Driving
the Royal family
 Samy, the Sri Lankan driver, who served 33 years as private driver
for a Saudi royal family gets a warm farewell when he retires:
A Saudi royal family went out of their way and gave a warm farewell
home party to its non-Muslim Sri Lankan private driver after 33 years of
service.
Several royal figures broke protocol to attend the party, which was
held at Prince Abdul Raman bin Farhan Al Saud's palace in the capital
Riyadh on last Thursday (January 14).
The 'Sabq' newspaper identified the 76-year-old driver as Watti but
said he was nicknamed Samy by the royal family as a "gesture of
affection for him".
 It
quoted the driver as saying he felt like a "member of the family" during
his work for the royals and that this encouraged him to stay for such a
long period of time with them.
"I cannot forget the humanitarian gesture by the Prince when my
relative stole SR10,000, which I had sent to my wife. The Prince heard
of what happened and quickly summoned me and gave me the money," Samy
said.
"I have found affection, warmth, respect and good treatment in this
place. The Prince had always joked with me by calling me 'Prince Samy'."
'Sabq' also quoted Emir Mansour bin Saad Al Saud, director of the
strategic planning at the state Saudi Industrial Development Fund, who
is Prince Abdul Rahman's grandson, as saying:"I was born and brought up
in this place. I cannot image it without Samy. I have always considered
him as part and parcel of this family."
Yousuf Al Hadithi, a university professor who is related to the royal
family, said: "We decided to give Samy a party when he told us he wanted
to rest after this long service, which was characterised with sincerity
and commitment. The entire family was upset by his decision because we
all have considered him part of the family."
He added:"This shows that we in Saudi Arabia respect all religions,
contrary to beliefs by some. Samy is not a Muslim and I am sure that he
would not have stayed with us for 33 years hadn't he been treated with
respect and appreciation."
-Arab News
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