Page 56 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

as to how to behave to people of a different race. Either they adopt an
Japanese goods had the reputation of being cheap, showy and shoddy, and
arrogant manner or they are too familiar and resent familiarity being the term ‘Japanese’ came to be used to. describe a lady of light morals. I
returned. The following remark, made by Lord Morley, could well apply
often used to hear the word used with this meaning in cases in the court.
to Americans and Europeans in Bahrain: ‘While bad manners arc a fault
When I was first in Bahrain I rarely saw an Arab wearing any kind of
anywhere they arc a crime in a native territory.’
European clothes. Once the son of the Sunni Kadhi returned from a visit
In the years before the coming of oil there had been little perceptible
to Egypt in a coat and trousers; his relations, who went on board the ship
change in the life of the Sliia Bahama, the aboriginal inhabitants of
to meet him, refused to allow him to land until he had changed into Arab
Bahrain. They dwelt in palm-branch huts or stonc-and-inud houses
dress. But by degrees the younger men took to wearing shoes instead of
among the date-gardens, earning a sparse livelihood as fishermen, divers
sandals—at the same time many of the Europeans took to wearing sandals
and tenants of the Arabs, who never worked as agricultural labourers.
instead of shoes—and then coats and waistcoats, under their cloaks, but
They’ were physically below the standard of the Arabs owing to their
the Khalifah family and the older people were, and still arc, conservative
meagre diet and the prevalence of malaria. They differed from the Arabs
in the matter of dress. When men began working in the oil field they
in speech, physiognomy and dress; the difference was more pronounced
found that flowing robes were inconvenient and dangerous and a brisk
among the women. But twenty years later the difference between young trade developed in second-hand clothes imported from Europe. It was
Arabs and young Bahama was less noticeable.
not unusual to see an Arab decked in an Eastern European military
There had, however, been radical changes in their outlook and
uniform or perhaps a British postman’s coat and trousers. Soon trousers,
position. After centuries of oppression during invasions and civil wars
shirt and coat became the regular wear for oil-field workers.
they now found themselves on an equal footing with the Arabs, with no
Education, broadcasting, facilities for easier travel and contact with
feudal obligations. In a court of law a Bahrani from a village had the same
il rights as a Shaikh. This, at first, was considered a revolutionary attitude foreigners in Bahrain and abroad stimulated an interest, especially among
the younger men, who had been through school, in affairs outside
on my part! No longer did they live in fear of attacks by armed raiders
Bahrain. They had grown up under a settled government and they
who believed that they possessed hidden wealth in their wretched houses.
accepted as a matter of course the existence of schools, law courts, muni­
Their tenure of property was ensured by irrevocable title deeds issued by
cipalities and other institutions which had not existed in their fathers’
the Land Registration Department, signed by the Shaikh himself. The
time. They did not seem to realize that all this was new and they com­
Waqf property, dedicated to pious works, was no longer in the hands of
pared conditions in Bahrain not to what they were ten or twenty years
the Kadhis but was administered by an elected council of Shias. This re­
ago in their own country, but to conditions in countries which they read
duced the influence of the Kadhis and enabled a group of politically
about or heard described on the wireless sets which were now installed,
ambitious Manama Shias to set themselves up as leaders. But in spite of
in some of the houses and coffee shops.
their improved position the Shias suffered from an inferiority complex After the new regime was firmly established there was not much
which gave them an aggressive attitude and a disposition to consider
serious crime. Murders were rare. When they did occur the victims were
themsclyes ill-treated. They knew that I had no prejudice against them; I
often women who were put to death by their relations because they had
raised many of them to positions of responsibility, finding them hard
dishonoured the family. To kill a woman for this reason was considered
workers who stuck to their jobs.
by many Arabs to be justified. I knew of cases when an unmarried girl
Among the town Arabs, especially in Manama, visible signs of change
was ‘put away’ because she became pregnant, but I never came across a
were more apparent. Straw huts were being replaced by stone houses and : *•
case of a wife being killed because she was unfaithful.
many of the big old-fashioned Arab houses were being modernized.
There was a case which I always remember in the town of Hedd, on
People no longer built tall wind towers which carried the air down into Muharraq island. The inhabitants were mostly Arabs belonging to two
the room below, which were a feature of local architecture, instead they
. important tribes. Though they had been settled townsfolk for over half a
used electric fans. The cost of living was low and the shops began to stock
century they retained many of their tribal customs and characteristics as
a greater variety of goods from abroad, many of them from Japan.
well as a spirit of independence. They were difficult people to deal with.
ioo
IOI