Prejudice at its Worst

أعلن محافظ المحرق السيد سلمان بن هندي من خلال مجلس المحافظة الأسبوعي الأخير أنه سيحمي أهل المحافظة من المزايدات والمضاربات في بيع وشراء العقارات في نطاق المحافظة. وأنه لن يكون هناك بيع وشراء إلا بين أهلها

Yesterday, the person here on the left announced his ground-breaking solution for the land shortage problem in Muharraq: no land in Muharraq can be registered or sold to the name of a non-Muharraq native.

Now, in order to understand the scale of the situation here: Muharraq is a tiny island of the tiny archibelago of Bahrain. The whole area of Bahrain is barely 650 square kilometers, and the governor wants to set rules to restrict us from owning land in our own country. The governor is treating Muharraq as if it was a country of its own where only "natives" can own land. Nevermind the illegality of his conduct. Nevermind that all citizens of the GCC countries are allowed to own land in all areas of Bahrain, INCLUDING MUHARRAQ. The very fact a prejudiced rhetoric can even be allowed by this governor is a disaster in the country. Under which law is he allowed to regulate land ownership?? and what part of "all citizens being equal" in the constitution does he not understand?

Then today, to make things worse, he comes up with "reasons" for thinking he can regulate land ownership: 1. Rising land prices in Muharraq [again, apparently it's separate country] 2. lack of social safety caused by newcomers to the region [as if Bahrainis from other areas are aliens who will threaten the "culture" of Muharraq] 3. Problems caused by foreigners such as crimes and harrassment to Muharraqis [how does that apply to Bahrainis?] 4.the native of Muharraq can't afford land in his own area [again referring "natives of Muharraq" as a different breed of Bahrainis].

I'm sorry, but this must be stopped immediately. If anything, this is completely ILLEGAL. We have laws regulating land ownership and the government just cannot allow a governor or anyone else to take matters inton his own hands. We are not in 16th Century France. Whether I am Sunni or Shi'a, I refuse to apply for a special permit just to own land in my own country.