The invisible hand of the government will soon find its way to my pockets yet again. Confiscating 1% of my monthly income with a new excuse, an “Unemployment Scheme” that will “put Bahrain on a par with advanced countries in terms of social insurance for its citizens” according to the GDN [Full Story Here].

Quoting the 2002 Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Article 5:

The State guarantees the requisite social security for its citizens in old age, sickness, disability, orphanhood, widowhood or unemployment, and also provides them with social insurance and healthcare services. It strives to safeguard them against ignorance, fear and poverty. [Source]

But it isn’t the state that will safeguard the ill-fated, the poor performing, or the unfit for the market graduates that literally paid their way through colleague; It is I, along with 450 thousand other employees (Bahrainis and expatriates alike) that are obligated to pay to preserve peace and stability to the corrupt, wasta infested local labor market and get Bahrain in par with advanced countries. It is us that have to pay for the mistakes and corruption of the government over many years for the benefit of a very limited category of people. We are supposed to be living in a tax free paradise mind you; and it hasn’t been even 3 months since the increase in the mandatory GOSI contribution to 6% endured by my poor soul.

And to add insult to injury, the compulsory contribution will not apply on military personals. Reported by AlWasat Newspaper [Source]:

High government sources said yesterday that the exclusion of military personals from the “Unemployment Scheme” is a known global practice in different countries where such scheme exists; to preserve the confidentiality of all military information.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, we live to see the “Global Practice” card played upon us once again, to the benefit of the government this time. The very same government that turned a blind eye to the “Global Practices” that dictated keeping military personal off the voting booths to ensure the neutrality of the elections, the very same government that turned a blind eye to the “Global Practice” commanding that the parliament is to be headed by an elected member of the largest elected bloc.

*sigh*