An open letter to Sa'ad Hariri

Your Excellency,

Nearly five months after a narrow but decisive electoral victory in the 2009 parliamentary elections, followed by your appointment as prime minister designate, no government looms over the horizon. As majority leader, you are eminently qualified to lead a functioning government in Beirut, though you seem to prefer a government of national unity based on the magical 15-10-5 formula to allocate Cabinet posts. It is now clear that neither the opposition's 10 ministerial portfolios nor the five neutral posts ostensibly allocated to President Michel Sulaiman will allow you to reach your goal. It may be weeks, perhaps months, for a new Lebanese government to emerge. While you demonstrate an uncanny ability for patience, what will the wait achieve?

Domestic, regional and international pressures abound, which need no repetition here. Each community and parliamentary bloc has ‘demands'. Several countries around the world are envious of the ‘neighbourly' attention that Lebanon receives from Syria and Israel. Even distant powers, like Iran and Saudi Arabia, France and the United States, Russia and China, and many others, are anxious to extend a hand. No wonder you seem utterly confused by the pressures imposed by everyone.

Let's be honest. As long as Iran's epochal confrontations over its nuclear programme and ideological challenges within the Muslim world are not addressed, Tehran will find interfering in Lebanese affairs an attractive proposition. Likewise, Syria will easily accommodate internal obstacles, as long as the Special Tribunal for Lebanon retains its Damocles Sword attributes. Damascus will eventually make a deal, especially if Paris and Washington tie Lebanon's fate to any Syrian-Israeli peace accord, which they will.

Cause for concern

These are incredibly complicated matters that hang over the heads of a hapless population that wants nothing more than to live in peace. Your interminable discussions worry many and there are several interpretations as to what the long delays mean. Some argue that you have not made up your mind on what is desired: a government; national unity; regime change preceded by a Taif Plus Agreement; or a refreshed Doha-2 Summit to fill overflowing coffers. Others posit that Cabinet formations in Lebanon have always been a ‘yo-yo game', and that you are simply satisfying feudal and militia leaders out of habit, because this is as traditional as the Lebanese craving for Guinness World Records.

In the event, you can no longer afford to negotiate forever over specific Cabinet portfolios or even discuss various issues related to national dialogue, because none of your interlocutors are sincere. The time has come to imitate your late father who, lest we forget, was the modern equivalent of Lebanon's founding fathers, men like Bishara Al Khoury, Riyad Al Sulh, Saeb Salam, Adel Oseiran and Michel Chiha.

Rafik Hariri understood the Lebanese like few of his contemporaries and gave his life for Lebanon. He set out to rebuild the devastated land after what was a long and largely meaningless civil war, not with feudal lords and militia leaders, but with genuine technocrats who sacrificed for their country. It may be worth remembering that if he embarked on such a course it was because he aspired towards nationhood, not merely the solidification of a state. To be sure, the country needed the basics to function once again, and that was what his technocratic ministers accomplished. Yet he also re-educated Lebanon's zu'ama and re-awakened the hearts of many to love their country once again, something that few harboured or were even equipped to conceive after mayhem ruled for decades.

It is in that spirit that you ought to take your next steps. First, it is imperative that you distance yourself from chimerical promises made by every single feudal lord, militia leader and fallen military demigod, both Christian and Muslim. None seems capable of thinking of the one Lebanon your father dreamt about. Second, the genius of Rafik Hariri was his ingrained belief that supporting a new constitution or living within ‘several' confessional Lebanons would literally end the uniqueness that it represents, perhaps forcing a permanent division. Though Lebanese citizens are voiceless because of society's feudal make-up, the 2005 Cedar Revolution illustrated that they were not powerless, and many confirmed that they had the long-term stamina required to guarantee liberty. Third, and while few will admit it, most Lebanese abhor paying taxes, which is a form of empowerment. The astute leader will acculturate his people that taxation engenders representation, and that this is something that is eminently doable provided it is applied universally.

Naturally, while you are your own man and not a copy of your late father, his vision is worth emulating. Do not be afraid of those who hide behind guns or who threaten you with political obduracy. Ignore those who accuse you of enriching yourself financially. Many who benefited from Rafik Hariri's generosity lobbed similar accusations at him.

Plainly stated, and while we never met, it seems to a relatively independent observer that you are one of Lebanon's last hopes, for the simple reason that you placed yourself at the service of an embryonic nation. Everyone else, to use President Fouad Chehab's favourite term for the parasites that feign to love Lebanon, are ‘fromagistes' (cheese eaters).

Respectfully yours.

Dr Joseph A. Kechichian is a commentator and author of several books on Gulf affairs.