London: On the streets of Riyadh, in its shopping malls and public spaces, Saudi Arabia’s religious police had long been a dominant presence.
They could reach into private lives at will, with powers that few could challenge.
But one late winter evening earlier this year came as a watershed moment when, on the side of one of their headquarters in the city’s suburbs, a 10-metre wide emblem of the country’s reform programme — Vision 2030 — had been projected.
And no one inside the building dared to block it.
“That was the government saying we are more powerful than you,” said an influential Riyadh businessman.
“That was when the people knew that they [the religious police] didn’t matter any more. They had lost the powers to arrest a year earlier. And now they had lost face.”
The sudden fall from grace of one of the influential pillars of the state had taken place as a new and ambitious face of the kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, continued an ascendancy unparalleled in Saudi Arabia’s modern history.
The 31-year-old prince’s rise was consolidated on Wednesday when his father anointed him as heir to the throne.
The new crown prince’s mandate is formidable; overhaul an ailing economy, open up a closed society, and project the influence of a usually cautious country in new and robust ways.
In announcing the move, the king has literally banked his kingdom on the world’s most powerful thirtysomething, adding to his already full list of duties a cluster of roles that are not intended to distract from the most crucial of all — a 15-year reform programme — which many in Riyadh see as the only viable solution to an existential threat.
Private enterprise is being courted, cinemas are in the pipeline, concerts have been held — though, so far, only for men — and the touchstone issue of women being allowed to drive is again on the table, senior officials say.
Already talk of change is starting to resonate.
“Something is definitely happening here,” said Sumaya Fayad, a shop assistant in one of Riyadh’s most popular malls.
“It feels different. I don’t feel as limited anymore. There has been progress in personal freedoms.”
Two years into the process of reinvention, the country has opened a war in Yemen, tried to steer another in Syria, opened its economy to foreigners, exposed its biggest asset — the state-owned oil company Aramco — to global markets, spoken out strongly against its regional foe, Iran, and cut ties with neighbouring Qatar.
Prince Mohammad has been given a lead stake in it all. The changes present challenges of dealing with the will of a combustible population, much of which has yet to be convinced that change of this scale is in their interests.
“The problem for them is that the base has always been significantly more conservative than the leadership,” said one western official in Riyadh.
“Some of the senior officials are describing what is taking place as cultural revolution disguised as economic reform.”
Prince Mohammad has told several global leaders that old ways needed to change for the modern state to survive.
Madawi Al Rasheed, a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics’ Middle East centre, says: “This has been going on since King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz became king in 2005. Since King Salman came to power, we see signs that they are trying to redefine Wahhabism [an ultra-conservative interpretation of Sunni Islam] as a limited religious tradition responsible for personal piety, but having no business whatsoever on the way the kingdom is run.
Senior Saudi officials acknowledge the need to sideline, even disavow, traditions and practices that gravely limit personal freedoms and human rights, especially among women and minorities.
“We are no longer averse to change,” said one ministerial aide. “We embrace it and we know that we can no longer rely on the developed world to lead the way.”
Some Saudis say small measures are already signalling a new openness to other interpretations of the faith.
“During the recent Riyadh summit, three Islamic scholars [from different branches of Islam] addressed a social media conference comprised of largely Saudi young men and women,” said Talal Malik, chief executive of Saudi-based conglomerate Alpha1Corp. “The new crown prince ... was effectively patronising a global and dynamic vision of Sunni Islam in the kingdom, and showcasing it for Saudi youth as representing their future.
“He has made significant inroads in winning the support of one, if not the, key demographic in the kingdom — its youth, who wish to contribute to building a modern and dynamic G20 country.”
