Kuwaiti influencer defends controversial remarks on Filipino workers

[war&peace]

• 5 hours ago

Image copyrightINSTAGRAM/SONDOS ALQATTAN
Image captionMs Alqattan is known for her beauty tutorials on Instagram
A Kuwaiti social-media influencer who was criticised over comments she made about Filipino domestic workers has defended her remarks.

Sondos Alqattan had posted an Instagram video condemning new laws that give Filipino workers a day off per week and the right to keep their passports.

However, she has said that the outcry she received was "unjustified", though she has since deleted the video.

Known for her make-up tutorials, Ms Alqattan has 2.3m Instagram followers.

"I have not [in] any circumstances in present or past... degraded or in any way mistreated an employee of mine," she said in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

"I consider all employees as equal human being [sic]."

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Several beauty companies who previously had ties with Ms Alqattan have moved to distance themselves.

"We are totally against the principles expressed by Ms Sondos Alqattan which in no way reflect the Micallef brand," a spokesperson from perfume house M. Micallef told the BBC.

Make-up company Chelsea Beautique also posted on Twitter that Ms Alqattan's behaviour did not "represent [their] brand's core beliefs".

'Out of touch with humanity'
In her controversial video posted earlier in July, Ms Alqattan said: "How can you have a servant at home who keeps their own passport with them? And what's worse is they have one day off every week. I don't want a Filipina maid anymore."

The response to her remarks has been fierce.

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Migrante International, an advocacy group for Filipinos working overseas said it "vehemently condemned" Ms Alqattan's statements.

"We strongly demand that she offer public apology [sic] and express remorse for her disgusting statements," it said in an online statement.

"It would be more valuable if she can visit the Philippines to witness the appalling poverty... and find out what hardships [they] had to go through before they can be deployed abroad."

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionThere are thousands of Filipino domestic workers in Kuwait
More than 250,000 Filipinos are working in Kuwait, according to the Philippines foreign ministry. Most are employed as maids or domestic helpers.

The Philippines had earlier this year temporarily banned its citizens from travelling to work in Kuwait, following an incident in which a domestic worker was killed and her body found in a freezer.

The ban was lifted in May after Kuwait and the Philippines signed an agreement on workers' rights.

 

[Imran Khan]

they are worse creatures .

 

[war&peace]

I watched her video ...really disgusting...such a ugly behind a beautiful face.

 

[Saddam Hussein]

No need for maids, they can return home and this habit/dependency culture on maids that exists in the Gulf and Iraq lately as well should stop. The lack of minimum wage enables this and it's nothing but laziness, which we have enough of already.

 

[313ghazi]

Can't wait for the oil to run out.

 

[Saddam Hussein]

Can't wait for the oil to run out.

By that time she's dead and when that happens Kuwait will join a neighboring country

 

[Cthulhu]

A pretty girl, She is.

 

[Mitro]

She is robot [emoji880] from inside no heart [emoji173]️ no feeling and no humanity.

 

[Menace2Society]

Modern day slavery.

 

[Saif al-Arab]

So she made a controversial/unethical statement on social media. Big deal. She does not represent anyone but herself. Neither the Kuwaiti government nor the people. In fact she does not even speak for her Kuwaiti neighbor for example.

Like we witness on PDF all the time (100 times worse statements in fact). The only difference is that she has (most likely) more followers on Instagram (lol) than the lot commenting on PDF and other social media and forums. The other difference is that there is a name attached to the person (who makes the controversial statement) and a picture of her unlike the anonymity on forums like PDF. Here and online in general people can hide behind their usernames.

Can't wait for the oil to run out.

Too bad that the Arab world (aside from being the cradle of civilization) has been blessed with the largest gas reserves as well and an abundance of mineral wealth (in KSA alone the mineral wealth is worth a few trillion USD).

I believe that your great-great-great-great-great-great-great (100 times over) grandchildren will not witness the day that those resources (all resources) disappear. By then (in fact within 1-2 decades at most) local economies will no longer be dependent on oil and gas. Already clear signs of that (positive) in several countries in the GCC with KSA and UAE leading the way.

I suggest to stop crying. The girl is nice looking which helps ease your pain, I imagine.

By that time she's dead and when that happens Kuwait will join a neighboring country

Definitely. On half each. By then I expect certain naturalized fifth columns to get the boot.

No need for maids, they can return home and this habit/dependency culture on maids that exists in the Gulf and Iraq lately as well should stop. The lack of minimum wage enables this and it's nothing but laziness, which we have enough of already.

Well, this is rooted in deep history (servants). Millenia. However it was reserved for the upper and middle classes. Nowadays everyone in Kuwait can afford a maid. In Iraq for instance pre-modern era you had workers from the Subcontinent doing field work at farms. Many of the now naturalized Baloch, when they first arrived, did the same.

However I agree, it is not needed at all. An economic burden by large too.

However you see that everywhere in the Arab and developing world. In the Maghreb you have Sub-Saharan Africans doing such jobs (and they are not overly wealthy countries). In Egypt you often see Southern Sudanese and Horners doing it.

In Iraq, Palestinians and Egyptians used to do such work pre-1991. Today you have foreigners employed for such jobs as well.

Lebanon same story to this day.

In Thailand you have Burmese and Cambodians doing it. In Russia Central Asians and Caucasians. List is long.

I believe that artificial intelligence (robots) will solve this "potential problem" in say 2-3 decades (at most) if local women or men do not want to do such jobs themselves.

Again it is a question of productivity and changing this for the better. Upholding this stupidity of importing hordes of foreigners for jobs that add nothing, should indeed end. The quicker the better. However due to local policies, more and more such foreigners are leaving. For instance in KSA, after the removal of that moronic 30 year old "ban on women driving", some 500.000 (or even more) foreigners are no longer useful and now they need to find another job elsewhere or back home. This is a good thing.

BTW to make it completely clear (although I have no reason to apologize on behalf of another individual online, lol,), I am completely against her statement and I don't know about the reputation of the Filipino community in Kuwait but in KSA, the Filipino community is one of the most well-liked and respected out there. Christian as well as Muslim and I have noticed that the vast majority of them have great fondness for KSA and when back home again most speak positively about their stay and the country which I have always respected.

Kuwaitis in general, along with the Qataris, are the most pampered people in the GCC (by far) and have odd traditions (in my view). Kuwaitis for example are known, in the region, as being rather arrogant, and having a "superiority complex" against neighboring KSA and Iraq which is rather strange as their entire small entity, its history and people are offsprings of the great Arab and Semitic civilizations of KSA and Iraq (Arabia and Mesopotamia) and people.

They are also the only GCC/Arab country that has a large issue with the Bidoon (not Bedouins my ignorant friends) population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bidoon_(social_class)

 

[lastofthepatriots]

What a bitch.

 

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

Most of Kuwaitis are obese. They can't move, so they need filipinos to order them to open the fridge.

 

[kingQamaR]

Why do they pick on the poorest people in there society the foreign workers.

Hard working people. Treated quite badly. Wages not paid passport taken off them.

You can hardly call these foreign workers lazy claiming social security , or demanding the same level of living standards as the locals

This lady speaks and looks And has modern standard of living. But no instead takes pop shots and excuses to continue there practice of exploration of the poor workers

And the Arab guy before me with his stats of zeros flying everywhere. Missed the whole point of this story the girls embrassing behaviour she took. Oil and gas is a commodity like Iraq can be taken by outsiders by force Americans

No point having these lines of zeros if you can not hold onto it. Or use them correctly

 

[Saif al-Arab]

Most of Kuwaitis are obese. They can't move, so they need filipinos to order them to open the fridge.

Most Iranians are obese as well. They can't move, so they need Afghans to order them to open the fridge.

Article from Iranian media (2015)

Obesity in Iran twice global rate

http://iran-daily.com/News/133449.html

Have in mind that Iranians are many times more impoverished than Kuwaitis. Generally the more wealthy a country/society is, the more people tend to eat as they view food as a pleasure and not a necessity to survive the day like in impoverished countries (by large).

Much less (if any at all) Western fast food chains, yet obesity rates in Iran are twice the global rate.

Since most Iranians adore Western products and brands, it is just a question of time before Iran will be flooded by the same Western fast food chains that flooded Kuwait in the 1980's and especially after the First Gulf War, and the same Iranians will welcome them with open arms.

Likewise when living standards improve in Iran, the obesity rate will increase as well. Like almost everywhere else.

BTW, personally I have no obese people in my immediate family due to great genetics. Some people gain weight tremendously easy and other people, when eating the same food, not at all. I don't eat fast-food at all but the very rare occasions that I am forced to do so (airports etc.) and I do so, I never gain weight even if not physically active which I tend to be otherwise.

Why do they pick on the poorest people in there society the foreign workers.

Hard working people. Treated quite badly. Wages not paid passport taken off them.

You can hardly call these foreign workers lazy claiming social security , or demanding the same level of living standards as the locals

This lady speaks and looks And has modern standard of living. But no instead takes pop shots and excuses to continue there practice of exploration of the poor workers

And the Arab guy before me with his stats of zeros flying everywhere. Missed the whole point of this story the girls embrassing behaviour she took. Oil and gas is a commodity like Iraq can be taken by outsiders by force Americans

No point having these lines of zeros if you can not hold onto it. Or use them correctly

Human history is based on the exploration of others. It continues to this day.

How else would you explain the fact that a select few people in the world own 50% of the entire planets wealth? Or that the likes of Bill Gates fortune is bigger than the GDP of numerous countries of the world.

Let us not even talk about how the poor are exploited in Pakistan itself by landlords and the elite. The reason why Filipinos need to travel to Kuwait in the first place is due to a few select Filipinos exploiting the country's wealth and the government not giving enough of opportunities for locals. Same story in Pakistan and elsewhere (including Arab countries).

Nobody missed anything. You need to learn how to read. Or maybe you don't bother reading posts that are more than a few sentences or lines long.

As for oil and gas resources, they are all the property of Arab countries in this case Iraq. The oil and gas is fully owned by Iraq. That some international firms help dig it up is just that. A normal (relatively) part of the economic chain.

BTW, who are they? Some Kuwaiti girl on Instagram who does not represent anybody but herself.

 

[Shapur Zol Aktaf]

Most Iranians are obese as well. They can't move, so they need Afghans to order them to open the fridge.

Article from Iranian media (2015)

Obesity in Iran twice global rate

http://iran-daily.com/News/133449.html

Have in mind that Iranians are many times more impoverished than Kuwaitis. Generally the more wealthy a country/society is, the more people tend to eat as they view food as a pleasure and not a necessity to survive the day like in impoverished countries (by large).

Much less (if any at all) Western fast food chains, yet obesity rates in Iran are twice the global rate.

Since most Iranians adore Western products and brands, it is just a question of time before Iran will be flooded by the same Western fast food chains that flooded Kuwait in the 1980's and especially after the First Gulf War, and the same Iranians will welcome them with open arms.

Likewise when living standards improve in Iran, the obesity rate will increase as well. Like almost everywhere else.

BTW, personally I have no obese people in my immediate family due to great genetics. Some people gain weight tremendously easy and other people, when eating the same food, not at all. I don't eat fast-food at all but the very rare occasions that I am forced to do so (airports etc.) and I do so, I never gain weight even if not physically active which I tend to be otherwise.



Human history is based on the exploration of others. It continues to this day.

How else would you explain the fact that a select few people in the world own 50% of the entire planets wealth? Or that the likes of Bill Gates fortune is bigger than the GDP of numerous countries of the world.

Let us not even talk about how the poor are exploited in Pakistan itself by landlords and the elite. The reason why Filipinos need to travel to Kuwait in the first place is due to a few select Filipinos exploiting the country's wealth and the government not giving enough of opportunities for locals. Same story in Pakistan and elsewhere (including Arab countries).

Nobody missed anything. You need to learn how to read. Or maybe you don't bother reading posts that are more than a few sentences or lines long.

As for oil and gas resources, they are all the property of Arab countries in this case Iraq. The oil and gas is fully owned by Iraq. That some international firms help dig it up is just that. A normal (relatively) part of the economic chain.

BTW, who are they? Some Kuwaiti girl on Instagram who does not represent anybody but herself.

Maids raising our children is not part of our culture.

This is the obesity map:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/maps-and-graphics/the-most-obese-fattest-countries-in-the-world/