Qatar is least corrupt muslim-majority state in the world
I was just reading the Transparency International report and it struck me that Qatar is the least corrupt Muslim majority state in the world.
Qatar is also ranked higher — sometimes significantly — than many Western and East Asian states, such as Portugal, Spain, Israel, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia. By the way, where is India, that darling of global capitalism? Number 85. Down there with such stalwarts as Serbia and Algeria.
UAE and Bahrain did pretty well too (though when it comes to corruption everyone can be better).
All in all, on an index where the U.S. ranks 18 and Qatar ranks 28, this is a pretty significant achievement. It is also a sign that Qatar deserves a major international sporting event, like the Olympics or the world cup. After all, if South Africa, #54 can get the world cup, and Brazil, #80, can be in the running for the Olympics, and #57 and #72 (Greece and China) have both held the Olympics, why not Qatar get something to show off the progress it has made?
Besides, if Chicago can be in the running for 2016 Olympics despite what is going on there, then Qatar certainly deserves some love.
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Nice post. Though, by your logic, Qatar needs to wait its turn until Denmark, New Zealand, Singapore and the half dozen or so other nations cleaner than Qatar that have never hosted either the Olympics or the World Cup get their chance.
Yes. But none of those countries/regions offer any geopolitical, psycho-social benefits, the way holding a major sporting event in the Middle East would.
In response to another comment. See in context »In that case, a Singaporean or St. Lucian may well surmise that they are being unfairly penalized for good behavior. Besides, if the point is simply to reward a Muslim-majority country for not being a total mess, then why not pick an achievement more impressive than a middling rank on a corruption perception index? Newly democratic Indonesia and newly prosperous Turkey both seem more deserving than a hydrocarbon-rich family fiefdom.
Well Singapore as a venue for a major sporting event is out simply b/c of its tiny size. It would necessarily have to go “in” with the Malaysians and Indonesians. Both of which are great ideas but unless I am wrong Singapore has not proposed such things.
Qatar on the other hand has proposed the idea in a very serious way, getting quite far in the bidding process. They have further expressed the possibility of co-hosting with their Gulf friends.
Also its not just the progress in the arena of corruption that suggests we look at Qatar favorably; its the fact that its prominence in the international arena can spur dialogues that Singapore and or St. Lucia just can’t offer. Wasn’t that the reason to give China the games? That in the effort to portray themselves to the world in a positive way they would address some of their own issues in the process?
In response to another comment. See in context »Well, apart from being the world’s most populous country and its second largest economy, China also happens to be a serious sporting power. I belong to the school that would confine the hosting of major events to countries that have some kind of athletic achievement to speak of. (Another strike against Singapore.) That’s one reason it made sense to give the 1988 Olympics and (part of) the 2002 World Cup to South Korea. Not sure how Qatar would do by that measure.
The reason for hosting Olympics is Qatar maybe that it spends so much money on sports. Qatar is promoting sports on all levels and has in recent past developed number of sporting activities.
As for sporting achievements, Qatar has done a lot in last few years, few achievements are:
The Arab athlete Saif Saaeef Shaheen won the gold medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the 2003 World Athletics Championships in Paris, France.
Qatar qualified for the 2007 Handball World Championship. It was the third time that Qatar had qualified for a World Cup. Under the direction of Ekrem Jaganjac, Qatar`s national coach, the Qatari team defeated Australia 36-22.
The Qatari football team finished sixth at the Olympic Games in Barcelona (Spain).
The 1999 Handball World Junior Championship was held in Qatar.
Asian Games in December 2006 were held in Qatar.
Tennis championships are held in Qatar every year.
Said Asaad is one of the greatest weightlifters in Qatari sports history. He won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia.
Qatar is the home of the ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence. It is one of a kind sporting facility for developing talent.
Qatar has been winning medals in Asian and Arab competitions and the numbers keep increasing every year.
The reason that sports are so populat is the international outlook of the country on sports. The reason for letting Qatar hold Olympics would be to encourage a nation, which has been doing a lot for sports (in many ways more than any other country) and to encourage the trend in that country. More importantly, it will open door to the geo-political and social discourse, which has not occurred to date. Muslim countries have the ability to be normal and participate as individuals (rather than as an identity) in the world.
Unfortunately, in present time, Turkey and Indonesia are not face of Islam. Muslims keep going on about how Arabs are minority in Islam. However, they are the face of Islam. We can argue the merits of that position, but that is another argument and not related to this issue. Letting an Arab and Muslim majority country hold international sports will do a lot more for Muslims then letting Indonesia or Turkey hold sports. Turkey is a secular state with a Muslim majority. It is not a Muslim country. Muslim population in Indonesia is decreasing.
Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey will never make headlines for appointing non Muslims to high level position like Bahrain did when it appointed its first Jewish ambassador. More importantly, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey do not have the resources to hold Olympics. Qatar does.
The fact is Muslims can either be stupid and keep bickering about mundane stuff or use the resources available to their advantage, and do the PR exercise necessary to change the face of Islam.
I wish we could loan you Mayor Daley for a bit. He could probably get Qatar the games. He’s really that good…