Here’s an article I’d meant to post on last week, while still in Jeddah. It slipped by, but perhaps for the better, as it’s no longer buried in the clutter of the scores of articles on KAUST.

Though I’ve yet to meet him—and missed him at the KAUST inauguration, sadly—Robert Lacey is an interesting fellow. He wrote a book back in the 1980s, The Kingdom, which opened windows on the closeted Kingdom as none before him. His book, as could be anticipated, was banned in the Kingdom. He’s now finished a follow-up to that book, Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia. I’m awaiting my review copy and will review it as soon as possible.

Lacy’s views of KAUST, then, are worth noting. I think he’s exactly put his finger on what the school could mean, but as yet does not mean. The university is all potential, but as a new entity, it cannot yet have substance beyond the physical plant and laboratories. What it becomes is not dependent solely on the university or its faculty, staff, and students, but will rely on other things going on in the country, from the government and its ministers to social changes in other arenas. He is most candid in saying that the experiment of KAUST might not succeed; it’s not a foregone conclusion, though we wish it the best.

The level of scientific research will improve: Robert Lacey
Siraj Wahab | Arab News

THUWAL: Among a galaxy of world leaders, Nobel laureates and well-known professors and scientists at Wednesday’s opening ceremony of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was the British historian Robert Lacey. A distinguished journalist with a fascination for history, he is known very well in the Kingdom for his meticulous research on events that have shaped Saudi Arabia’s history.

He is an author of a number of international bestsellers, including “Majesty” and his earlier book on Saudi Arabia, “The Kingdom.”

Lacey’s new book, “Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia,” will be published next month in London and New York.

In an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of the KAUST opening, Lacey said KAUST would undoubtedly raise the level at which scientific research is conducted in this country. Following are excerpts from the interview:
…

Lacey’s views and books make his presence in the country an interesting puzzle. Why does the Saudi government granted him leave to live in the country while he was researching and writing the book which is most likely to be banned as his earlier one?

I think it’s because he’s getting the story right, that he’s accurate in his details as well as with his broader brushes. Top levels of government can accept that there are flaws in the system, but the general population cannot. Were the book available generally, then the government would spend too much time defending its actions in permitting the book rather than being able to focus on fixing problems. The ban on books in Saudi Arabia is porous. Some books get banned only months after they’ve been on sale. This assures that the most interested already have the books in hand. Others order their copies from foreign bookstores or online. Saudi Customs has clearly been told to lay off their most extreme vetting of titles as many heretofore books are now getting in.