OUTLOOK — By Majed Al Sulaimany — I was really shocked watching this Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik pleading 'not guilty' to his wanton crime of slaughtering 77 innocent people, many of them at the prime of their lives, having the audacity to come to the court with a Nazi extreme right salute and asking to be released.
He also 'does not recognise the court’ — the impudence and the audacity! And still, his dastardly crimes plans were for more murders than he had achieved. He said that if released 'he would do it all over again and better’. His tears were only because his manifesto was being read to the court — but he did not have a tear for the images of the young men and women slaughtered by him!
I do not know what the world is coming to by this killer being given all these opportunities to spread his venom to the rest of the world — and why even give him live coverage — because that is a sure way of encouraging others to do the same! I for sure am not in favour of quick justice without finding why these things have been done — and even if he had admitted willingly that he has done it.
In other places he would hang from the highest crane or have his head chopped off for all the public to see, and as a lesson to others! I do not know who is right or wrong in such swift acts of justice! But surely going through this route is really stretching it too far. The mind is really boggled of what is really going on!
And what is the real purpose and intention? Civilised open transparent approaches? I beg to differ strongly here! I was just wondering aloud if it was done by the usual culprits would it be like this. Even Al Jazeera Television interrupts its normal programming to show us live pictures of these court cases.
I was wondering if we have people among our guests and visitors that may be secretly cheering the killer on at their homes, away from prying and intrusive eyes? You will excuse me for raising this question here because my mind is really troubled by things I have seen on the work fronts, relationships and interfaces. If you remember my last week’s article ‘Polarisation Dilemma’ — when your ex foreign boss boasts of the bad things he did to Arabs in Palestine — and here too trying to 'divide and rule' among Omanis!
Some fans even ventured to tell me that these things are still happening. As a Human Resources professional I have been involved in circulating reading material to foreign staff being assigned to other countries where they are cautioned that the office assistant and even the housemaid or gardener are there 'to tap and record' what the invited guests are saying about the nationals and the country.
I am against such extremes because as my late maternal grandmother told us: Let them talk as much and as long as they wish, at night they will go to sleep anyway and nothing will have changed much! Of course, poor granny was talking about our own people gossiping because she did not have the ‘luck, privilege and advantage' to work with the few expatriates 'that are anti-local and have abused the usual welcome, acceptance and respect by biting the hand that feeds them!
But then if we have our own very people discriminating among ourselves and feeling that they have more rights than others, where are we headed, if not for more dangers and catastrophes ahead?
The point I want to make in bringing in this Breivik murderer is the Islamophobia and Extremism that is being preached by certain few, especially in the Western countries and isolated pockets elsewhere in the world! Now even in quarters that we used to consider as our true friends and supporters. An Arab leader had said: The friends of today can be our enemies of tomorrow and the enemies of yesterday to be our friends today.
Tell that to the Northern Sudanese living in the South and vice versa to the Africans from the South living in the North, as the North has now declared the South as an enemy!
Nobody knows what the future will bring, but hatred, fundamentalism, animosities and extremism — from both sides — are double edged swords that cut both sides, as clearly evidenced by this Breivik case. Hopefully humankind will learn from this case. That’s all one can pray and hope for — Amin!
Take Care!
