King offers inspiration, now get the job done

Thusday. April,17.
The Saudi Gazette

Jeddah

Last Sunday, was not just a normal day in the Shoura Council where members meet to discuss governmental systems, statues and performance. It was the annual day when the King reviews about country’s internal and external strategies for the coming year.

King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz’s speech this year was concise and comprehensive. It covered all areas of interest for citizens as well as the world. With wisdom and experience, the King provided the Shoura members with the outlines to define the means to meet the challenges expected in the coming years.

Even the newly emerging problem of nuclear weapons in the region was covered in the speech. The King reiterated the Kingdom’s stand that calls for freeing the region from nuclear weapons while giving every country the right to develop nuclear capability for civilian purposes, within the framework of its international commitments and respect for non-proliferation rules.

The King also created a climate of confidence for business by assuring his support to the growing private sector in a way as to attract more foreign investment. Oil price equilibrium was part of the King’s concern and he assured the world that the Kingdom seeks to achieve fair oil prices in the interest of both producers and consumers.

He confirmed the Shoura Council’s effective participation in the country’s development process. In recent years, the Shoura has enacted a series of regulations to advance the reform process the King has committed himself to. Moreover, they opened their sessions to the public and engaged in monitoring the performance of governmental establishments, thereby introducing the Saudi community to the concept of transparency.

Yet, there are still certain areas where the Shoura was sort of reluctant to take the lead in. For instance, the Shoura failed to discuss some controversial issues such as those related to women driving or having them included as full-fledged members in the Shoura rather than part time consultants.

It also failed to suggest a practical solution to solve or ease the tension of millions of Saudi citizens, whom it supposed to be serving, over the stock market crises that struck early last year.

What’s meant is not criticism of the Shoura but rather, what the council and the other government establishments should learn from the King’s speech.

I believe that any issue that Shoura discuss in future should be inspired by the King’s speech that reflected respect for dialogue and negotiation in a spirit of community solidarity.

His words about sustainable development, uprooting terrorism, goals of the Millennium and the coming phase of growth should be the base upon which officials work in the coming years. They have to avoid rushed or unstudied decisions that feed tension and resentments, fire passions, and give free rein to all those who proclaim ideologies of violence and confrontation.

The King did not exclude women throughout his speech and talked about the citizen in general, as a genderless concept. This means that we have to overcome our fears and be serious bout including women as active members in our social and political life.

The King’s use of a neutral term implies that both genders are included, without any of the discrimination or reservation some officials impose in implementation of decrees simply because they are victims of social perception and pressure.

The fact that the King’s speech was preceded by a decision to hire the first Saudi female as a president of a university to join the 18 male members of the Council of Higher Education, will help create a remarkable climate of confidence in the Saudi woman’s ability not only to manage her own affairs but also to lead minds.

Having a woman as part of the body entrusted with education policy is a deep message to those who question women’s ability. So it goes by default that if we trust women with formulating the policies to shape future generations, we have to trust their judgment on other issues.

It’s time for the Shoura Council to intensify its discussions and efforts to encourage the community to shoulder its responsibilities, in particular regarding statues on women. I am referring, in particular, to broadening their participation in decision making at all levels, which requires urgent mobilization of the King’s innovative mechanisms of introducing a new image for the Saudi woman.