Arab News reports on the second day of the Trainers Forum for Promoting Dialogue, focusing on the comments by the Ministers for Islamic Affairs and Education. It’s refreshing that the Minister for Islamic Affairs points out that the mosques should not be restricted to discussions of theology alone, but should also take up issues of society, like domestic violence.
The Minister of Education in turn points out that developing critical thinking skills is crucial to education. By developing these skills in schools, the individual is better able to identify and deal with extremist views. He also stated that while the Internet offers easy access to vices, it is a vital tool for commerce and the free exchange of useful information.
The conference ends today in Riyadh.
‘Human element in mosques counts’
Walaa Hawari | Arab NewsRIYADH: Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Al-Asheikh said during the second session of the Certified Trainers Forum for Promoting Dialogue that the mosque is just a place and that human element in this place is what counts.
Al-Asheikh said during Sunday’s session entitled “The Importance of Mosques in Promoting Dialogue” that training programs are available for preachers to equip them with necessary knowledge and tools. For example, one program urges one monthly Friday sermon on the evils of domestic violence.
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Saudi Gazette focuses on the Minister of Education’s vow to end rote learning in Saudi schools:
Rote learning has become a bane in Saudi education. It closes off any opportunity for a student to question, never mind challenge, what is being taught. It also promotes dictatorial behavior on the part of teachers, a ‘my way or the highway’ mindset.
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July:07:2009 - 14:35
As noted five years ago, the dialogue process was seen as necessary “due to the prevalence of a unilateral intellectual status for a long period of time which resulted in the occurrence of a huge social disunion.” link which could pull apart the state. In Western countries matters of national import are discussed in the legislatures, but Saudi Arabia, being drenched in oil money, inverts the usual rule and follows “no representation without taxation”. The whole thing about creating a “national culture of dialogue” thus seems to be a uniquely Saudi initiative.
Yet how can the lack of debate in the Arab press beyond the intellectual elite indicate anything other than the failure, or at least ineffectiveness, of it all? The official process seems hemmed in by so many strictures – like the emphasis on Islam rather than Robert’s Rules of Order – that I would guess the process is self-limiting.
Furthermore, what use is it? As Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Al-Asheikh put it, “the world is not driven by dialogue alone, but also by the determination of decision makers.” So nothing the “little people” of Saudi Arabia say will make a dime of difference, will it?
What am I missing?
July:08:2009 - 08:01
What’s missing? Perhaps some bonne volonté? Saudi nationals are getting involved in the discussions. In print media, but on radio and TV call in shows, Saudis are debating. The government’s efforts to push dialogue in as many fora as it can identify means that the ‘one voice’ is losing its control. There is more room for discussion, even within the government. Younger princes are feeling free enough to voice their own opinions and opposition.
Promoting dialogue gives the needed space to push back the power of individual decision makers—actually, never that strong a force in the KSA—and brings more voices and more points of view into the decision-making.