Fucked if I know...Saudi liberals in struggle for rights, freedoms
Backed by the crown prince, they are locked in a heated but quiet debate
with conservative factions
JEDDAH - Liberals and conservatives are vying for the upper hand in a
heated debate on reforms in Saudi Arabia, fuelled by last month's rare
meeting between reformers and de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah.
At least a dozen pro-reform articles have been published in local
newspapers to discuss a landmark reform petition, including a front-page
editorial in the government-controlled Okaz daily entitled Yes To Reforms.
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The petition, drafted and signed by 104 prominent Saudis and submitted to
Prince Abdullah earlier, calls for a new social contract based on what
signatories say are the ideals of Islamic democracy and, eventually,
constitutional rule.
Western diplomats have described it as a 'radical' document for Saudi
Arabia, although it followed a leak in the Saudi press of calls by the
crown prince for wide-ranging political reform across the Arab world.
But the Shura Council, Saudi Arabia's unelected consultative assembly, has
complained publicly that it has yet to see the reform document, let alone
debate its contents, while a website detailing its agenda has been blocked.
In another sign that some key officials oppose the reforms, an edition of
the Saudi-owned, pan-Arab al-Hayat daily recently appeared with an in-house
advert instead of an advertised article on the reformist agenda.
'It was killed by the Ministry of Information,' said Mr Dawood al-Shirian,
al-Hayat's Riyadh-based Gulf chief.
Mr Khalid al-Dakhil, a Riyadh university professor who was one of the 104
signatories of the reformist petition, said they had a tacit understanding
with Prince Abdullah that they will not raise a loud public debate at this
stage.
'There is fear of a backlash from the Islamists,' he explained. He said the
prince had told reformers that while he personally agreed that change was
needed, he would not be able to bring it about on his own.
'There are other forces, both in the government and in Saudi society, which
have to be taken account of, and the process is going to be long,' Mr
al-Dakhil said in summarising the crown prince's comments, based on
conversations with the 40 who attended the meeting.
Diplomats say some members of the ruling al-Saud family are opposed to
change, while many senior religious leaders fear their traditional
influence over people in the kingdom, the birthplace of Islam, will be eroded.
'The debate is vibrant, but largely behind closed doors,' Saudi businessman
and columnist Hussein Shobokshi said.
Couched carefully in the rhetoric of national unity and the ultimate
legitimacy of the royal family, the petition calls for elections to the
Shura Council, an end to corruption, universal suffrage and an independent
judiciary.
It also advocates women's rights, municipal elections, the right of free
association, freedom of speech, the monitoring of public spending and the
eradication of the national debt.
It calls for the abolition of all discrimination - sectarian, regional and
social - and a public amnesty or fair trial for anyone imprisoned for
criticising the system.
Reformers say they also want to restructure the education system to cater
to the needs of a growing job market at a time of high unemployment,
estimated at between 12 and 30 per cent. --Reuters
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