{"id":4862,"date":"2011-03-08T14:12:52","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T10:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=4862"},"modified":"2011-03-10T15:03:53","modified_gmt":"2011-03-10T11:03:53","slug":"saudi-arabia-%e2%80%93-the-case-for-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/saudi-arabia-%e2%80%93-the-case-for-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharp Divides Emerge over Saudi Reforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Dr Khalid Alnowaiser is a prominent Saudi lawyer. I have commented in the past <\/a>on his columns in the Arab News. He has now weighed into the current social and political debate in Saudi Arabia \u2013 this time with an open letter to King Abdullah<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the letter, he touches on all the contentious issues in Saudi society. He writes about the need for an elected council, a written constitution, decentralisation of government, more equitable wealth distribution, effective action against corruption, judicial reform, equal rights for women and the abolition of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Elimination of Vice.<\/p>\n

He ends the letter by making the point that in the internet age it is no longer possible for governments to hide what is happening in their countries. And he urges the King to take proactive rather than defensive steps to save the Kingdom from the kind of turmoil that is currently wracking the region.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an eloquent summary of reform-minded opinion in the Kingdom. His letter was published a couple of days ago in the Arab News.\u00a0The virulent comments <\/a>that the article attracted, together with a similar number of messages of support, show that opinion is sharply divided, especially on the highly contentious issue of the Commission (also known as the Haia<\/em> or the Mutawa<\/em>). More significant would be feedback from the Arabic media, since many of those writing in to the English-language Arab News are clearly not Saudi nationals.<\/p>\n

Although the role of the Commission is only one of many issues Dr Alnowaiser has raised, it is nonetheless highly topical.<\/p>\n

I have just returned from a visit to the Riyadh Book Fair, the scene of a well-publicised intervention by several individuals who appeared to be sympathetic to the ethos of the Commission \u2013 even though the Commission denied that they were members. These individuals disrupted a ceremony on the second day of the Fair. According to the Arab News<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral activists, alleged to be members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, stormed the Riyadh book fair on Wednesday evening, roughed up participants and relayed orders through a mike for women to dress up properly and move graciously or face the consequences.<\/p>\n

The Haia members also opposed the invitation of some intellectuals who have allegedly criticized Islamic teachings to the seminars being held on the sidelines of the exhibition.<\/p>\n

The ugly situation shocked Minister of Culture and Information Abdul Aziz Khoja, who was also present at the fair at that time. \u201cThe situation was brought under control within no time,\u201d said Mohammed Al-Abis, a spokesman for the ministry.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Subsequently, as the Arab News reports<\/a>, Dr Khoja\u2019s remarks about the incident attracted a particularly nasty SMS from an individual who informed him that he would go to hell for his opinions.<\/p>\n

It seems that the \u201cactivists\u201d were also objecting to some of the books on display. I\u2019m not sure which books they were finding fault with, but given that there were many thousands of titles on view, they would have had a hard job reviewing all of them! On the Book Fair, more in another post.<\/p>\n

Returning to Dr Alnowaiser\u2019s open letter to King Abdullah, I believe that there is a fundamental hurdle to be crossed before the Kingdom can become the nation that he ardently desires it to be. And that is the hurdle of ownership.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia originally came into being by forcible unification. And among the ruling family there still seems to be a sense that they are the owners of the country and its resources. Whatever is granted to citizens \u2013 rights, land, public amenities, education, welfare and social programmes \u2013 is at the discretion of the rulers. The ruling family sees no issue with the use\u00a0of resources to support the numerous members of the family and tribal leaders, because it sees that policy as an important contributor to the cohesion of society as a whole.<\/p>\n

The transition from owner to custodian is one that the ruling family has yet to make. And a key element of that transition would be a written constitution that enshrines the rights and responsibilities of all citizens.<\/p>\n

To use an historical parallel, in 1066, William of Normandy invaded England and became King William I. The England he conquered became a feudal society in which he and his supporters divided the country into fiefdoms and ruled by decree and custom. It took a century and a half for the King\u2019s barons to impose a basic constitutional framework for the country \u2013 the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta was signed by the King and by twenty-five of his leading barons. Significantly, it was also witnessed by thirteen bishops and twenty abbots \u2013 testament to the power of the church in the affairs of the state.<\/p>\n

It was only after\u00a0a further five hundred years that\u00a0the powers and prerogatives of the King were curtailed to the point that the main elements of the United Kingsdom\u2019s constitutional monarchy\u00a0finally emerged.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia, which has modernised at a breathtaking pace since its foundation, clearly doesn\u2019t face a journey of a similar length. And\u00a0the parallel is inexact, because Britain still does not have a formal written constitution \u2013 the UK legal system is a construct of statute and common law slowly built up over hundreds of years. Saudi Arabia also has many laws, and claims that the Islamic Sharia negates the need for a written constitution.<\/p>\n

But my point is that it is no easy process for a nation to move from a state where all things flow from a King and his family, to one in which a country\u2019s wealth and resources belong, and are perceived to belong, to its citizens. And ultimately, to a state where all citizens, rulers and ruled, are accountable to a democratic body politic for the disposition of wealth and the administration of society.<\/p>\n

It seems to me that these are the implications of the changes Dr Alnowaiser proposes. I\u2019m not a lawyer (although I grew up in a legal family), and I\u2019m open to being shot down on points of detail or principle by Dr Alnowaiser and other eminent lawyers.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not suggesting that he is proposing a constitutional monarchy along UK lines. But certainly his proposals would move his country down that path.<\/p>\n

He speaks to King Abdullah with great respect and loyalty. I\u2019m sure he doesn\u2019t underestimate the fundamental change in mind-set that the ruling family, and many of the Kingdom\u2019s other powerful stakeholders, would have to undergo before the evolution he seeks becomes a reality.<\/p>\n

But on one thing most of Saudi Arabia\u2019s citizens, as well as the Kingdom\u2019s foreign stakeholders, would agree \u2013 evolution is vastly preferable to revolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STEVE ROYSTON: It’s not easy for a nation to move from a state where all things flow from the King to one where a country\u2019s wealth belongs to its citizens. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":4867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,83,60],"tags":[461,2224,5237,883,5235,3938,1031,18275,2014,3051,51,18337],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}