Monday, February 21, 2011
This is the sentiment of a Somali lecturer based in Kuala Lumpur, who acted as an interpreter to the seven Somali pirates charged with shooting at Malaysian commandos on board an oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden recently.
Professor Dr Musse Mohamud Ahmed of the Engineering Faculty in the International Islamic University Malaysia, Gombak, says Somalia has a healthy economy with a thriving middle-class community.
We have everything in Somalia, our telecommunications industry is advanced and we have good universities and schools, a thriving private sector and many businesses," Dr Musse said
He added that Somali communities around the world repatriated US$2 billion (S$2.55 billion) each year back to Somalia.
Recently, however, Somalia had gained notoriety after pirates from that country terrorised international shipping in the Gulf of Aden.
Figures from the European Union's Naval Force revealed that Somali pirates were responsible for hijacking at least 30 vessels and taking 724 hostages.
Musse is quick to dispel any notion that Somalis back home or elsewhere sympathise with the pirates.
"The people of Somalia don't accept them. They do not allow their daughters to marry these pirates, nor do they accept their money in any way. In Islam, it's haram (illegal).
"Soon, these pirates won't be allowed to come to land any more," he said, referring to the pirates who roamed free in the high seas.
He added that it was wrong to paint Somalis generally as pirates as they numbered only about 1,000, while the country had a population of between 10 million and 12 million.
"They are just regular, bad people roaming the high seas and doing something dangerous," he said.
Nevertheless, Musse feels sad and sorry for the Somalis who are charged here, as six of the seven pirates are "very young".
Yasir Mohamed Baffo, a tourism graduate of Universiti Utara Malaysia in Kedah, shares the sentiment.
"We have rich people in Somalia. We do not have a stable government and the piracy problem is isolated to Mogadishu.
"There are people living away from Mogadishu who don't even know the situation there," said Yasir.
He added that people in Somalia had "regular jobs, drive four-wheel vehicles and fall mostly within the middle-income category".
Yasir, in his 20s, said the pirates in Somalia were not modern-day Robin Hoods, adding that they were just common criminals.
Yasir was also enlisted by the police to act as a translator when the seven Somalis were charged.
"Of course, when you have to tell someone that he is facing the death sentence, it is not easy. I had a job to do, and I did it professionally."
Source: newstraitstimes