Thank goodness for TVs in hospital rooms, after reading 3 newspapers I was still bored and there was still an awful lot of time to kill. Hence, channel surfing (what there were anyway) began to haphazardly land on Dubai TV which at that time (around 2:10pm) they were interviewing Shaikh Ali Salman the President of Al-Wefaq society. I tried to publish the following here through my mobile phone but unfortunately it seems that I have screwed up the settings, so I’ll just copy and paste it below:
I just watched an interview with the head of Al-Wefaq political society with Dawood Al-Sharyan on Dubai TV and he rocked! He portrayed an astute politician and said all the right things including his insistance on respect of human rights, the rule of law, partnership with the political leadership, peaceful politics, consistent economic support, encourage investment and foreign direct investment, and most importantly for me is his view that mosque and state should be separated when he was talking about Iraq, at least I hope this is what I heard. There were other topics in this excellent and wide ranging interview.
I don’t doubt his sincerity at all. I hope for his sake that others in his group won’t let him down.
Comments
Ali Salman rocked!
Hi Mahmood,
Firstly, i hope your father gets well soon.. allah yishafeeh o yigowma bilsalama..
Secondly, how I laughed and laughed when I read you’re post!!!!!!!!! We should be thankful to the undesirable surroundings of a hospital room for you to make such a statement about Ali Salman. Dare I remind you the [url=http://bahraniat.blogspot.com/2004/11/updated-opposition-view-on-dubai-tv.html]debate we had about Ali Salman’s first appearance on the same program on Dubai TV back in November of last year[/url].
“who is this presenter you vouch for?” Mahmood said. It seems this presenter can’t get enough of Ali Salman, twice in a row he has been invited.
Oh how time flies!! Back then you accused me of being ‘turned on by Alwefaq
Ali Salman rocked!
To be honest I didn’t watch the whole thing this time. But I caught a few minutes of it before I had leave. The point I found interesting was the need for the government to mobilise domestic investment. This is a very important factor in economic development. With all the attention in the government focussing on foreign investment, what about the local investor? What about the domestic investment infrastructure? Businessmen are stifled in an inefficient corrupt system, yet any foreign investor gets given the red-carpet treatment if they bribe the right people. Ali Salman proposes not just a political agenda but also an economic one that flips the coin.
Re: Ali Salman rocked!
I hereby unashamedly eat my words. I could have been mistaken in my judgement. Since that initial comment you referred to however, I have been trying to follow Ali Salman’s progress and stances without being prejudicial about him personally or his politics to try to understand what he’s standing for. Make no mistake however that although I do have respect for him, I will object to him mixing religion and politics.
What made me come around is that he did not use the religion/sectarian flag to make his point stick during the interview, and I note in any of his Friday speaches which I have read.
He is very committed, intellegent AND a political animal. He’s hard to corner as the interviewer found. He was also respectful of other political societies and only had good things to say about them, especially respecting their democratic right to protest against Al-Wefaq, his own society, but resolutely asking them to also respect his and its stands.
Bahrania, I respect the man and where he stands as well as his intelligence. I am concerned however about the sectarian make-up of Al-Wefaq and their insistance on mixing religion with politics as well as politicising various events without the need to. I am worried about his board of directors and others within the Al-wefaq who oppose for opposition’s sake rather than thinking a problem through.
I hope, being the largest most effective society we have now which effectively controls the Kingdom as far as municipalities are concerned, that they will run for 2006, and they will raise the flag of democracy to carry them through rather than religion. The last thing we need is sectarianism. Listening to Salman, that’s the last on his mind as well… however, it might well be the first in the minds of the 70,000 members they have.
Re: Ali Salman rocked!
That’s another thing that completely grabbed my attention. He was talking about economics, labour, and education reforms that I haven’t heard him speak so vehemently about before.
Re: Ali Salman rocked!
😀
Ali Salman rocked!
Your father sounds like a very tough man. I hope all is well.
Ali Salman rocked!
last post from Mike in the US
Ali Salman rocked!
Mahmood,
How on Earth are you going to keep your Dad entertained while he is in hospital? It’s very very boring being an in-patient. We use Mr Whetstone’s laptop to play DVDs, but in your Dad’s case, unless he is mad keen on musicals, he wouldn’t derive much interest from that. Here are a few ideas I cobbled together:
Do you have an Arabic Talking Book service for the blind?
Teach him to operate a portable recorder so that he can record his reminiscences of his youth, and Bahrain in the old days. Or even put together some stories. He is, after all, a very creative man.
If he still has good manual dexterity, buy him some Meccano or even Lego, so he can design and build models and structures.
Chess set?
Over here, they get the hip patients drilled and pinned within a couple of hours of admission. Then after the first 48 hours, they get them out of bed, and walk them around a little. That just sounds a bit callous, but in practice the patients benefit from this spartan regime. However your Dad has additional complications arising from his low blood pressure. They probably won’t want him getting mobilised unless he is under their supervision, at least for a while. Perhaps in the fullness of time they will allow you to take him to the hospital refectory in a wheelchair. If so, highly recommended. Most patients get a bit jaded with hospital food, but while enjoying a meal with the family around them, they tuck in with enthusiasm.
Best wishes, and good luck
Meggie
Ali Salman rocked!
Hey, I thought you were an anti-Shiite Sunni who couldn’t stand Shaikh Salman! Seriously, I read that somewhere.
Guess I shouldn’t believe everything I read on the internet. :o)