Oman is home to Frankincense, the gift to the Baby Jesus of the Magi, and Oman is famous for being the birthplace of Arabian Nights, Sinbad. Sultan Qaboos bin Said who recently passed away was very much concerned about peace and human rights, and he was once nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for being a good consultant. He made Oman a model for development and justice for the Middle East and the world. He intervened in the international crisis and used his political skills. Based on his works, Oman is called Switzerland in the Middle East, and it has a conflict-mediating power. In addition, Sultan Qaboos said that he developed oil, gas, and tourism resources through the five-year development plan to improve people’s living standards and gained the absolute support of the people.
Missionary B said “The support of the people for Sultan Qaboos is overwhelming. It is because when Omanis reach the age of adult, Oman gives them land to build their homes and provide welfare that is enough for them to enjoy a basic standard of living.”
Due to the welfare system of the country (Oman), the unemployment rate among the people is quite high. However, according to data released by the World Bank, the unemployment rate in Oman is around 3%. I just thought that the unemployment rate figured out by the liberal world differs from that figured out by Omanis. Save the national welfare benefit, if an Omani has a sponsorship that only registers him/her as a partner of a foreign business operator, more than 10% of profits from the business can be allocated to him/her, and thus Omanis do not need to do economic activities at working places.
Service industry, mostly composed of migrant workers
Many Omani men become soldiers or police men. Meanwhile, manual labor is done by immigrants from India and Pakistan, and they make up 30% of the population. Most of the people who work in shops are immigrants from foreign countries, and without them, the economic activity of Oman stops.
This is when I found a teahouse in Muscat. The customers were all in a car and ordered tea. Ordering tea in a car, which was very unique. Most of the people who traveled between the store and the vehicle to receive orders and deliver the tea were immigrant foreign workers. Such working environment gave the sense that some works are better than other works, and I was told that the sense reduced the desire of Omani men to have jobs, which also led Omani men to have a low passion for study.
According to missionary C, in Majan University College, 80 to 90% of students are women. The problem is that these women do not have many work places to go after graduation. This is because the disregard of women is wide-spread in the Islam society. In such atmosphere, God is opening up opportunities for Omanis in need to hear the gospel.
The indigenous people of Oman are 100% Arab, 75% of them are Ibadi Muslims. When Ibadi Muslims elect a lead, they rule out kinship and succession but allow anyone with virtue and leadership to become an Imam. Ibadi Muslims are less than 1% of Muslims around the world. Ibadi Muslims are relatively tolerant of other religions, but the conversion to other religions of natives is illegal.
The area of Oman is 300,000 km2, about three times the size of Republic of Korea. Oman has a population of 4.61 million people. In 2017, per capita income was $ 15,600. Oman has 6,940,000 mobile subscribers, 1.5 per capita.
