Another newly appointed Saudi official—this time, Abdul Aziz Al-Khoja, Minister of Culture & Information—is out there talking with those most concerned with his office. This Saudi Gazette piece reports on a discussion he held with various people involved in cultural media, film, theater, publishing, etc., not the news media.
The various artists are pushing for more opportunities to bring their work to Saudi audiences and readers. They’re calling for the establishment of theaters and cinemas and training facilities for journalists. For some Saudi participants, ‘separate but equal’ still seems to be an okay approach; for others, mixed environments are necessary. The Minister’s responses, all of the ‘in due time’ nature, are again to be expected given his beginner status as a Minister. That only provides cover for so long, however. I’m sure he’s aware that everyone will be watching how he performs in his new position.
Media places hopes in new minister
Diana Al-JassemJEDDAH – Members of the media community in the Kingdom have spoken about the challenges facing the newly-appointed Minister of Information and Culture, Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Khoja, and have cited the areas in which they are most keen to see change.
The quality of professionalism in Saudi media and the system for employing journalists, the state of theater in the Kingdom, and the work of literary clubs are, according to those who work in the field, of primary concern.
Ibrahim Muftah, who writes weekly for Okaz newspaper, asks for a review of the state of theater. “We are asking for an official theater in the Kingdom, where it can exist without impinging on Shariah restrictions.” According to Muftah, there could be separate theaters for males and females without it affecting the quality of theater, adding society requires such a move.
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The new head of the Saudi Human Right Commission (this is the government-sponsored human rights organization) is wasting no time in framing the upcoming UN’s Universal Periodic Review of Saudi Arabia’s human rights practices. While extolling the improvements in the country’s practices—and there have been significant changes—he acknowledges that the country will get criticized for it failings—also significant. I think he’s applying a bit of professional spin if he sees the situation as “70% favorable”, though. I’d put it more like 35% or 40%. From the uneven legal status of women to the total lack of religious freedom, the shortcomings are major.
Mr. Al-Aiban is new on the job. He is still, I’m sure, learning the ropes (or as bureaucrats generally put it, ‘learning where the bodies are buried’). I’m more than willing to give him time and look forward to his response to the UN report when it is issued. That will give a clear indication of just how he sees his mission.
New human rights chief welcomes UN’s review process
Walaa Hawari I Arab NewsRIYADH: The new chief of the governmental Human Rights Commission (HRC), Bandar Al-Aiban, said in an interview with Arab News yesterday that Saudi Arabia welcomes criticism and, “looks forward to rectifying the possible points” made in a recent review of the status of human rights in the Kingdom by the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Al-Aiban, a former Shoura Council member, said the Kingdom is going through a period of change, and that the people are full of hope and determination to effect it.
“I was not able to fully review the responses and criticism that was addressed to the Kingdom after the UPR review in Geneva,” said Al-Aiban, referring to the so-called Universal Periodic Review, a mechanism of OHCHR to review the human rights conditions of all 192 members of the UN every four years, which is conducted by the UN Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia is currently a member of this council.
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Now that the tremor caused by the major reworking of the Saudi governmental establishment has had a chance to settle, I’d like to take a look at what it means—well, what it might mean. Saudi ‘man in the street’ reactions range from ‘A new day has dawned!’ to ‘It’s about time!’ So far, I’ve not seen any published criticism that the changes have gone too far or in the wrong direction. I’m sure there are Saudi who believe that, though.
Arab News runs a piece which gets the ideas that the new Ministers for Health and for Justice hope to implement. It’s interesting reading:
Al-Rabeeah pledges to revamp health sector. Both recognize that the current systems are inadequate for today’s Saudi Arabia. Among the main problems they both identify is the quantity and quality of manpower to meet demands. That is certainly the case. The legal reforms now underway are critically hinged on training new judges in new ways of thinking. Demand for health care in the Kingdom is growing. More facilities in more locations are needed and those need new staff. Where they will come from is a question yet to be answered, but training within the Kingdom must take place alongside recruitment of foreign workers.
Saudi Gazette reports that the new Information Minister is taking up the usual refrain of ‘We need to do a better job of explaining ourselves and Islam’. That’s not terribly encouraging, but it’s to be expected. It’s reported that he will be meeting with Saudi media heads—I suppose to give them an indication of how he intends to lead the Ministry. What he says to them and whether he intends a lessening of government interference in a free media is yet to be determined.
The changes in leadership at the Ministry of Education are very significant, in my view. Not only does the new Minister have considerably clout within the government, especially as he is a member of the ruling family, but his background in security provides him with the information he needs to root out the extremists burrowed deep within the Saudi educational system. Further, in a change not earlier noted, there will be a new Deputy Minister of Education, Faisal Al-Muammar, who had been head of the National Dialogues program that sought to get Saudis talking to each other on substantive and sometimes tendentious issues. This, I think, suggests that tolerance of differing viewpoints is going to be the rule, not the exception.
I’ve noticed that the changes announced line up quite well as responses to criticisms appearing in the United Nations ‘periodic review’ of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record. The full, tri-annual review, due to be reported later this month, will take Saudi Arabia to task for serious failings in reaching international standards for human rights. The failings are all the more serious because the country is one of the members of the UN’s Human Rights Commission.
Turki Al-Sudairi was replaced as the head of the government-supported Human Right Commission. No one offered much in the way of major criticism of the way he did his job, but it is believed that a younger leader was necessary to face the enormous tasks ahead.
Respect for religious freedom an issue that is going to be constantly drummed upon over the coming years. Implementing a Grand Ulema Commission that includes all schools of Sunni Islam—consequently breaking up the strangle hold that the Saudi interpretation of the Hanbali school had enjoyed—might do great good. It would have been even better had the newly comprised Commission included representatives of the various Shi’a schools, at least those practiced in Saudi Arabia, but one step at a time is better than no steps.
The role of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has been changed. The new General President, Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Humayen Al-Humayen, has announced that ‘innocent until proven guilty’ will be the rule and that forgiveness, not punishment will be the new approach. How well that is implemented and how quickly or thoroughly the individual members of the Commission get on board of course remains to be seen.
All in all, I do find the changes to be significant and encouraging for those seeking modernization of the Saudi political and social situations. King Abdullah has laid down very clear markers of what he expects of his government and its relationship with his people and they trend toward moderation and tolerance. Some—perhaps they are only optimists—say that these changes are only the beginning, that further changes will be announced later this year. Those who wish the best for Saudi Arabia can hope.
Saudi King Abdullah has instituted the first Cabinet shake-up since ascending to the throne in 2005. Changes in the Saudi cabinet mark major developments for the Saudi government. Information is still developing, but according to this Times of India Report (and thanks to commenter DW for alerting me to the shakeup and providing additional information). Donna Abu-Nasr, reporting for Associated Press, also has filed a story that is now being picked up by international media. The website for the Saudi Press Agency, the authoritative source for government information, is having some sort of trouble as I cannot access it right now.
The changes:
• Norah al-Faiz is appointed as a Deputy Minister for Girls’ Education, a new position, and the first senior female government official;
• Saleh bin Humaid, head of the Shoura Council, replaces Sheikh Salah al-Luhaidan, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Council;
• Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Humain replaces Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith as head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice;
• Mohammed al Jasser, the former vice governor, replaces Hamad Saud al-Sayyari as governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA)
• Prince Faisal bin Abdullah replaces Abdullah Al-Obaid as Minister of Education;
• Abdullah al-Rabia replaces Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Mane as Minister of Health;
• Abdul-Aziz al-Khoja, former Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, replaces Iyad bin Ameen Madani as Minister of Culture & Information;
• Abdullah al-Sheikh, former Minister of Justice, replaced Humaid who moved up to the Supreme Judicial Council;
• The King also announced the reestablishment of the Grand Ulema Commission, pulling together all Sunni Muslim factions to offer scholarly advice on issues.
My first take on this shuffle is that the Saudi religious establishment has been taken down a couple of notches, big notches. Al-Luhaidan became notorious for his ‘Mickey Mouse’ [Sorry, that was Sheikh Muhammad Munajid] and ‘death to broadcasters’ fatwas. This was not only embarrassing to the government, but actually scared many Saudis. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, of course, has been a constant concern for many Saudis who, while supporting in the mission of the Commission, believed it was acting without sufficient control and had been arbitrary and abusive in its acts.
The re-establishment of the Grand Ulema Commission undercuts the authority of the Salafist trend within the Saudi religious establishment. It calls for working toward agreements that all Sunni Muslims find acceptable, not just the hardest of the hard-liners.
Clearly, appointing a woman to a senior position is a direct challenge to those who believe a woman’s ‘place’ is sheltered at home in a unisexual universe.
The change perhaps most directly important to the US is the change of the Minister of Education. News reports do not give a full name of which “Prince Faisal bin Abdullah” is named. It might be the King’s son, “Faisal bin Abdullah bin Abdelaziz”, but it’s more likely that it’s “Faisal bin Adbullah bin Mohammed”, the Assistant Director of General Intelligence. That being the case, then this move means that the government is deadly serious about rooting out extremism in the Saudi education system. It has been reported that this Prince Faisal had been working in the background to track them down. Now, he would be in a position to remove them definitively.
All in all, this is a pretty nice Valentine’s Day present to the Saudi people, even if the Commission doesn’t believe in celebrating it!
Links to more on the story:
Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Khaleej Times, BBC.
In another blow to the stereotype of boundlessly rich Saudis, Arab News reports that somewhere around 50% of all Saudis cannot afford to own their own homes. It’s might be 40%, it might be 60%, but a very large part of Saudi society is not well enough heeled to own the roofs over its head. A combination of poor education about economics and finance (a global problem, apparently) and bureaucratic hurdles simply make it too complicated for people to own their own houses. The Saudi National Society of Human Rights is taking up the issue.
60% Saudis don’t have own houses, says NSHR chief
P.K. Abdul Ghafour | Arab NewsJEDDAH: From 45 to 60 percent of Saudis are unable to own houses and heads of nearly 35,000 Saudi families earn less than SR2,000 a month, according to Mufleh Al-Qahtani, president of the National Society of Human Rights.
Al-Qahtani made the remarks while speaking to reporters after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Establishment for Education and Training (SEET). The agreement is aimed at providing education and training to members of needy families.
Al-Qahtani said NSHR had received complaints from many people about businesses denying them jobs despite having the necessary qualifications.
“When we investigated the reasons behind this, we found that the standard of training they received was poor while their educational qualifications were insufficient,” he said.
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Valentine’s Day, named after a 3rd C. Christian saint, but now (almost) universally understood as a secular holiday on which people pay a little more attention to their personal relationships, bothers the bejeebers out of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. They cannot separate the fact that human relationships—particularly emotional relationships—are universal and perhaps worthy of acknowledging from the fact that there’s some Christian dude in the background, that the idea wasn’t invented in the Muslim world, and the whole thing about love and maybe even sex is not something we should be talking about in public. So, every year as February 14 roles along, the Commission does what it always does: try to suppress the observation of the holiday in Saudi Arabia. Cultural imperialism, inappropriate behavior, sentiments dangerous to religious purity… all reasons to shun St. Valentine. At least they’re not alone in this as the Hindutva elements in India share the outrage against the expanding globalization that shrinks our world.
So, for your annual edification and amusement, here’s this year’s story about the Haya’s efforts in getting upset over the trivial and people’s efforts to go around them. The story casts Saudi society into such good light that the Saudi-bashers can hardly wait for the opportunity to pick up their cudgels. Good job, Haya!
Red rose ‘price index’ shows Valentine’s spike
Sultan Altamimi & Omar Mohamed | Arab NewsJEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice intensified its vigilance over flower, chocolate and gift shops to confiscate items related to Valentine’s Day, a perennial crackdown on a holiday perceived by many to be both Western and immoral.
Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, head of the commission’s branch in Makkah province, said the agency has instructions to eliminate any activities aimed at celebrating this event or sell products related to it.
“This is based on the teachings of Shariah. God ordained Muslims to celebrate their own festivals in place of un-Islamic ones,” he said. “So Muslims are not allowed to celebrate any festivals other than Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha.”
Arab News toured a number of shops selling flowers, chocolates and assorted gifts. All but one of the stores avoided any hint in their displays of merchandise that Valetine’s Day is tomorrow.
But money talks even if most shopkeepers don’t: The price of red roses have gone up as much as 10 times the regular price, indicating a demand.
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For an example of how this story goes out to global media, here’s Donna Abu-Nasr’s report for the Associated Press: Religious police break hearts in Saudi Arabia
I’m bumping this post to the top because I’ve found a terrific picture of the sandstorm and its full extent as it crosses Saudi Arabia. The photo comes from Earth Snapshot.
Credit: Earth Snapshot
A major sandstorm is working its way across Saudi Arabia, from the northwest to the southeast. Both Riyadh and Dammam are experiencing situations where visibility is down to a few meters and heavy winds are blowing trucks around the highways. Many activities, naturally, are being postpones or canceled. The photos below give a hint of what it’s like in the Eastern Province:
Credit: Arab News
Credit: Saudi Gazette
Sandstorms blanket Riyadh, Dammam
Mohammed Rasooldeen & Faiz Al-Mazrouei | Arab NewsRIYADH/DAMMAM: Heavy sandstorms across the central and eastern regions caused major traffic jams in Riyadh and flight delays in Dammam yesterday.
The capital city was enveloped in a blanket of darkness. “I could not see beyond one vehicle; the visibility was only several meters,” said Nasser Ahmed, a communication officer at a private firm, adding that motorists were driving slowly with their hazard lights on.
“I was snarled up in traffic for nearly an hour on the highway. The cars were not moving at all,” said Abdullah, who arrived at work an hour late. “It was very dark and vehicles were crawling.”
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Find Saudi Gazette coverage here.
While there aren’t all that many—nor enough—Saudi women in the workplace, the Shoura Council is working to ensure that there are laws to protect them from sexual harassment on the job. I think it is part of a move on the part of the government as a whole to make it easier for women to work and for their families to accept the fact with some sense that their honor and dignity will be protected. Usefully, there will not only be laws to govern the behavior, there will be punishments for those who transgress. As always, though, it will come down to the equal imposition of the law and its punishments that will be tested.
The days of ‘casting couches’ or ‘sleeping one’s way to the top’ aren’t that distant in the West, after all. But if bosses are held to account, then these laws might indeed make it easier for women to work and for Saudization begin to take effect.
Saudi Tackles Sexual Harassment in the Workplace
Waeila Abdul KarimRiyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat – Saudi Arabia is considering legislating laws aimed at tackling sexual harassment particularly in the work place, the punishment for which could be up to three years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Saudi Riyals [SR].
A specialized subcommittee within the Shura Council is engaged in issuing laws to curtail the phenomena of sexual harassment in the work place in light of draft laws that have already been prepared and are being studied by the Shura Council.
Dr. Talal Bakri, Chairman of the Committee for Social, Family and Youth Affairs within the Shura Council, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he expected the new subcommittee to help speed up legislation and that proper punishments will be decided via the Islamic Affairs subcommittee. The punishment will be equal to the violation and each case of sexual harassment needs to be studied in order to determine a suitable punishment. The Islamic Affairs subcommittee will name the authority that will undertake the implementation of the draft law. He added that new legislations would contribute greatly to curbing the phenomena of sexual harassment.
For his part, Dr. Mazen Abdul Raziq Belila, a member of the Shura Council told Asharq Al-Awsat that he had suggested discussing legislation to combat sexual harassment and this was approved by the concerned subcommittee. He presented the discussion once again to the Minister of Justice who said that his ministry would back the law once endorsed by the Shura Council.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that a member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is under investigation for exceeding his remit by conducting an investigation of his own in the south western city of Al-Baha. Under the law, Commission members are not authorized to investigate crimes. They may only report them to the police who do have investigative authority.
The Haya official under scrutiny
Ali SamanAL–BAHA – The head of the Abha branch of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, popularly known as the Haya, is being questioned for his role in investigating a person for blackmailing a girl. The official is under scrutiny for ignoring guidelines from the Interior Ministry which stipulate that the Haya’s role is just to arrest the suspect and refer him to police for investigations. Sources said the Haya official picked up the young man accused of blackmailing a girl from his workplace and questioned him in utter violation of the ministry’s instructions. – Okaz/SG
It makes sense that if government employees are taking bribes and kickbacks to do their jobs, it just might be that they’re not getting paid enough. Saudi Gazette reports that the Ministry of Municipal & Rural Affairs is going to give allowances, in the amount of 30% of base salary, to its employees in an effort to reduce corruption. Sounds like a good idea.
I’ve actually been rather amazed at how low salaries are for Saudi government employees, often under US $1,000/month. Saudi Arabia is not a cheap country in which to live, never mind the pressures to ‘keep up with the Joneses’.
30% allowance proposed for municipal employees
Mohammad Sa’eed Al-ZahraniTAIF – Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs is studying a proposal to give an allowance equivalent to 30 percent of the basic salary to its employees dealing with the public. The allowance is basically meant to prevent these employees from evil temptations such as bribes offered to them by unscrupulous people.
Prince Dr. Mansour Bin Mit’eb Bin Abdul Aziz, Deputy Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs, was recently briefed about the proposal, Dr. Hashim Al-Zeer, chairman of the Taif Municipality Council, said here Monday. He said Prince Dr. Mansour has asked the council to carry out a detailed study of the proposal and submit it to the ministry.
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Saudi Gazette/Okaz report on a story which is either a miscarriage of justice along the lines of ‘Qatif Girl’ or else there’s an awful lot of information that the court did not make available to the media.
If the story is indeed completely reported, then it’s another indication that the Saudi legal system needs the major overhaul now started. I’m not apologizing for the court here, but there’s information missing that might make this other than it seems.
First off, is the woman telling the truth? We don’t know as the court documents have not been released.
Second, are there circumstances not reported? I think there must be as the crime of ‘adultery’ implies that there is a spouse somewhere. If she were not married, then the crime would be ‘fornication’. The sentence given seems more along the lines of that handed out for fornication: adultery would likely have led to the death penalty.
The court apparently did not release any information about the four men allegedly involved. It also did not use the word ‘rape’ to describe what happened to the girl.
Now, that can be because the court was not doing its job and for whatever reason is given the men an easy ride. On the other hand, it could be that the assault did not happen or did not happen in the way the woman alleges.
It’s clear that there’s something wrong with this story. The problem is we can’t tell just what that is…
[UPDATE: It's not clear just when this article appeared in Saudi Gazette. The paper's website does not date individual article, but rather constantly shows today's date. The story is not in the current issue. It was forwarded to me both as a link and an image file. It's possible that this is an old story.]
[UPDATE: I'm informed that this article appeared in the Feb. 8 edition. I don't know how I missed it.]
Girl gets a year in jail, 100 lashes for adultery
Adnan ShabrawiJEDDAH – A 23-year-old unmarried woman was awarded one-year prison term and 100 lashes for committing adultery and trying to abort the resultant fetus.
The District Court in Jeddah pronounced the verdict on Saturday after the girl confessed that she had a forced sexual intercourse with a man who had offered her a ride.
The man, the girl confessed, took her to a rest house, east of Jeddah, where he and four of friends assaulted her all night long.
The girl claimed that she became pregnant soon after and went to King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces in an attempt to carry out an abortion. She was eight weeks’ pregnant then, the hospital confirmed.
According to the ruling, the woman will be sent to a jail outside Jeddah to spend her time and will be lashed after delivery of her baby who will take the mother’s last name. – Okaz/SG
Arab Media & Society runs an essay by Amb. Bill Rugh, a now-retired Public Diplomacy practitioner [and for full disclosure, who was also my boss at several points in my career]. Rugh takes a look at how the function of Public Diplomacy—particularly that directed toward the Arab world—has been downgraded since 1999, when the US Information Agency (USIA) was dismantled and merged into the US Department of State.
The essay [11-page PDF document can be downloaded here] takes a look at the successes (few) and failures (many) that took place during the latter days of the Clinton Administration and throughout the Bush Administration. It suggests changes for the Obama Administration that would serve to honestly promote the United States and explain its policies abroad. It is worth reading in full.
Rugh, in my opinion, does not go far enough, though there are likely good reasons for that. The US Information Agency had been charged with ‘telling America’s story to the world’, explaining and promoting US foreign policy, and advising the Administration and the general American public about matters of foreign affairs. It was also charged to do it honestly, ‘warts and all’. Discussing problems in America or its policies is not a way to win friends and influence in Washington. The Agency had to constantly fight rear-guard actions against politicians who would be outraged that an element of the government might offer reasoned criticism of that very government. Admittedly, that’s a tricky proposition, but it was one that very much excited my interests. Having spent much of my youth abroad, I was well aware that foreign audiences weren’t getting a full or accurate picture of the US. It was a job that needed to be done and needed to be done well.
When USIA was rolled into State, the mission of Public Diplomacy was deprecated, funding reduced, and the authority of professionals was subordinated to an administration that neither understood the mission or thought much of it. Public Diplomacy needs to be separated from the bureaucracy of State Department, not just buffed up a bit.
Repairing American public diplomacy
William RughIt is widely believed among academics who study the subject, and among former practitioners, that public diplomacy has not achieved its full potential,[1] and we are hopeful that the Obama Administration will now solve some of its problems. This essay focuses on the most important challenges, which in many ways concern broadcasting to the Arab world.
Public diplomacy is of course not a panacea. America’s foreign policy decisions such as the Iraq war, or its policies at home such as the Patriot Act and Guantanamo detentions, have been strongly criticized abroad, undermining our international reputation and respect. Public diplomacy by itself cannot eliminate all criticism of our policies. It can only help to mitigate objections by explaining the U.S. government’s reasons for these policies, and by reminding foreign audiences of the aspects of America they still admire, in its society, culture and political system.
It is also true that the election of Barack Obama, which has generated a generally positive reaction around the world, will not by itself burnish America’s tarnished image abroad. His new policies may help, but misunderstandings of the United States will continue, out of ignorance or deliberate distortion. Public diplomacy programs can help present an accurate picture of America to foreign audiences, a task more important than ever in this age of 24/7 information proliferation.
What are the systemic problems hindering U.S. public diplomacy and how can the Obama Administration fix them?
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