#Opinion: My thoughts on Saudi Arabia

People have been talking about Saudi Arabia recently, some saying that the nation is finally making progress in promoting women's rights, as women are now able to vote and run for office; and some criticizing that despite having the rights to vote now, Saudi women are still not able to do a lot of things like driving, and going anywhere without wearing a burqa.

I've been thinking about this for quite a while, and I surely can understand why people would think Saudi women are being 'oppressed', since many traditional regulations are, in some aspects, against the 'human rights' we know as Taiwanese, Americans, Europeans....etc.

Yet, if we kind of 'put ourselves in their shoes', we may have different ideas and comments on these regulations: If your mother, your grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother had all been wearing burqas for centuries, it would be totally reasonable for you to do the same thing as well. And when someone from another side of the planet suddenly appeared and tell that these customs you have been practicing for years are 'against human rights', are 'unreasonable', you would feel weird as well, wouldn't you?

We are all giving comments on Saudi Arabia in a rather 'western' perspective now. It's normal that we may think their customs are 'peculiar', since they are different from the ones we have been taught. But what we might not have thought of is that these things in which we do not really 'appreciate', have also been taught in their societies for a long time. And our thoughts may be as 'peculiar' in their perspectives.

So I think even if these customs are to be changed, it should be the Saudis who call for changes, not us. These are their domestic affairs, they have to right to choose whether to practice them or not. And even if we do not appreciate those customs, we do not have the right to criticize them---we are not 'better' than them, we are just different. If we keep treating other religions and other races as if we are 'more advanced', or more 'superior', then what's the difference between Hitler and us?

Moreover, rather than worrying about others' business, I'd prefer everyone to fix their own problems first. Many women around the world, even in Hollywood, are still paid less than men who have the exact same jobs; certain groups of people are still oppressed by the majority, by extremists, and even by their own governments; many people are not even sure whether the food the eat everyday are 'safe' in Taiwan...

Lastly, I still want to say that I'm not a Saudi Arabian, I've never been to Saudi Arabia, and therefore I do not have the right to judge them or to judge their government. These are just my own personal thoughts, they may be right, they may be wrong; you may agree with it, and there's absolutely nothing wrong if you don't agree with me---I just want to say what I'm currently thinking, that's all.

#Opinion #International