Page 156 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

144 Records of Bahrain

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and lavish and wastoful expenditure by some of the ruling
family aroueeo resontment,
(iv) Nationalism

Nationalistic tendencies have come late to Bahrain,
but find ready acceptance by the semi-educated young men,
and to a lesser extent by some of the older peoplo. The
young men complain that they do not earn wages comparablo
with those of foreign Asiatic employees of the Oil Company,
and they believe, quite inaccurately, that their services
are at least as valuable as those of Indians and others

with infinitely better technical qualifications. By an
inverted process of reasoning the blame becomes attached,
to the Education Department of the State, for boys leaving
school in Bahrain do not obtain as highly paid posts as
their parents expect. It is unfortunatoly necessary to
employ a number of Syrians in the Education Department
(in the absence of qualified Bahrainis) and naturally

much of the blame goes to them; and this is followed by
efforts to foster hostility towards all other foreign
employees of the Government,
4, Unfortunatoly the restlessness thus affecting a
6mall section of the community has coincided with a genuine

public complaint in regard to the Bahrain Courts and the
Shia Shera Court, In regard to the former complaint has
been made with justice that the magistrates, all of whom
are of the ruling family, are ignorant, incapable and un­
educated, in most cases much too young, lacking in experience,
open to influence by the Court Clerk, and slow in settling
cases; and though there are now no allegations of preferential
treatment to one or the other section of the public, there

has undoubtedly been a lack of uniformity in the decisions
of/-