For almost a decade, Saudi Arabia has been seen as the representative of the Islamic religion as a country that holds two of the holy sites to Muslims (Kaaba and Al-Masjid al-Haram). Controversy has been around Saudi Arabia for too long. People's views on strict Islamic laws are mostly negative, even Muslims sometimes have a hard time living there. As for my own personal experience two years there, it was a great time. I have adapted to the extreme implementation of laws and I enjoyed my life there, but ever since I left there everything started to change.
Women Driving
While clearly this was one of the biggest things that everyone in the world were against, banning women from driving, it is planned to allow women to drive on the 24th of June 2018, a big leap into the future, right?
Not really, it should be normal for women to drive, but to be honest, driving there is already dangerous and having a woman driving there is not a really easy idea to be done. You see, Saudi Arabia has a harsh climate, and terrain too, for you to drive it is not an easy feat. I understand that women are good drivers but then again it is not easy conditions to drive in the first place. I think they should first allow them to drive in the cities for a while until they get used to driving. I hope this step would have more benefits than negative effects.
Cinemas now opened
Can you imagine life without going to the movies? I did for a couple of years but no more, after a struggle of trying to watch new movies online , cinemas now are open in Saudi Arabia. That is a good thing really, it works as a good source of entertainment and can be controlled well (censored ). By chance the first cinemas to open is near the place I used to live, I was like why now when I just left lol.
Concerts
I really wanted to see this guy preform :(
This has been asked for a long time, concerts were banned for more than ten years and people were just asking for it to be back, and what do you know it is back! Even before that I had made a small donation concert and it was a great one too and I happened to witness the first performance of a Japanese orchestra in the middle east, which took place in Riyadh in the week of Japanese culture.
Comedy shows
This has been the first thing to be allowed in entertainment in Saudi Arabia. When I first came I had heard about a show for Russell Peters. I couldn't get a ticket though it was too expensive but many comedians preformed such as fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias). Sadly I couldn't see any show.
Hiking and trips
This was my get away in the weekends. I just go out every weekend with an organized group of people (it wasn't legal though as mix between genders is not allowed) but we just went out. (Girls took their Abaya off by the way which is not allowed in general). Now those trips are authorized by the ministry of culture, so you can go out and have fun and enjoy the great desert and hike through the great scenery of mountains.
It is funny how all those things started to happen just after I left lol
All of these changes are drastic to such a closed traditional society and surely would have a negative effect on the morals and the laws that were set before. I think it is more dangerous to give freedom to those who aren't educated and sophisticated enough to not misuse freedom. I fear that society would become immoral and lose its values. Yes I know that these are normal things to have, but not in such abnormal place.
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