Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

 

EMINENT Saudi journalist and Saudi Gazette’s Editor-at-large Khaled Almaeena said “Hard work and entrepreneurship of expatriates from different countries, including India, was a key factor in the growth of the Gulf economies.”



Almaeena, who is currently on a visit to the southern Indian state of Kerala, also underscored that Kerala is an ideal destination for education, health tourism and scientific research, especially for the people from the Gulf states. Addressing a Meet the Press program, organized by the Thiruvananthapuram Press Club on Wednesday, he said that improvement in communication between India and the Arab world would help each other understand better.



“Though India and the Arab world have had cordial relationship for long, there is a need to improve mutual communication to understand each other better and reinforce cultural ties. Despite the long association between the two sides, the perception of each other was formed by images created by the Western media,” he said while speaking on the topic of “Gulf states and West Asia’s relations with India.”



Muhammad Alungal, chairman and managing director of Al-Abeer Medical Group and EduCity, and Press Club President P.P. James were also present at the function. Almaeena also met Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and some members of his Cabinet.



While emphasizing the need for further boosting friendly relations between India and the Kingdom, Almaeena suggested that there should be a two-way communication between Kerala and Saudi Arabia.



“Though India and the Gulf states have no political issues between them, the image of each other is often shaped by the Western media,” he pointed out. For instance, he said, the Gulf states were generally depicted by the Western media as places where foreign workforce was exploited.



But the reality was that hard work and entrepreneurship of people from different countries, including India, was a key factor in the growth of the Gulf economies. Similarly, the perception of India as a country that sent cheap labor was also wrong. “India should be looked from a different lens, as a country moving fast,” he said.



Almaeena highlighted the remarkable contributions being made by Indians in the massive development march being witnessed in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. He praised India for its rich contributions to the world in the fields of education and information technology.



Indians account for around 80 percent of the total staff in some IT companies in the Kingdom. There has been tremendous increase in the number of IT personnel who migrated to the Gulf states over the past two decades. He also shared his impressions on Kerala’s stake in the burgeoning IT sector after making a tour of Thiruvananthapuram Techno park, which is the largest information technology park in India in terms of built up area.



“From what I witnessed in the park, which is dedicated to IT ventures, I can say that Kerala can excel in the IT field and compete with the country’s IT hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad.”



Almaeena said the sharp fall in crude oil price was unlikely to impact the Gulf economies as most of them have diverted into different channels of economic activity like Dubai. But this was a wakeup call to these countries to work on a national budgets factoring in the emerging challenges.



Responding to questions on rise of militancy in West Asia, Almaeena said giving a role for the youth in decision-making would help tackle this problem to an extent. The veteran journalist said that the Saudi government had not funded any extremists.



“ISIS was an organization that sprang out suddenly out of nowhere and that it was not a creation of Saudi Arabia. It was being financed by some individuals,” he said while pointing out that those who see no alternatives are generally being lured by terrorist outfits. Referring to the origin of extremism, he blamed the United States for harboring militant groups in its bid to oust the Soviet’s puppet regime in Afghanistan and later supporting Taliban to bring down the Mujahideen government.



Replying to queries, Almaeena said terrorism is a grave threat to humanity. Islam is totally against terrorism and killing innocent people. He said that all Hindus cannot be blamed in the name of Gujarat carnage of 2002. Referring to the empowerment of women, he said that it was Islam that gave inheritance to woman for the first time.



Highlighting Kerala’s huge tourism potential, Almaeena drew attention to the alarming level of pollution at some of the tourism destinations. Almaeena, who visited Kumarakom beach resort several years ago, said that stringent laws should be brought out to stem pollution in tourist destinations like Kumarakom.



Almaeena  visited on Friday the project site of Al-Abeer EduCity, which will be established in the northern district of Malappuram at a cost of Rs8 billion, and is scheduled to address a Meet the Press program in Kozhikode on Saturday.