Saudi Arabia and racism?

[drogon]

I have 2 other competitors for a consulting position in Saudi Arabia (Employed by a Canadian MNC but the primary customer is the RSAF and the main contractor is BAe so they have the last word to say)

The 2 others are:

- A more qualified than me 58 years old Briton

- A less qualified Saudi national (keeping in mind that this is a position advertised in the Uk and Europe)

From what the interviewer told me the odds are equal

The Briton because he is a bit too old and the company does not want to have to recruit someone else in 2 years.

The Saudi citizen because the position was opened primarily for a European citizen.

My big disadvantage is the following:

I am Asian looking....Thus the interviewer told me that the biggest problem I will face is being rejected by the end user which is the RSAF as they are a bit racist.......

 

Would like your opinion about the culture in Saudi Arabia.

 

Thanks

[..]

You'll hate it. Everyone does. The only reason to go there is if they are paying good money. I personally would not even think of living in Saudi for one cent less than US$300k/yr after taxes, plus allowances. Even then, I'd have to think about it.

 

There's lots of Aramco alumni websites out there. Do a search and you'll get some of their impressions of life in the Kingdom.

 

Cheers,

SD

[SatRai]

I have 2 other competitors for a consulting position in Saudi Arabia (Employed by a Canadian MNC but the primary customer is the RSAF and the main contractor is BAe so they have the last word to say)

The 2 others are:

- A more qualified than me 58 years old Briton

- A less qualified Saudi national (keeping in mind that this is a position advertised in the Uk and Europe)

From what the interviewer told me the odds are equal

The Briton because he is a bit too old and the company does not want to have to recruit someone else in 2 years.

The Saudi citizen because the position was opened primarily for a European citizen.

My big disadvantage is the following:

I am Asian looking....Thus the interviewer told me that the biggest problem I will face is being rejected by the end user which is the RSAF as they are a bit racist.......

 

Would like your opinion about the culture in Saudi Arabia.

 

Thanks

 

Hi,

Anyone who is not an Arab will be considered a second-class citizen. Just ask the people there from South- and Southeast- Asia.

 

[samak]

Anyone who is not an Arab will be considered a second-class citizen. Just ask the people there from South- and Southeast- Asia.

isn't that the same in China, Japan, Korea, Thailand...

 

[Fiery Jack]

Anyone who is not an Arab will be considered a second-class citizen. Just ask the people there from South- and Southeast- Asia.

isn't that the same in China' date=' [color:red']Japan[/color], Korea, Thailand...

 

Can't sppeak for anywhere else, but when I first arrived in Japan, 16 years ago, I remember an old Jap professor warning me that Japs were "scared and wary" of "foreigners" (in Japanese, "gaikokujin" (= "outside (our country) people") by which he meant caucasians and blacks, non-Japs, basically: even folks from other Asian countries are excluded), and begging me to keep in mind that when he had been at school, in the 1930s, his generation had been sternly taught that non-Asians were, basically, hairy barbarians, dangerous untrustworthy savages, no better than apes.

 

Well, in 2007, I'm here to report that such a belief is still not uncommon in Japan. They might not say it out loud (though some of them do: step forward Mr Shintaro Ishihara, popular re-elected Mayor of Tokyo :grin: ) any more, but you can feel it everywhere, and I do, on a daily basis.

 

Fingerprinting for non-Japanese residents, anyone? Yup, I've lived here 16 years but I'll have to be fingerprinted and photographed every time I re-enter Japan as of this November, as will my American-born, now a Jap citizen, friend's daughter, who is 17 years old, was born in Japan to a Jap mother, and has lived here all her life.

 

Lovely birds, though. Easy to shag of you're a gaijin too: they like a bit of "rough" now and then.

 

jack

 

[Flashermac]

I seriously thought about going to work in Saudi back in the 1980s. But my friends who were already there sort of put me off on it. As one said to me, "As soon as the plane, lands you can feel your civil rights completely slipping away."

 

For what it's worth, most other Arabs don't like Saudis. Many Saudis seem to have the notion that since their wonderful "prophet" lived there, they must be something special too.

 

If the money is good though, you can put up with a lot of crap. You get long breaks for Hadj and Ramadan, when you are actually expected to leave the country.

 

 

[drogon]

Thanks for your answers.

This confirms what I was suspecting.

Will see what comes out but I really like the position.

Very well paid of course and limited contacts with the locals.

Working on a military airport -> going back to a security compound.

Only contacts are with the local military technicians.

The main reason why this position is of interest to me is the fact I will be able to fly 3 or 4 times/year for 2-3 weeks R&R to BKK.........

[Dumsoda]

...From "someone" who has ...been there ...done that...

 

3 or 4 times a year takes a big toll on your sanity...

 

BUT.... it's a hell of a lot better than once!!!!!!

 

Good Luck, my friend

 

Cheers DC

[Guest lazyphil]

when 'they' finally figure out how to do this hydrogen fuel cell thingy on a practical level i've heard about and go all out for nuke, wave, solar power etc we can tell these assholes in saudi to fuck right off and they can enter the annual sandcastle building competion in weymouth!

 

now thats good old fashioned racism :smirk:

[Flashermac]

Right on, old chap. Wogs begin at Calais.