Oldest Animal Life Found in Oman

The Guardian reports on an upcoming article in the journal Nature:

The oldest chemical traces of animal life on Earth have been discovered in ancient rock formations in Oman.
Scientists found evidence for primitive sponges dating back at least 635m years, long before the sudden diversification of multicellular life in the Cambrian explosion around 530m years ago – which paved the way for all the major groups of animals 100m years later.

These were found in the South Oman Salt Basin by a researcher from the University of California Riverside.

فوز عمان في كأس بطولة الخليج

مبروك

Omanjima

Had to repost this from the Muscatis. Very interesting iconography.

Oman's 2009 Budget

The Oman Daily Observer announced the specifics of Oman's 2009 budget. The country anticipates running a larger deficit this year due to an approximately 11% increase in expenditures on the previous year and anticipated lower oil revenues (planned at $45/barrel). Increases come in much needed areas, such as education, healthcare, and road infrastructure according to the Observer. Below are some details. RO x 2.6 = US dollars.

[T]he educational sector accounts for 36 per cent at RO 791 million, i.e. an increase of RO 81 million (or 11 per cent) over the approved budget for the year 2008. Similarly, the health sector accounts for 12 per cent or RO 271 million of the total civil ministries’ expenditure, showing an increase by RO 43 million (19 per cent) over the 2008 allocations. Allocations for the development budget stand at RO 800 million, showing an increase of 10 per cent over the 2008 budget. These allocations are set to cover the ongoing as well as new projects listed in the Seventh Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) under the different sectors. RO 18 million has been allocated to subsidise the interest on development and housing loans provided by the Development Bank, the commercial banks and Oman Housing Bank to the beneficiaries.

Censorship in Oman

An Omani blogger posted the below comments today. The original Arabic can be found here.

While I would agree with the blogger that personal freedoms in Oman are incredibly circumscribed, the situation is not as bleak as it would seem to some reading her comments. It seemed to me when I was in Oman that many Omanis were unconcerned about the lack of freedoms as long as development continued to progress, the Sultan continued to be an enlightened leader, and the country continued to hold onto its identity, pride, and peace. I know some Omanis find the restrictions stifling, but it is nothing like the situation in Saudi Arabia, for instance. That being said, Oman and the rest of the Gulf states are going to have to deal with increasing pushback against their draconian policies on personal liberties and public criticism in general. It will be interesting to see how it is done. The Sultanate cannot afford for it to be done wrong.

In Oman, forms of expression are subject to censorship and those who speak out face threats and abuse. There is no freedom of expression or of the press. There are no basic public rights. Demonstrations are prohibited. The establishment of newspapers requires a political decision from the Council of Ministers headed by Sultan Qaboos. These papers are subject to monitoring and censorship prior to their publication. The formation of civil society organizations is subject to a backward (not sure if this means backward as in archaic or retroactive) law and is only permitted with a security agreement that guarantees control over the organization.

In this year, 2008, the Omani blogging (tadween) movement was born on the internet. Despite its young age and the small number of bloggers, they have become wanted and hunted. The situation worsens when the identity of the blogger becomes known and he writes under his true name. This is what has afflicted the Omani blogger Hamad al-Gheithi who was forced by internal security to change some of the topics of his blog. Under this pressure, the blogging movement, which is still in its
infancy, may be aborted for good. This confirms the justice and validity of the option of anonymity for some Omani bloggers, and I am the first among them.

The security establishment, with its various but unified arms, has taken up following the writing on the internet in interactive forums and blogs. Participants in these outlets are constantly and systematically subjected to various forms of aggression against their personal and public freedoms, from fixed trials, to direct threats, to prohibition from writing, to damage to their interests and livelihoods. The Omani people are held hostage by the security establishment that rules the country and rides roughshod over the laws and institutions which are generally for show and ineffective in the truth of the matter, partly or fully.

Oh conscience, oh world: You have all of what the blogger, the artist Hamad al-Gheithi wrote and breathed in his blog until he became a target of police intimidation. So, world, bear witness.

Adulation.com

Anyone know who or what agency put together the new website http://www.oman-qaboos.net/?

It is a slick new homage to the Sultan. Tons of pictures, but not a whole lot of information.

Port Sultan Qaboos on Local News

I was watching my local news this morning (in America), not really paying attention, then looked up to see a sign in Arabic and English. It was for Port Sultan Qaboos. The story was about the attempted hijacking of M/S Nautica, which is in port in Muttrah now. The story included some views of the port and the hills between Muttrah and Muscat. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the ignorants who might misidentify the country with the hijacking) Oman was not mentioned in the story or even in the text around the images.

Sultan Billed as Grinch by Telegraph

The Telegraph ran the story "Sultan Ruins Christmas in Oman" today, regarding the slide of the Gulf Cooperation Council summit from late-November to the holiday timeframe. The Royal Diwan sent out notice to the leading hotels that Christmas bookings must be cleared out for the summit attendees, evidently leading to some disgruntled British holiday travelers. Unfortunately, the article was mute on why the summit was slid. While I can understand the traveler's anger, Oman's hosting of the GCC summit is no trivial matter. Oman needs to get the reasons for this change out into the presses in order to mitigate the bad PR and its effect on the tourism industry. I haven't had a chance to research the reason for the slide. Any insight?

Oman's Research Council Calls for PhD Programs

Khaleej Times reports that Oman's Research Council has called for Oman to quickly implement PhD programs in order to improve the country's research capabilities. It seems that the major impetus behind this is to better link academic capabilities to Petroleum Development Oman's needs.

It is critical that a country's educational institutions and its educational infrastructure are linked so that the educational pipeline is creating a product that is employable and offers needed capabilities to industry. The linkage of PhD programs in Oman to PDO's needs is therefore beneficial. However, I do not know that the rest of Oman's higher education system is in good enough shape to really make the leap to this level. Are Oman's baccalaureate and masters degree programs well-developed, linked to the economy's needs, and producing capable graduates? If so, then the logical next step is to the PhD level. However, if these levels are not in order, I fear that a leap to the PhD level will not meet industry's needs and will end up as an irrelevant diploma mill. I think that the institutions have to be in pretty good order to attract the expertise needed for a faculty capable of producing meaningful PhD diplomas, and the associated research. Can anyone comment on this?

Oman in the Washington Post

Today's Washington Post ran an article about Gulf countries steering jobs to citizens and the online article featured a picture of City Center's Starbucks. After the picture of a familiar place caught my eye, I read on:

Coffee shop manager Lalit Jadeja groaned as white-robed Omani officials swooped down on his Filipina cashier at one of the largest shopping malls in this Persian Gulf kingdom. It was the Omanization squad. ...
But economists and other analysts say the programs have made little difference so far. In some cases, as in hiring quotas for citizens, government efforts have angered employers who say the campaigns have fostered a sense of job entitlement among local young people. ...
The Middle East has the world's highest percentage of young people -- 30 percent of its population -- and the highest percentage of unemployed youths -- 25 percent.

The article goes on to quote one Arab professor from the UAE as saying that these youngsters can be opportunities or "ticking time bombs." The article also notes an aversion to private sector work in some countries.

Specific to Oman:

Even in Oman, one of the less affluent Gulf countries, oil profits are wiping out a culture of hard work.
In the middle of the desert, for example, an Indian stood alone near his home in a cargo crate. The man, wearing floppy leather sandals, a plaid shirt and a fuzzy pink towel, is one of the Gulf's new pool of subcontracted camel-herders -- tending camels for a Bedouin family that had retreated to air-conditioned comfort on a government-provided plot of land, several Omanis explained.

Perhaps this is another problem -- many youths, despite hard work, intelligence, and dedication, cannot get their dream jobs without "wasta." (See "The Yacoubian Building" or 3mara Yaqubi for an Egyptian story about wasta and career frustration gone terribly wrong)

From the article:

At the coffee shop in Muscat, Oman's capital, Jadeja flipped through the country's labor code in his cubbyhole of an office. He cited legal codes allowing Omanis generous leaves for studies, pilgrimages, funerals and other benefits.
Jadeja complained about a hiring quota that he said was compelling some employers to give young Omanis paychecks to stay home, just to have them on the payroll.
Behind the coffee shop's front counter, Rashdi bin Mohammed, a 21-year-old Omani, spoke sadly of trading his dream of becoming a pilot for a job serving lattes.
Bin Mohammed rejected the only public-sector jobs -- policeman or soldier -- he said were available to him as an Omani without "wasta," or connections. He said he shrugged off the looks and comments from friends who would rather keep accepting money from their parents than take an entry-level job.
"They just don't have the will to strive, to better themselves," he said.

Oman and the End of Easy Oil

The Washington Post recently reported on Oman's turn to enhanced recovery techniques to get at its remaining oil. Without enhanced recovery, experts say only ten more years of oil are available in Oman. With it, perhaps forty years' worth. In any case, the techniques are quite costly, which is fine with the current, high price of oil. Yet, as the article says, diversification is ever-more important.

Oman's oil production peaked at 840,000 barrels per day in 2000 and has fallen to a low of 561,000 bpd in 2007.

Oman Visa Restrictions

Economic Times of the India Times reports that the Omani Ministry of Manpower announced that it has stopped the issuance of visas for foreign laborers in a number of fields to work in Oman. These include tailoring, cleaning, import/export, electronic repair, textiles, and others. Existing visas will be renewed however.

In a questionable claim, a ministry official asserted "There is plenty of local talent but there's very little space available for them." I'd say there are plenty of Omanis available to do many of these jobs, but little existing talent in the fields. There will need to be a lengthy period of apprenticeship to transfer the existing knowledge from the expat workforce to Omanis in fields like tailoring and other skilled crafts.

The article also contained some statistics that back up some of my former assertions about the nature of the work force in Oman. According to Ministry statistics, Omanis fill 86 percent of jobs in most government sector departments. Yet in the private sector, Omanis rose from a paltry 14.7 percent in the 90s to only 16.8 percent in 2000. Undoubtedly the figure has risen in the eight years since, but the figure is still far too low for a country that is looking to create a sustainable post-oil economy.

Beyond stopping the influx of foreign laborers, Oman will have to wage a campaign to change attitudes toward these professions (especially cleaning and garbage removal), to ensure Omanis are taking advantage of the educational opportunities available to prepare them for these sectors, and to ensure that employers and current workers in the fields have an intelligent plan for apprenticeship and transfer of knowledge. Otherwise, the decision will die a quiet death of non-enforcement when employers realize that they cannot live with its provisions.

Once the Jinn is out of the Bottle...

Dubai has recently cracked down on "lewd" behavior that is contrary to the city-state's morals. See the UAE Community Blog for a set of links to news articles.

But once the proverbial jinn is out of the bottle, can it be stuffed back in? Dubai wants to sell itself as a world tourism and business destination. In becoming what almost everyone describes as Las Vegas without casinos, though, Dubai has also sold its soul to a degree. It may be a bit late to correct course to try to be a "conservative" tourism and business destination.

Oman's slow, but steady and staid course may look a lot more intelligent in coming years. Financial Times reports:

Oman is developing itself as an upmarket tourist destination with a focus on culture and adventure, as distinct from the more commercial offerings of its immediate neighbours, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. ...
Salim al-Mamari, director general of tourism promotion, says Oman has taken a "different approach" to tourism development. "We are paying attention to maintaining our identity. We are not into mass tourism. We are looking for responsible tourism, meaning those who can help me maintain Oman as it is."

One has to respect Oman and Omanis for telling it like it is, avoiding soul-selling greed, and aiming for a development model that they can live with for the long term...

Attitudes About Work and Expats

I have gotten myself into an argument about foreign workers in the Gulf, and specifically Oman, with a commenter on the Muscat Confidential blog. See the comments for this post.

I have very little respect for some Omanis' (and other Gulf Arabs') attitude of "if you don't like it, just get out." The reason why I have this lack of respect is because, while nearly every country is dependent on foreign labor to some extent, the dependence on foreign labor in the Gulf is nearly complete. These rapidly expanding economies surely need a larger than normal portion of foreign labor due to their small populations and high growth rates. This is normal. What is not normal are cultural attitudes toward work.

My final days in Oman give a good example of what I am talking about. The moving crew that boxed, wrapped, and carried my goods out of my place were from a number of Asian nations. They were very professional, hard-working, and congenial. I was far more satisfied with the work they did than I have been with any of the experiences I had moving around America. When it came time for them to crate all my goods on trucks, the obligatory Omani driver came out with a truck. At least in Oman, unlike a number of other Gulf countries, jobs like taxi and truck driving, and some non-labor intensive service jobs are done by Omanis in an attempt to decrease reliance on foreign labor. Yet, when the driver showed up to the house (and I had similar experiences in other situations with Omani truck drivers, so this is not a unique instance) he did not partake in any of the labor. He quickly realized that it was too hot outside for him to stand idly by, watching the foreign laborers carrying heavy boxes under the sun, so he asked if he could come inside and sit on my couch while they worked. So he sat there in his immaculate white dishdasha, text messaging on his cell phone while the rest of the crew toiled away.

Every once in a while I'd go from my tidying up inside to check on the progress outside and to take the workers some juice and water. Most of the time the Omani driver was on the couch, but twice I found him correcting something he didn't like about how the foreign laborers were working in the terms and tone one would use with a child. Of course, the workers had to stand and take his abuse in the most deferential of manners.

I cannot respect people who imagine that their culture and heritage makes them so much better than others that they cannot lower themselves to hard work. In this, I do not mean to say that all Arabs or all Omanis fall into this categorization, but I mean to say that I do not respect those who imagine themselves to be too good to work like others, whether those others are expat laborers or managers. Perhaps my thinking is skewed or I have an undue cultural bias, but to me, this mindset seems to be the most breathtaking sort of arrogance, and an incredible twist of logic coming from a people whose recent ancestors eked a living out of the harshest of environments through incredibly hard work.

The driver in question told me how hard it was to make enough money to live on these days as he sat idle on the couch while a dozen foreigners worked away. Imagine this. If each Omani driver took active part in the labor of moving boxes, or assembling deliveries, or whatever else the three foreigners packed in the cab with him do, instead of sitting idle while they do the work that is beneath him, the companies could do without one of those foreigners. With one less foreigner to pay (because the driver was now doing his job), they could afford to pay that driver more. Companies would be more productive and Omani drivers would be making more.

In the U.S., the driver of a delivery or moving truck works just as hard as the others. Often he or she is more experienced and is the supervisor, but a supervisor that works in lifting, moving, assembling, etc. There is no free ride. When I've been moved within the U.S., the driver of the moving truck has often been the owner of the tractor-trailer rig, which is an asset well in excess of $100,000. These driver-owners have been among the hardest working movers I've witnessed, sweating with the day laborers in order to raise their productivity and their profit. They are not making money while sitting idle.

Someday, the drivers and other workers in Oman and around the Gulf will have to realize that their culture and heritage do not truly excuse them from hard work. In fact, they should be proud of the hard lives their ancestors led and should resolve to do some hard work themselves, in the interest of improving their own lot and that of their country. When the majority start working as hard as the expats, I will have much more respect for the attitude "like it or leave it."

Oman in a Recent Study of Public Good Attitudes

Emirates Economist posted commentary and quotes regarding a Wall Street Journal article about cooperation and free-loading in a public good simulation game. Economists and sociologists set up experiments like this to test how people cooperate or defect in situations regarding public goods. I.E. do people contribute to the public good in these scenarios or free-load?

In the study, researchers found that basic responses were fairly similar across 16 countries surveyed, but differences appeared when subjects were allowed to punish free-loaders.

Among students in the U.S., Switzerland, China and the U.K., those identified as freeloaders most often took their punishment as a spur to contribute more generously. But in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Greece and Russia, the freeloaders more often struck back, retaliating against those who punished them, even against those who had given most to everyone's benefit. It was akin to rapping the knuckles of the helping hand.

In cases where policymakers are seeking cooperation, such as improving road safety, protecting the environment, etc., do such attitudes cripple their efforts? And what about the guy who drives like a psycho, but gets even more psycho when people confront him?

Oman's Ministry of Sports

I noticed this sign recently at Markaz al-Bahja, a local shopping mall. There is a similar version in Arabic on the other side of the rotunda. The sign announces a summer sports program run by Oman's Ministry of Sports. I've read a number of analyses about places like Saudi Arabia, where young men are extremely frustrated because they have nothing to do and no outlets like sports. Youth often turn to other activities, such as chasing girls around in cars trying to flash their mobile number or "drifting" in which they skid and slide around the roads in small, tuned import cars.

Oman is quite different. Single, young men can go to malls with no problem (Saudi single young males are often prohibited from entering the mall), there are movie theaters, and a host of other activities. Still, I found the offering of sports programs as an incentive to "stay off the roads" (according to the sign) to be an excellent initiative.