New year sparks criticism of Kuwait gov't

KUWAIT CITY, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- A move by the Kuwaiti government to move the date of New Year's celebrations sparked condemnation by journalists.

A member of the National Assembly with Kuwait's Islamic bloc proposed legislation to move New Year's celebrations to the weekend amid criticism that the government was bowing to Islamic pressure, al-Arabiya reported Wednesday.

The Islamist bloc said the government put more emphasis on New Year's Day than it did over the Islamic New Year when the government passed legislation moving all holidays to the weekend, with New Years as the exception.

Mohamed al-Jassem, editor in chief of the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan and the Arabic edition of Newsweek, said the Islamic bloc was trying to assert itself on the national identity by linking the issue to Islam.

Al-Jassem sees the influence of the Islamist bloc as a sign of a weak central authority in Kuwait.

"They just want to avoid trouble and don't want to upset Islamists," he said.

Islamist MP Walid al-Tabtabaei countered the claim saying equality prompted the complaints of the holiday, not religion.

"We just didn't know why it should be more sacred than Islamic New Year. All we ask for is equality," Tabtabaei said.

The Islamic New Year is marked on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar. The next Islamic New Year is Jan. 10.