Saudi king's government shakeup hailed as 'bold'

BOLD REFORMS: King Abdullah named 4 new ministers and changed number of top justice-sector jobs. (Getty Images)

Saudis on Sunday cheered King Abdullah's sweeping government shakeup as a bold step forward, a day after he sacked two powerful conservative religious figures and named the country's first-ever woman minister.

"Bold reform" Hayat newspaper said in its headline, while the Saudi Gazette heralded the move as a "Boost for reform" in the Muslim kingdom.

"Everything is fantastic. This is what we have been fighting for," said Ibrahim Mugaiteeb, leader of the Human Rights First Society, who has for years done battle with Abdullah's and previous governments over rights violations.

Abdullah on Saturday announced the first major shakeup of the government since he became king in August 2005, naming four new ministers, changing a number of top justice-sector jobs, naming 79 new members, according to Hayat, to the consultative Shura Council, and shaking up the Ulema Council, the leading clerics whose interpretations of Islamic rules underpin daily life in the kingdom.

In major changes that appeared to target the most conservative religious clerics who dominate the judiciary, he replaced powerful Supreme Judicial Council head Sheikh Saleh Al Luhaidan, whom Saudi activists say had blocked reforms for years.

And he replaced the head of the Muttawa religious police, hardliner Sheikh Ibrahim Al Ghaith, who had aggressively taken his campaign to enforce a strict version of Islamic mores to the media, challenging other more liberal figures in the government.

"The Saudi government reshuffle announced yesterday is not just a changing of the guard," the Saudi Arab News said in its editorial.

"It is a clear sign of a major transformation in the kingdom."

Few were ready to predict just what changes on the ground could come from the king's moves.

Battles over public morality and women in high jobs have been brewing for years, and the challenges to the Islamic conservatives have grown in recent months.

Women's groups have demanded more rights and the breaking down of barriers that limit their career opportunities; the public has clamoured for movies to be shown in cinemas, banned for 30 years; rights groups have criticised Islamic judges for extreme and inconsistent judgments.

And last week Princess Amira Al Taweel, the wife of Saudi tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, complained publicly that while she can drive anywhere in the world, she cannot take the wheel of a car in her own country, because women are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia.

But the symbolism of the king's changes is bound to have an impact. The most symbolic was the naming of veteran educator Norah Al Fayez as deputy education minister for female education affairs -- the most senior job ever granted a woman in the Muslim kingdom.

"She is one of the leading ladies of the country," Mohammad Al Zulfa, outgoing member of the Shura council, told AFP.

Even so, the move for women did not go as far as some expected. In January Saudi media had reported that the new members of the Shura Council would include six women, who have not been represented on the council in the past.

But none were present on the new list, making it likely that no women will be included in the legislature-like body, before 2013, the next time appointments are expected.

More fundamental were the changes to the country's religious leadership, who dominate thinking in education, justice and social life.

The removal of Luhaidan, who embarrassed the government last September when he declared that the owners of regional satellite television stations showing "immoral" shows should be killed, is believed likely to open more doors for reforms in the archaic justice system.

The same is believed about the aim of Abudullah's shakeup of the Ulema council. He named a number of new members, and for the first time ever included representatives of all four Sunni Islam schools of religious law.

Previously only the Hanbali school, the fundamentalist school which dominates the Saudi version of Islam, was represented on the council.

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READERS' COMMENTS

women as leaders
Posted by zahieh hijazi, amman, jordan on Sunday 22 February 2009 at 15:04 UAE time


just right king abdullah is a hero of wide vision.we arab muslem spiritually attached to saoudi arabia, wish the best and hate to hear what if ,but,....... saoudis are the top to imitate not to critisize.

Norah Al Fayez
Posted by Toth Sandor, Budapest, Hungary on Monday 16 February 2009 at 22:52 UAE time


The decision was wise and realistic. Students in higher education are composed mostly of women and the teachers also. It is a natural thing to assign this task to a woman, it surely shall give better results.
Sandor Toth

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