Ossama Kamal: Speaking volumes

Decibels have become the only standard

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Ossama Kamal does not mince his words.

"Bringing in a new cabinet does not mean change," he says. "Introducing new technology, and mainstreaming technology, will not change how people think. And it is in any case far from clear cut whether it is the job of government to change what people want, or to provide for the needs they have themselves perceived. So, you want to create e-government because this is the standard you want to give people. But do people want e-government? I'm not saying no to the idea, but what I am saying is that we have to pose the question."

We sit in the café area of the Conrad Hotel. Kamal has just finished recording his television show for the day -- an economic programme catering to businessmen and decision makers. The programme is a far more placid affair than earlier broadcasts, which all too often attracted the attention of the censors.

"I don't believe in censorship," he says. "That's not to say I believe you should allow all sorts of vulgarity to be aired," he adds.

He pauses to contemplate what he later describes as the media circus.

"A lot of what is out there can be described as nothing but prostitution," he asserts. "We function in this country without much rationale. And I say that in reference to everything, not just the media."

As his first example of everything, Kamal chooses the information technology sector. It is an apt choice given that he organises Telecomp Egypt, the region's largest international communications and information technology (CIT) trade show, and is involved in a host of CIT- related projects.

"I'm not criticising e-government as such," he offers, by way of preface. "But I think there are questions it is valid to pose, certainly about the initiatives promoted by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT)."

MCIT hit the headlines when Ahmed Nazif, head of the department, was appointed prime minister. Kamal, who worked closely with Nazif, is keen to emphasise the new prime minister's reformist, modernising and technocratic credentials -- under Nazif the CIT sector did, after all, grow by an estimated 36 per cent in four years, making it one of the few success stories in an otherwise stumbling economy. None of which, though, prevents Kamal from asking questions about some of the ministry's most hailed initiatives.

"Take the initiative to train 5,000 software programmers a year. Many people criticised it, arguing that it would provide just 25,000 programmers in five years, which would not be enough," he says.

"But enough for what? The question that ought to be asked is whether these people will actually have a work opportunity when they graduate. If work opportunities are guaranteed then a great many people would be happy to borrow money to join the course -- you wouldn't need to offer the course for free. So the problems do not revolve around how much it costs to train a programmer, nor really in the number of programmers we can afford to produce. Rather, available money should be pumped into actually creating jobs. If the work opportunities exist, people will ensure that they are qualified to fill them."

"Let me give you another example," he continues, barely pausing for breath. "Free Internet access, it's a great idea but the providers have concentrated solely on access. None of them have grasped the opportunity to, say, provide a comprehensive Arabic database. And this would be a relatively simple process, with the entries being made by young people who would, say, be paid LE300 a month or thereabouts. And young people would jump at the opportunity. Everyone is looking for extra sources of income, and this would provide it, and the young people entering the data would be learning not just about their heritage, documenting and archiving it, they will be gaining hands-on computer experience."

"People are looking for some extra pounds -- it is the only thing people want right now. So if this is what people want, and you have another objective, try to marry them."

"We have a tendency to get together in cliques, think of a great idea and then implement it. And it is a great idea, but had other parties been invited to brainstorm it could have been made into an even greater idea. We have a tendency to work as separate entities, to work within a kind of vacuum, closed to the perspectives of people who may appear different in some way to us."

Kamal points to a young girl walking towards the elevator. She wears jeans and a tank top baring her mid-riff.

"She may want extra money for shopping," he say. "Maybe she would have been interested in the ministry's free Internet initiative. Maybe."

"The thing is we have to become more open. We have to start looking outside our immediate circle. We need to start listening to what people want. We have to start encouraging people to say what they want."

"We are a nation with an in-built censorship," he says. "I've had many radio programmes over the years and few of them lasted more than a few months," he laughs.

"There was 'Macho Talk', which was an anti- women talk show, which the management eventually cancelled. Then there was 'Monster', which was basically the same show but with a new concept, the monster inside each of us being, of course, a woman. Rather than us voicing our opinions on women we would have women call in and provoke them to say what we wanted."

Kamal laughs.

"And then we created a programme called 'Red Zone' which spoke about all the things we're not meant to talk about. And then that was suspended too," he chuckles. "And then came 'The Grill', which was about grilling everyone and everything and anything. We would grill the callers, we would grill the guests, we would grill each other if no-one was calling. And we would grill ourselves if we were doing the show alone."

But that too ended up being suspended.

"All I was trying to do was offer a forum for discussion, a platform for information and news sharing. In terms of radio, other than the government stations the only thing we have to listen to is all-music stations. I have nothing against music. I like music. But I can't listen to music all day. Which leaves me to get the news from where? Outside, foreign sources? It just can't be this way."

Television is also problematic.

"Thanks to a gentleman whose name I will not mention we have Melody TV station, and about 10 other stations like it. So kids watch nothing else. So 24/7 the youth of the country watch nothing but video clips," he says. "I don't have a problem with the actual content of the video clips, with women that bare half their bodies. But I do have a problem with the scrollbar at the bottom of the screen with SMS's that people send declaring love, seeking partners -- all very vulgar. I'm not even sure how to describe it. It's disgusting. It's horrible. We need to have some standards of practice. You can't just open any kind of channel simply because you can make money. "

Kamal appears to despair of the media.

"Arab satellite channels are the sole source of regional news. The alternative? Well, it's local satellite television, and local satellite TV doesn't want to develop, doesn't want to evolve. They think it's enough to copy what's happening elsewhere, and even then they do a kind of cutprice, half-hearted copy," he explains. "A TV station needs to have an identity, which none of our stations have. We need a certain language. On TV you need to hold yourself in a certain manner, you need to maintain a certain level of professionalism. You cannot impose your opinions on your guests. You need to maintain respect for your guests. Yet we seem to be churning out philosophising, opinionated anchors."

His intonation is firm. Kamal clearly feels strongly about these points.

"The former British ambassador was a frequent guest on my programme. In fact he would only come to the station when I was there -- he knew I was objective in my translation of his comments. One day, though, he happened to come when I wasn't there, and a colleague of mine translated."

The result was that the anchor indulged in his own censorship.

"It's what I call the father syndrome," he laughs. "Fathers all feel they must filter out what they deem inappropriate. We feel a responsibility to protect, to shelter. We believe that the country will improve if we shut out the bad. We seem to believe that development will come about this way."

Kamal sits back and laughs

"I remember about 20 years ago, when I was interviewing a British critic, and he said that in about 1964 they discovered that it was a shame to have censorship and so they cancelled it. Look at where the country is. Yes, censorship during times of war are understandable, or during times of emergency. But not all the time."

His eyes wander across the lobby, and he takes a few moments to order more coffee before shaking his head.

"We are harming no one but ourselves," he says. "And the young, as a result, are not really there in a sense. Last week I had a guest on my programme, a woman in the educational field who dealt with the national curriculum. She spoke of the young, and the future, and their contribution -- the usual spiel. My response was to repeat the words of Ahmed Ragab, who said recently that the two biggest parties were Ahli and Zamalek. Most people support Ahli because it wins, so it's really a role model in a sense, the model of a successful group. And one of Egypt's great problems is the lack of role models. You need to give people examples to follow. You need to infuse people with drive through models they can look up to. The absence of role models is no less than a catastrophe."

But what young people are currently being offered, argues Kamal, are loud personalities. Volume is mistaken for strength.

"Look around you, look at how that waiter just shouted to the other," he says, pointing with a shake of his head. "We are a loud nation, and we have little in the way of etiquette, in the way of taste. If you look at the media, if you look at TV, at the theatre, at soap operas, everyone screams, everyone is vulgar, everyone has dyed hair, or else is veiled."

"Children grow up wanting to be like the stars, like the people they see on TV, in the movies. We need to offer them better groomed, more cultured, more refined people to look up to. We need to create role models for them. And, as I mentioned earlier, we need to listen to their needs. Do you think for one moment that anyone wants to submit any sort of important application online? Absolutely not. People much prefer to take the application and go in person and stand in line for an hour to make sure that it is done. So why are we pouring so much money and effort into automating everything? Where's the balance, where's the perspective, where's looking at the bigger picture? You want change? The fastest, easiest, more efficient path to change and reform is not through the educational system. Turn to the media instead and fire most of us. Change the personality that you present to the people. That person on the screen needs to be looked at as a whole. We need to start asking ourselves if our actors and anchors are worthy of representing the nation? Are they ambassadors for the country? If you really want to develop a country start by reforming the media, not the government."

By Yasmine El-Rashidi