Comments on: Political Corruption Amidst Jordan’s “Decent Housing For Decent Living” Initiative

By: Jordan’s Casinogate – a Casino at the Dead Sea | Business, Jordan, Politics | Arab Stands

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 02:54:16 +0000

[...] minister of public works bidding for a multimillion dollar housing project for the poor, with a company he set up while still in [...]

By: انتخاب سعيد | 7iber Dot Com

انتخاب سعيد | 7iber Dot Com — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:11:08 +0000

[...] اليد بنقله وجعله وزيرا للنقل في الحكومه السابقه بعد فضيحة سكن كريم لعيش كريم .. يا ترى ماذا حصل بالتحقيق في هذه [...]

By: Fares

Fares — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:19:46 +0000

Accusations… accusations …

By: Cant really say

Cant really say — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:06:18 +0000

This is why my as* is all the way in Los Angeles… To be perfectly honest, I thought he was a decent man at least… turns out to be malicious at best

By: Ahmad Humeid

Ahmad Humeid — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:38:45 +0000

I am late to this party, but here is a link to al article by Al Sijill weekly (published on ammounnews) which sheds more light on this issue

http://www.ammonnews.net/article.aspx?articleNO=37480

By: الأردني لحر

الأردني لحر — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:50:33 +0000

let me borrow a phrase benjamin Franklin used “”They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin”

By: Deena

Deena — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:14:14 +0000

‘security’ in development issues has become the ’3eib’ of our cultural issues – they completely sidetrack discussion away from the point (here: CORRUPTION).
we do live in a secure state, il7amdillah, and i think all of us can agree we don’t want that to change. but what does security have to do with corruption in an ‘affordable’ housing scheme? nothing.
corruption is corruption. responsible ppl should not be given new ministerial positions or allowed control over billion dollar schemes. they should be charged for: corruption.
simples.

By: Natalia

Natalia — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:07:07 +0000

Being a journalist can suck virtually anywhere, but Jordan is safer than LOTS of other places. Granted, this is just me engaging in whataboutery (“What about Russia?! Way more dangerous than Jordan!”) but I just don’t want people to have the impression that we are constantly hounded.

By: rand

rand — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:53:05 +0000

There are newspapers read please! Where do u see ppl getting beaten up everyday? Where? Just say it? Come on it seems you’re mixing up countries here. Personally I don’t believe you unless they really deserve it and have done smthg really bad, buy guys this happens on the streets of la, ny, London also look out of the plexi- glass!

By: rand

rand — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 06:47:48 +0000

In the USA and Europe they literally throw u and stamp on u if in the middle of something similar. That guy didn’t identify himself I heard and soldiers take command to keep things moving smoothly but when someone obstructs their path they go for him like sharks.. It happens seen it with my own eyes many times.

By: Londoner

Londoner — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 21:10:21 +0000

forget corruption, forget untouchable families, forget all of this…

can someone tell me, in this fair just utopia of a place, what happened to the low ranking policeman who bashed the head of the Aljazeera correspondent by kicking him with feet in front of cameras during the Gaza protests? its filmed and a complaint was filed…was he suspended? arrested? sent to prison?….wake up….

By: الأردني لحر

الأردني لحر — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 17:09:12 +0000

Wouldn’t be an excellent idea to create our own radio station so we can reach wider audience ,just like what people in the Bay area who took upon themselves to create such radio station that has million of listeners and viewers.
may be we could create pirate radio station where we can broadcast to the people of Amman first and then expand it to other region..

I would say ,its fairly easy and cheap tp craet with pirate raDIO STATION THAT DEALS WITH HOT ISSUE THAT WILL NEVER BE COVERED IN THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA,
AM i JUST DREAMING OR THERE SOME MIILIONS LIKE ME WHO ARE DREAMING.
ANY SUGGESTIONS?

By: kinzi

kinzi — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:27:08 +0000

Londoner, this is real hope, not false. Human beings are going to do bad and selfish things as long as they inhabit the planet. I have no hope that humans will change for the better, but plenty of hope that humans of principle and courage will stand for it. Like we are right here.

Look at what we are doing. Nas has the freedom to write about it, we have the freedom to comment. Ten years ago, we did not have a forum to gather this many like-minded people and discuss what is going on behind closed doors.

Musa, thanks for all the details; it would be difficult to keep hope alive knowing all of that. I appreciate your last paragraph especially. Transparency is NOT all it takes, but vulnerability. the difference being allowing what is being shown to be touched and changed. Those who grew up in the generation of this parliament were the ‘ma baseer/never question out of fear’ generation. Nas’ generation skipped the transparency push and went straight to vulnerability.

That’s why I have hope.

By: Anees

Anees — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 06:29:03 +0000

One of these construction sites is in al Rawda on the way to South Shouneh in the Jordan valley, the site is one of three main Dlomen fields in Jordan, the other two are being erased by quarries.

By: الأردني لحر

الأردني لحر — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:24:30 +0000

Rand and for the people who care about this country please listen to this lecture to Tuojan Al Faisal (part one) at University of Chicago very very revealing information with lots of secret details Here is part two

By: Londoner

Londoner — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 20:55:54 +0000

“If i were you I wld thank God for a country like Jordan amidst all the chaos in the region, can still give you peace of mind, knowing your children, and loved ones are safe… You should pay taxes for living and breathing in this country…”

Talk about lowering the expecations of a people so low that the mere fact he doesnt get beaten up and tortued in the street everyday is a blessing!! LOL honestly this is unbelivable…

arent people in Dubai safe? arent they in all Gulf countries safe? so apart from i dont know Kabul, Baghdad and Gaza, whats so different to be happy about here? and am happy to pay taxes, but can you guarantee for me that ALL jordanian citizens pay income tax fairly? you know thats not true so dont be a devil’s advocate….

By: rand

rand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:48:32 +0000

Mohammad,
Ppl pay taxes everywhere in the world, if it weren’t for that, governments cannot offer it’s citizens good services… You pay as much as you get in return. Google it..

By: Mohanned

Mohanned — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:44:22 +0000

My bad naseem.

By: Nas

Nas — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:39:41 +0000

Mohanned: please observe my above note. you’re an important part of the debate, so don’t ruin it with name-calling.

thanks

By: Mohanned

Mohanned — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 18:11:40 +0000

“You should pay taxes for living and breathing in this country…”
Dude, in jordan people pay taxes on their shit; thus the whole process of metabolism is taxed.
Aside from that, are you serious? If so then I will remove the either from my previous reply because you are: All of the above.

By: Rand

Rand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:30:17 +0000

If i were you I wld thank God for a country like Jordan amidst all the chaos in the region, can still give you peace of mind, knowing your children, and loved ones are safe… You should pay taxes for living and breathing in this country…

By: Nas

Nas — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:58:42 +0000

Dear All: Sorry to interrupt, but please avoid any personal attacks. The point of this blog and this platform right here is to speak freely within the arena of a healthy debate, and personalizing things tends to distract from that goal. In other words, please extend the same respect to fellow commentators as you would expect to receive in return. Thanks.

By: Mohanned

Mohanned — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:36:32 +0000

Rand,
Justice is different from law. Laws are subjective and in many times fail to bring justice, let us take honor crimes for example, it is the law, but is that law just?
Or, can we ask the king or any member of the royal family, or for that matter the majali clan where they got their money from? Are they paying taxes?

What about the unlimited powers that the regime has? Is that just?
You are either stupid,live in a state of denial that is beyond fixable, or a beneficiary of the status quo. The people that interarct in this space are more than clappers and chest beaters, so your “arguments” would be more suitable for an audience that is truly detached from reality, and audience that doens’t care to know because they don’t want to react or change the status quo either for fear or as in your case for being a benificiary of the status quo.

By: Musa

Musa — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:14:54 +0000

Kinzi,
I think you are mistaken when you assume that today there is more exposure of corruption than there was ten or even twenty years ago. Despite the limited resources people were still aware of Abdel Hadi al-Majali’s corruption as a chief of police, the Hashemite’s role in weapons smuggling across the region, the Hashemite’s role in the Petra Bank bankruptcy, the names of most people who took care of catering for the American troops in the 1990 gulf war, the Ali abu Ragheb steel and insurance cases, among many other major and smaller cases which in a small country like Jordan are really hard to hide.

If you are “hoping” to shame these people into accountability, then these are unrealistic hopes no doubt, because it is very obvious that the behaviour of these historic corruption figures (and thei yuppy offsprings) are only getting cruder, more shameless, and blatant to a disgusting level – banking on the public’s feelings of impotence, apathy, ignorance and collaboration (in a few cases).

It is just insane to believe that things are different than they were over the past decades when you take a look at someone like Zaid Rifai – the rare man who was scolded and shamefully removed from his long-standing position by the late king Hussein for being the symbol of Jordanian corruption in the late 80s is currently heading the Jordanian parliament!! While of course his son is “rumoured” to be one of his majesty’s sub contractors!

There is absolutely no shame in taking the positive perspective on things and keeping the hope, but to assume that things have been changing to the better and that all we need is a little bit of transparency and all would be fine is a step in the wrong direction that jeopardises that hope – especially for those who are not content with just observing with skepticism.

By: Rand

Rand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:57:51 +0000

Londoner : I apologise re the demented, but the cave part is true. As for the case you mentioned, at least justice took place, regardless of the sentence duration…

what truely matters in our part of the world that there is justice, and we are a developing country with high hopes of becoming a better place. You can now go and enjoy the theatres and dream blissful dreams.

By: Londoner

Londoner — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:17:00 +0000

Al-ordoni Alhurr – i think u missed the gist of what i was trying to say and the sarcastic tone, i wasnt encouraging him to be in the corrupt elite i was outlining to him the options that other people in the country took, not that i condone some of them…

Rand – u should have, or at least pretend to have, some minimal degree of manners and respect to others, refrain from using words like “demented mind” and “have you been in a cave”, then we might take a look at what you are barking, sorry i mean shouting, at us and respond to your arguments…

Ahmed – Thank you for listing all these cases….funny how some hypocrites who worship the hand that feeds them still asks people to “SHOW THE EVIDENCE” as if we are the FBI when some of these cases (Shamayla example) actually went to court, and the verdict was GUILTY…the only glitch was to give a 4-yr prison sentence for a JD100mn fraud case when you get 3-yrs for writing an article that defames the country or accuses a minister of something, or 15-years if you try sneak into palestine!!! seriously “untouchable and lawful judiciary system” LOL

Kinzi – whats the point of keeping “false” hope? convince me plz…

By: talal

talal — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:55:02 +0000

whats with the attacks? anyone out there???

By: Rand

Rand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:35:43 +0000

I totally agree with Kinzi…

By: kinzi

kinzi — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 08:16:38 +0000

Nas, don’t give up hope. Give up on people who fail, like this man, and corrupt hope, but not hope itself.

One big difference between now and ten years ago: there is no hiding corruption like it is at this level anymore. Exposure is a great incentive to get transparent and accountable. Legitimate shame works.

By: rand

rand — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 07:42:41 +0000

Whoever was charged by our respected legal system was punished and paid there dues, jail time or repaying. Check all your facts and you’ll see like the rest of the judiciary world, when proven guilty you are sentenced to jail or In some cases ofcourse you pay back. No nuclear invention just pure laws. You just can’t throw in names and figures and tarnish peoples reputation, get your facts right then we’ll talk the talk.