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http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTE4OTgyOTQwNw==
Partying Saudi style: elite, boozy, secret
Published Date: December 09, 2010
DUBAI: The DJ had the dance floor rocking. The bartender served up a special
vodka punch. The host was a prince - complete with his own entourage. An A-list
LA party? Fashion week in Paris? Try Saudi Arabia, home of roving Islamic
morality police enforcing the most austere codes in the Middle East. That's the
insider account by a US diplomat, whose night on the town in the Red Sea city
of Jeddah (mission: to observe "social interaction" of rich Saudi youth) was
summarized in a confidential memo released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
The underground nightlife of Jeddah's elite youth is thriving and throbbing,"
the memo said. "The full range of worldly temptations and vices are available -
alcohol, drugs, sex - but all behind closed doors." Wait, this is Saudi Arabia
they are talking about? The place where women are banned from driving and can
be jailed for socializing with men outside their family? The land whose brand
of Islam, known as Wahhabism, is perhaps best known in the West for beheadings
and its role as somber guardian for the holy pilgrimage cities of Makkah and
Medina?
To those unfamiliar with the undercurrents of the Middle East, it all could
seem a bit hard to fathom. But the US cable touches on a basic lesson for
understanding the region: public mores and private passions can be very far
apart. It's a bit like a cultural version of "don't ask, don't tell." Wild
parties rage behind closed doors in Tehran even as Iran's hard-liners tighten
their grip. Conservative Gulf sheiks make sure their wine cellars are well
stocked.
Outside Saudi Arabia, it's not unusual to see a traveler from the desert
kingdom hunkered down at an airport bar or letting loose in Bahrain - a
favorite party haunt for Saudis who can simply drive over a causeway and,
sometimes, weave their way home. "What one quickly realizes about the Middle
East is that there are layers upon layers in society," said Salman Shaikh,
director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. But he does not believe that
Saudi officials will face much fallout from the disclosure.
There's certainly the potential for some embarrassment, but a closed society
like Saudi is based on a series of social deals," he said. "It's really not in
anyone's interest to call attention to these deals or try to tear them up."
Saudi government officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The
American diplomat who wrote the January 2009 cable added just enough flourish
to give the invitation to a Halloween party an intrepid feel. It's a look, he
writes, "behind the facade of Wahhabi conservatism in the streets." It begins
by clearing the prince's security detail. Next up was a coat-check area where
women pulled off their head-to-toe black abayas.
Inside, Filipino bartenders served up a cocktail punch using moonshine vodka.
An American "energy drink company" - whose name was blacked out on the
WikiLeaks release - helped bankroll the bash that included, the diplomat was
told, some prostitutes mingling in the crowd. "Not uncommon for such parties,"
the cable said. "The scene resembled a nightclub anywhere outside the kingdom:
plentiful alcohol, young couples dancing, a DJ at the turntables and everyone
in costume," the message continued.
Bottles of name-brand booze were behind the bar, but apparently only for
display. A black market bottle of Smirnoff, the cable said, can cost up to $400
"when available" compared with about $26 for a bottle of home-brewed vodka.
That appeared even too irresistible a savings for the well-connected host, a
prince whose family ties go back six generations to dovetail with the lineage
of Saudi King Abdullah, who is currently in New York recuperating after two
back surgeries.
The prince's name was redacted from the cable posted by WikiLeaks. But it gave
a sense of his privilege. "Although ... not in line for the throne, he still
enjoys the perks of a mansion, luxury car, lifetime stipend and security
entourage," the cable said. It's apparently also enough political juice to keep
the feared morality police at bay. Their power - always strong - has further
increased in recent years as Saudi clerics and others push back harder against
what's perceived as threatening liberal trends
among the young.
The American cable said the religious police were "nowhere to be seen" near the
party. "Saudi youth get to enjoy relative social freedom and indulge fleshly
pursuits," the cable said, "but only behind closed doors and only the rich."
Wajeha Al-Hawaidar, a Saudi activist who has been banned from writing or
appearing on Saudi TV because of her support for women's rights, said the
private, Western-style indulgences are "well known outside and inside Saudi
Arabia." "When you put much pressure on a society, people will still go on with
their life," she said. "We are not rocks. We are human beings." _ AP
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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