXTENSIONS AND A NEW LAW IS YET TO MATERIALIZE Lebanon has been without an official budget since 2005 and government spending has been managed according to the “twelfth provision rule”, which was accompanied by mounting expenditures that are deemed a flagrant violation of the law. Likewise, Lebanon has been waiting for twenty years of the approval of a new rental law that governs the landlord-tenant relationship especially regarding old rental agreements. Unfortunately, all the attempts aimed at passing a new rental law did not succeed and the extension of the old act has been the norm throughout the years. The collapse of the Fassouh building in Achrafieh in January 2012 re-brought the rents’ issue to the forefront and served as an alarming signal stressing the urgency for a new rent act. Unfortunately, landlords cannot afford property maintenance, for the rentals they receive can barely cover the expenses of minor repairs, and tenants on the other hand refuse to carry out repair works before knowing what the new law has in store for them. Thus, the negligence of both parties results in the fracture of rooftops, collapse of buildings and loss of lives. Problems with rents rental market and find a partial solution, although the The motto “the tenant is an owner” used to prevail complexity of the contracts signed before July 22, 1992 in Lebanon in the few decades prior to 1992, for the remained unsettled. law used to grant the tenants the right to extend rental agreements against the will of landlords. The law Rent Act also allowed parents to transfer the dwelling to their Law No. 160 was issued on July 22, 1992 and children, which crippled the landlords’ ability to offer highlighted the following: the premises for rent, for fear of losing them should 1- Raising rental fees by half the successive wage hikes they fail to evict the tenants. The inflation and the imposed on the first salary bracket and determined devaluation of the Lebanese pound in 1985 were also by the decrees pertaining to the cost of living as of factors that further aggravated the problem as the rental July 1, 1987. This provision was among the major value became insignificant compared to the value of the highlights of the law. actual building. The rent of an entire building became 2- Giving the landlord the right to regain his property insufficient to cover the cost of living of landlords, should he or a member of his family need the who winded up wallowing in poverty although their dwelling for personal use, provided that he pays the properties were worth a fortune, except those few who tenant a compensation determined by the courts of used to charge a lease premium to secure the minimum not less than 25% and not more than 50% of the amount of profits in the event where the rental value property value. decreases. 3- Increasing rental fees according to the rental agreement year in favor of landlords. This law was New law amended pursuant to Law No. 336. In an attempt to solve this dilemma and find a market for a property lease, Law No. 159 promulgated July 22, Law No.336 1992 cancelled the article 543 of the Code of Contracts Law No. 336 promulgated May 24, 1994 amended and Obligations and stipulated that residential and some articles of the abovementioned Law 160/92.