Saudi - Ikea 5

(updated 25th December 2006)

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IKEA Tragedy
Abdurrahman Al-Shayyal, Arab News

JEDDAH, 5 September 2004 — For a country which once had one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, what happened at the opening of the new IKEA store in Jeddah was both fascinating and disturbing.

Fifty SR500 vouchers were enough to attract over 15,000 people to the store some four hours before its scheduled opening. And enough to cause a stampede and the death of two people. It might be baffling for a non-Saudi to look into Saudi society and find such a surreal occurrence. Unfortunately, those of us in Saudi Arabia can only expect more of the same if other stores make similar offers.

It wasn’t the money that attracted the people. Five hundred Saudi riyals in IKEA would most probably buy you a lovely lamp or a shiny set of stainless steel spoons. Furthermore, the furor caused by the offer was something that attracted men and women and attracted more people than a football match. While IKEA products are well-known for their durability, it isn’t their legendary reputation that draws such throngs.

The total lack of activity in the lives of the teenagers who went, the bored housewives who sit at home memorizing the various options on their satellite dishes and the civil servants who felt that a challenge between friends over the vouchers would be more productive than going in to work was the motive that propelled all those people to the IKEA store.

The incredible amount of spare time over 50 percent of the Saudi society have is something that threatens the future of the country. Had the teenagers had something to do, then a new IKEA would not have been so attractive. A store-opening wouldn’t have attracted the attention of a teenager working during his or her summer holidays. A girl who had work to go to, studies to complete or summer courses to attend would not have thought of attending a store opening.

On the other hand, a boy who wakes up at 3 in the afternoon and spends his summer looking at women and girls in shopping malls would jump at the prospect of being the first person into IKEA. Telling his friends that he was the first in the new store would dwarf all his other achievements. The girl who has gone through Chanel’s latest makeup and has just thrown away three new dresses in order to make space for “new” ones will hurry to the store so that her friends will know that of all the women in Jeddah, she was the one.

As for the housewives who went and the civil servants and other adults who should be bringing up children, developing their society, developing themselves, thinking of new ways to be productive — what can be said! A housewife who prefers to sit at home and give a daily account of her friend’s life over the phone to another friend or to meticulously study the minute details of the life of a Lebanese singer and her plastic surgery is the target for such a campaign. And as the target, she duly came out of her house — in the thousands.

The civil servant? Well seeing that work is something that requires reading a newspaper in the morning — re-reading it before going home (to make sure the facts remain the same) and drinking pints of tea and coffee during the day, this would be the highlight of his career. The voucher probably wouldn’t have been spent but framed in his office for all to see.

Sadly enough, we cannot seem to understand that too much spare time will lead to things like this. Already we are lucky that the spare time youth waste here hasn’t led to a serious crime wave — just out of boredom. We can’t really wait until that happens.

Summer programs, courses, work experience programs must all be increased tenfold. Our total consumer culture must also be changed and a more productive group of young people must be educated and taught to take the initiative. Even housewives who are as productive as onions on a supermarket rack can be used to develop an economy. Developing countries have learned to harness their potential while in Saudi Arabia the potential remains unused and useless. As for the civil servants — would you deny them their framed IKEA shopping voucher?

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