Kuwait: What Bloggers Think of the New Government? · Global Voices
Abdullatif AlOmar

After a long deliberation, Kuwait announced the formation of a new Government, giving enough material for bloggers to mull on.
Blogger Zaydoun wonders what all the commotion is about. He even urges people to leave the new government alone and mind their own business!
بصراحة لا أفهم مدى اهتمام الجميع بالتشكيل الحكومي الجديد الذي أخذ وقته وزيادة في التمخض، الكل ناطر على نار وكأن الحكومة الجديدة ستأتي بما هو جديد ومفيد… روحوا شوفوا شغلكم أحسن لكم وتركوا عنكم دوخة الحكومة
“Frankly, I do not understand why everyone is so concerned with the formation of the new government which took a very long time to come to light. Everyone is waiting on fire as if the new government is going to come with what is new and useful.. just go and focus on your work and leave the government in disarray,” he notes.
From criticising the government, we move to Forzaq8, who expresses his discomfort at the lack of news about the new formation in the government-owned Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) site.
“It's kinda sad that I wanted to read official news about the new government and I check(ed) the Kuna site. Kuna is Kuwait News Agency and is the official one. I have been trying to check the online site for 30 minutes now (and) it's been giving me errors,” he writes.
Krakatoachecks out the new government and tells us who's with whom in the formation.
He lists the ministers, their positions and allegiances. Almost all of them seem to be pro-government.
ـ1 جابر مبارك الحمد الصباح نائبا اول لرئيس مجلس الوزراء ووزيرا للداخلية ووزيرا للدفاع
(اسره)
First Deputy Premier, Defence and Interior Minister: Sheikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Sabah (adds interior portfolio) (Ruling Family)
ـ2 الدكتور محمد صباح السالم الصباح نائبا لرئيس مجلس الوزراء ووزيرا للخارجية
( اسره)
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister: Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al Salem Al Sabah (adds post of Deputy Premier) (Ruling Family)
ـ3 فيصل محمد الحجي بوخضور نائبا لرئيس مجلس الوزراء ووزير دولة لشؤون مجلس الوزراء
( حكومي)
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Affairs of the Council of Ministers Faisal Al-Hajji (Government supporter)
ـ4 بدر مشاري الحميضي وزيرا للمالية
( حكومبرالي)
Finance Minister Badr Mishari Al-Humaidi (government supporter – liberal)
ـ5 شريدة عبدالله سعد المعوشرجي وزيرا للمواصلات ووزير دولة لشؤون مجلس الامة
( محسوب على التيار السلفي )
Minister of Communications and Minister of State for Affairs of the Majlis al-Umma Shireeda Abdullah Saad Al-Muoshirji (Close to the Salafis)
ـ6 صباح الخالد الحمد الصباح وزيرا للشؤون الاجتماعية والعمل
( اسره)
Social Affairs and Labor Minister Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (Ruling family)
ـ7 عبدالله سعود المحيلبي وزيرا للاعلام
( قبلي – حكومي)
Information Minister Abdullah Saud Al-Muhailbi (tribal – Government supporter)
ـ8 الدكتور عبدالله معتوق المعتوق وزيرا للعدل ووزيرا للاوقاف والشؤون الاسلامة
( حكومي)
Islamic Affairs and Justice Minister Abdallah Al-Maatouq (Government supporter)
ـ9 عبدالواحد محمد العوضي وزير دولة لشؤون الاسكان
( حكومي)
Minister of State for Housing Abdulwahed Mahmoud Al-Awadhi (Government supporter)
ـ10 علي جراح الصباح وزيرا للنفط
( اسره)
Oil Minister Ali Jarrah Sabah Al-Sabah (Ruling family)
ـ11 فلاح فهد محمد الهاجري وزيرا للتجارة والصناعة
( قبلي – حكومي)
Commerce and Industry Minister Falah al-Hajiri (Tribal – Government supporter )
ـ12 محمد عبدالله هادي العليم وزيرا للكهرباء والماء
( حدسي)
Electricity and Water Minister Mohammad Abdullah Hadi Al-Olaim ( Hadas (Islamic Brotherhood ) )
ـ13 الدكتورة معصومة صالح المبارك وزيرا للصحة
( حكومية- شيعية)
Health Minister Dr Masouma Mubarak (Government supporter – Shia )
ـ14 موسى حسين عبدالله الصراف وزيرا للاشغال العامة ووزير دولة لشؤون البلدية
(؟؟؟- شيعي)
Public Works and Minister of State for Municipal Affairs Moussa Hussein Abdullah Al-Sarraf
( ?? – Shia )
ـ15 نورية صبيح براك الصبيح وزيرا للتربية وزيرا للتعليم العالي
( تكنوقراط
Minister of Higher Education Nouriya Subeeh Barrak Al-Subeeh (technocrat)
Away for politics, we move to plagiarism, where some newspapers in Kuwait are facing problems with photographers after reprinting pictures lifted from flickr , without taking the permission of photographers or giving them credit, as CyberRowdy points out.
“Picture taken by Cajie is in Al-Qabas news paper without his permission!! His photo collection is shared on Flickr with Creative Commons license, which stipulates that use of these images for commercial purpose is not legal,” he writes.
Meanwhile, blogger yo_ghurt issues a friendly warning on the  blog stillkuwaiting.
“If you’re new to Kuwait, you may not realise that we have a fairly substantial rain season which lasts from the end of March until the around the end of April. Anyway, it seems to be here now. Drive carefully,” says the blogger.
Yazeed give us an update and posts the end results of a small project started by blogger Spikey.
“Well Spikey started this project where he’d get a number of bloggers’ voices, each saying a phrase or two, combine them and make it into a “message.” I really didn't think it would be this good, thanks for the effort Spikey,” he notes.
More on bloggers’ collaboration is found here, where kilama6goog is spearheading a campaign to create more awareness of Article 36 – which is a clause in the Kuwaiti Constitution.
المادة 36 من الدستور
حرية الرأي والبحث العلمي مكفولة، ولكل إنسان حق التعبير عن رأيه ونشره بالقول أو الكتابة أو غيرهما وذلك وفقا للشروط والأوضاع التي يبينها القانون
Article 36
Freedom of opinion and scientific research is guaranteed, and everyone has the right to express his opinion verbally, in writing or otherwise
و من هذه المادة سنبدأ العمل على ايقاف كل يد تتسلل لمحاولة تكميم الأفواه و قمع الحريات و اختلاس حق الانسان الكويتي في ممارسة حقوقه الدستورية و التعبير عن رأيه بحرية و شرف
“And from this article we will take action to halt all hands that are trying to gag and suppress freedoms and the  rights of Kuwaitis to exercise their constitutional rights and express their opinion freely,” announces the blogger.