--“Hire and empower safety engineers to transform the country, building bridges and tunnels (for pedestrians) and safety infrastructure. Hire police from Europe or USA or Japan.”
--“Police must be required to speak some English/learn some basic western/non-threatening body language.” A comment from one teenager was that the police are the worst ones in the law enforcement system and actually promote lack of safety in Kuwait. This was reaffirmed by what some adults suggested. Further, acculturation of western concepts and standards was demanded by almost every respondent. These reforms have been hard to reinforce or introduce in Kuwait where wasta, bribes, and the hiring of police from the most traditional and lower echelon of society has been prevalent for decades. I.e. the police are observed as extremely subservient to the wealthier, political (tribal) & economic powerful classes to a great degree in Kuwait. SUMMARY OF SENTIMENTS ON SAFETYConsidering the variety of peoples from all over the world who make up both cosmopolitan and parochial Kuwait today, it is surprising that there can be a consensus on what they think and feel.
Nonetheless, this initial foray into the opinions of Kuwaiti residents of their perceptions on safety shows that they are not as multifaceted in terms of their concerns as one might expect.
(1) There is the prevalent need and desire to have standards enforced much better by police & at levels or standards of police performance expected in Northern Europe, Japan, or the United States.
(2) There is a consensus for the rule of law to dominate in terms of safety on the countries roadways and in public spaces. Buses, taxis, and poorly policed neighborhoods are of special concern.
(3) There is strong agreement that the roadways, parks, malls, deserts, and seaside need to be turned into a safer place for all to travel or holiday in.
(4) Remarkably, a common or prevailing perception is also that the level of safety for males in Kuwait is still commonly perceived as good as or better than in one’s home country.
(5) In contrast, women--especially western women and Asians-- feel that they soon may be under threat or constantly must remain ever-alert when out and about.
(6) Children and teenagers need more oversight and restrictions in public space. Some drive on highways at ages as young as 12 and 13—sometimes with off-road vehicles or in fast cars. Others run in gangs threatening expatriates at bus stops and in buses.
Alternatively, more organized after school activities might certainly help youth—as would awareness campaigns for parents as to the alternatives to running in gangs or getting caught up in fights or drug scenes.
Another sort of public awareness campaign would be one targeting cross-cultural communication in a multicultural society. I believe that as multinational societies form and reform all over the planet in coming decades each society will face similar trouble in defining themselves and proxemics & other non-verbal communication practices in a society will need to be thrashed out again and again.
The historical approach of pretending that expatriates are only a temporary phenomena in Kuwait needs to be ended.
This means that government and police need to be seen as working for the commonweal of the entire mass of people it has welcomed to inhabit the same space—making up the current country of Kuwait.
These so-called expatriates who make up the bulk of society people need to become part of regular government surveys on how to improve the country for all. Two million expatriates cannot be treated as the invisible people of the land any longer.
These expatriates, with their varying backgrounds, can make a lot of important suggestions to Kuwait and its leaders these days.
One important multi-national organization working for safety issues in Kuwait is the Kuwaiti Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers who recently gave a presentation at one of the schools I have been teaching in.
