Jordan Watch
An update and analysis of the progress, or lack of it in political, economic, social and cultural reform in Jordan.

Dude, where is my country?
Monday, September 25, 2006

I am not sure about the authenticity of this annoying story, but a friend of mine told me that his friend went to buy an apartment to be able to get married after being engaged for 14 months, and as a Jordanian middle class employee working for 12 hours daily he carried a total of 10,000 JDs he managed to save and a further 40,000 JDs he got from a bank that will keep him on debt for 10 happy years!
When he went to a new complex of apartments, he looked for the owner of the complex and he turned out to be an Iraqi. Our guest from Iraq said to the Jordanian guy: "I am sorry son, but I do not sell to Jordanians"!
Well, even if this did not happen now it will eventually occure in a few years since the major policy in Jordan now is selling our country away to whomever brings the highest price.
Let me begin with a note. I am not anti-Iraqi. In fact I have a lot of Iraqi friends who came to Jordan after the first Gulf war in 1991 and they were very smart and decent people running away from Saddam's dictatorship. What we have now in Jordan is a new breed of Iraqis who have sucked the blood and oil of their country under Sadam's rule and then under the rule of the Americans, and they have gained tremendous amount of money and came to Jordan to change the whole economic state.
The most annoying thing is that our policies are in favor of them over the Jordanian people. Some stupid Jordanians are also looking for rapid wealth by selling their lands and apartments to the highest iraqi and lebanses bidder and then spend the money on buying cars instaed of initiating productive projects for Jordanians.
How will a middle class employee in Jordan be able now to buy a piece of land or apartment without being indebted to a bank for the rest of his/her life? and how will Jordanians be able to adapt to the increasing costs of energy, education and health?
My country is being sold away and I am no longer able to recognize it.
I am not an ultra-nationalist who does not want any foreigners in Jordan. On the contrary diversity is always welcome but not to the extent of putting the poor and Middle Class Jordanians/Palestinians on the periphery and turning this country into a farm for the elite rich Jordanians, Iraqis, lebanese and other nationalities.
Look at the so-called "investment" projects in the last 5 years. There is no single indutrial or productive project. They are all about real estates, banks and tourism targeting the rich. All those projects like "saraya" and 'Tala Bay" in Aqaba are only for the certain 2-3% of Jordanians who can afford them while the rest of Jordanians are considered to be employees and servants for the rich.
Politicians and cheap propaganda always talk about a divide between Jordanians and Palestinians, and in my opinion this is a complete rubbish intended to keep the poor and the middle class engaged in this "fake struggle". If there is any kind of division in Jordan it is between the majority of poor and middle class people and the minority of the new fat cats and elite who have sold the country and corrupted it. I am not talking here about "authentic" econokmic elites in Jordan and Palestinians who have always been rich and patriotic in the past decades but about those new "rags to riches" package that have made its wealth out of corruption.
Life is becoming a struggle for the majority of Jordanians while the trends seem to favour the super package of corrupted rich and Iraqis with loads of money who are changing the face of this country and maybe its whole future.
Where is my country? How can we get it back?  

posted by Batir Wardam in Personal Experiences @ 1:43 AM

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(10) comments


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On September, 25, 2006 5:55 AM , rami
from United States said:

very well written. thanx.

by the way i am one of those people now trying to find an appartment for less than 120 thousand in amman. i lost hope.

On September, 25, 2006 9:36 AM , Hareega
from United States said:

This kinda tells you that your friend who thought he was in the middle class is not in the middel class anymore. He's in the working class and he'll never be at peace for at least ten years.

On September, 25, 2006 9:52 AM , Nas
from Canada said:

yes the whole "i don't sell to jordanians" as said by iraqis is now something i've heard and seen first hand. i'm not certain of the logic or lack thereof that is behind it.

anyways, this is the free market. it's not a great thing to see happening but that's what happens. people can sell to whoever they want and people can buy from whomever they want and people can spend whatever on whatever they want. the rest of us are free to complain about it.

we can ask for protectionist policies but they're likely to slow everything down or at the least turn off a lot of sellers and buyers.

that being said...it's real estate...the one market where what goes around literally comes around.

On September, 25, 2006 9:57 AM , salam
from Jordan said:

I don't know if I would believe this incident or not.I read it in a daily newspaper written by a "cheesy" tabloid sort of writer and I sort of refuse to believe it.

On September, 25, 2006 6:00 PM , OmAr
from Jordan said:

I feel you man, I swear I don't know what would I do if some Iraqi told me that he doesn't want to sell me something inside Jordan!!!! The problem is that at the times of saddam, no Arabs were allowed to buy any property in Iraq, and Iraqis are among the most racist when it comes to non-Iraqis, I don't know what's the solution that will make everybody happy? Seriously.

On September, 25, 2006 6:12 PM , Mohd
from Germany said:

i don't see the problem. He chooses to sell to whomever at his own will.

On September, 25, 2006 8:06 PM , mohamed
from Canada said:


Since you are concerned with the selling of Jordan, perhaps you could also talk about the selling of Jordan's national resources as perpetrated by our current government? Who sells national business to private investors? And why should we?

I feel like this is a bigger issue than the petty actions of a number of individuals who have learned from their own government that what really matters is accumulating profits, regardless of costs or repercussions.

On September, 26, 2006 3:36 AM , Nas
from Canada said:

"Who sells national business to private investors? "

almost every country in the world except maybe china and cuba (to some extent)

On September, 28, 2006 9:21 AM , Muhammad Arrabi
from United States said:

My wife came from Jordan recently, and she told me a very similar story about one of her friends as she and her jusband were trying to buy an apartment. I thought my wife's friend was exagerating, but now I totally believe it.

We really need anti-disrimination laws in Jordan against discrimination based on nationality, race, religion, sex, and age

and, on the second note, definiltey we need to do something about the accelerating economy away from the working class.

On October, 02, 2006 2:45 AM , asdf said:

We can't get it back and I doubt Jordan is the only country with this problem. The world is ruled by free market economics, any other country is considered the axis of evil :P



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