I can, and it stinks to high heaven.
What would you do if you have an over-flowing, uncovered, rat- and bug-infested cesspit in front of your house? Spray it with perfume hoping that it’ll fix the problem? Or would you raise hell, exert all effort and even spend your own hard-earned cash to find intrinsic solutions to the problem? You have to radically fix the situation, otherwise the whole household will be down with all manner of ailments.
Our government, however, seems to prefer the “spraying with perfume” solution, rather than honest to God hard work to get Bahrain on the right track. The Al-Khawajah affair is a case in point.
We have a dickhead who has become a living legend and martyr rolled into one because of the short-sighted, knee-jerk reaction of a government which should have known better. The government has also demonstrated to the whole world how fragile the country is, as single event or person can hold it hostage, derailing years of earnest work and progress. But the whole world doesn’t know what we know:
Tribalism. In Arab lore and tradition, one idiom stands above all others: “My brother and I against our cousin, my cousin and I against a stranger” and this seems to have been the attitude of this charade.
Forces loyal to the prime minister, who is the king’s uncle, have hesitatingly moved to strike down Al-Khawajah for accusing the PM of mismanagement, and other than demanding the resignation of the PM, he also asked God to intervene. “They” have taken this as a chance to make an example of Al-Khawajah but as we have seen, the plan backfired miserably. If previously only Al-Khawajah publicly demanded the resignation of the PM at his seminar, now we have thousands no longer just whispering that demand, but boldly going out in the streets with posters, placards and loud-hailers demanding it.
How is that different from the film and facts presented at the Crown Prince’s labour market reforms workshop? I suggest that the facts, figures, movies and discussions which ensued at the workshop are much more damaging to the PM than Abdulhadi could EVER hope any of his efforts to come to. The difference of course is method of delivery, and application.
That’s not the problem though. It’s not someone demanding the resignation of a public official, the problem is deeper than that. If you are a follower of Bahraini shenanigans, you would have already deduced that the prime minister enjoys tremendous clout, and that he in fact is the de facto ruler of these islands enjoying tremendous power, prestige, economic strength and a very loyal following, while the King is literally the new kid on the block who is trying to carve a place for himself in history.
The complication is that the King and the Crown Prince are seen as the camp of progress and the future, thus enjoying tremendous goodwill from their subjects, while the PM and his ministers and government organisations are seen as detractors of change and promoters of corruption. This is the classic case of never the twain shall meet, but meet they do and have as the foremost thing in our culture is tribal fealty.
How can the King sack the prime minister who is his uncle? Tribal law and decency says no way, the uncle is the elder and by his age he is the de facto tribal leader, hence should be given respect and listened to and there is no way in hell that you would want to give your uncle anything but huge respect his age deserves.
But there are precedents for the young over-ruling the old not too far away from our own shores: in Qatar, the current amir over-threw his own father and taken over the country, in Oman the Sultan shot his own father and taken over the throne, in the UAE the recently departed Shaikh Zayed took over from his elder brother.
These events took an inordinate amount of courage and more importantly the realisation that there was a real need to deal with an endemic situation that required much more than perfume spray to gloss over germane problems.
Once radical solutions were adopted however, in ALL three situations the people of those countries faired MUCH better because of the courageous and radical change! They are still enjoying the fruits of that change.
Is that a hint to be adopted here? I don’t know. What I do know is that the stink has reached heaven and something radical must be done about it. Perfume spraying and rosy prose won’t cut it anymore.
Comments
Can you smell that?
It is very sad that the only international exposure Bahrain has received in the last year has to do with (i) the cancellation of big brother (all the UK newspapers) (ii) the arrest of al Khawaja (actually made a large article in the Financial Times – the international newspaper read globally by the world’s financial institutions and decision makers and (iii) the ‘pardoning’ of al Khawaja (yesterday it was the breaking news banner headline on the BBC website).
This is devastating for Bahrain and confirms the stereotypical view that other countries may have of the Gulf.
On a separate point, Sultan Qaboos did not ‘shoot his father’. It was a totally bloodless and calm removal and the old Sultan retired to the Dorchester Hotel in London where he happily spent the rest of his days, passing away due to natural causes.
Re: Can you smell that?
Thanks for correcting me TJ. I was sure that Qaboos shot his father in the leg, at least not fatally. Glad to know that he didn’t and it was a bloodless coup. The essense of the idea is that change is doable, even if it means forcebly/gently/insistantly/nicely encouraging an elder to move out of the way.
Can you smell that?
Mahmood,
I am going to play devil’s advocate here for a second. I dont think it is just the leadership that needs to sort itself out – I think its actually the people that also need to sort itself out.
I dont get how we can with one breath march AGAINST the US Embassy when it comes to Iraq, and then march TO the US Embassy when it comes to Al Khawaja.
I dont understand why we get bent out of shape over alcohol inside the country and argue that we are an Arab, Moslem country and follow our own norms – and then we get equally bent out of shape when we march on the streets in support of the Fallujah freedom fighters, de facto following the norms of others.
We say we want an open modern society, but I dont think we are really willing to adopt the costs of what that means .. I think that we are much less willing to adopt change and the pain that it implies than we think. I think that we tend to value stability much more than we tend to value change – and- I think that we are all guilty of approaching the issue with a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mentality ..
Re(1): Can you smell that?
Actually, it was reported that Qaboos did shoot big daddy in the caboose — or at least near (the leg/thigh). Either way, he did set sail for London and lived in style for the duration 😉
Salaam,
PM
Re: Can you smell that?
Agreed. It takes two to tango, but if I could take an analogy from the business world: the first reason a company fails is due to management, the second is also due to management and so is the third.
If there is obvious and glaring disparity between the top management, the workers will only use that disparity to wreak havoc, or at least further their own – mostly selfish – endeavors. Much like a child working a parent against the other so that he can get the sweets or the toy.
There is a problem of rudders and leadership as well. People by nature need someone to look up to, if that person or entity is hesitant, unsure or insincere, then people will remain rudderless, or more dangerously follow an unworthy symbol.
I personally feel that what is happening here in Bahrain – apart from what I alluded to in the article – is the love of the middle ground! Everyone is looking for a compromise, rather than the best way to go forward. Look at what happened in parliament with the fight between the Islamists (both sides), the dickheads have nothing better to do other than accuse each other of murderous intent? We know that both are murderers of thought, and now we know that they both support terrorists. I felt almost happy when that hapless brainless Al-A’ali stood up and called the Fallujians terrorists, only to go and amend his stance and take the middle ground (again) when shouted down by a terrorist supporter and Shi’a hater! There is no way that we will find any of these yoboes taking a stand on principal, even if right!
But what would you expect? Nothing from this collection of neophytes. And don’t hold your breath for what’s coming up in 2006 EVEN IF the boycotters decided to end their boycott and get on with democratic life.
My contention JJ is that wherever you look in Bahrain now you see evidence of a huge rudderless ship. We have two (maybe more if you include the “street” and who represents them) captains giving diametrically opposite directions to the helmsman, who most of the time is asleep!
The thing is broke and has been for some time. We need it fixed, because the alternative is unworthy of this island and its people.