Letter from Riyadh: Defining moments in modern Saudi history

Two monumental events, among the many firsts this society has been experiencing lately, struck Saudi Arabia this week and both events could easily be described as defining moments in modern Saudi history.

The regular Saudi cabinet session on Monday took the decision to introduce the concept of elections in the Kingdom, for the first time in its 70 year history. There have been discussions on introducing some sort of elections in society.

These discussions have been going on for some time. They began in January this year when some 50 intellectuals representing different tiers of the otherwise fairly conservative Saudi society presented a charter of demands before Crown Prince Abdullah to widen the participation of the masses in the running of the country.

A four-day forum followed this in June, sponsored by the Crown Prince himself, to debate the reform process. And then only last month 306 intellectuals presented another memorandum to the Crown Prince to speed up the reform process and widen the participation of the common people in the running of the Kingdom.

But despite this, when the first announcement to this effect was made, it took everyone by surprise. Despite knowing that things are in the offing, with suggestions that some sort of electioneering process is also under active consideration by the government, no one expected the moment to be just around the corner until the moment arrived.

Elections have been a no go area in Saudi society until now and everyone realised it would be an easy thing to break the taboo.

Hence there was an element of pleasant shock among the Saudis Gulf News spoke to on the announcement. However, there are still a number of unanswered questions on the issue of elections.

Many here feel, and perhaps rightly so, that it is just the beginning. Many milestones are indeed still to be covered in this direction, one can safely say.

There are also questions about what sort of campaign would be allowed before the elections. In the absence of political parties in the Kingdom, apparently the elections would be on a non-political and individual basis.

But how the issue of tribes and clans come into play in the equation is still to be seen. There are indeed many landmines in the process.

It would also be worthwhile to see how women are incorporated into the electioneering process. Also some questions are being raised about the impact, if any, of these elections on society, with half of the municipal members still to be nominated.

However, overcoming the usual journalistic pessimism, one has to concede that a major step has been taken and every- one must help consolidate the entire process.

And with all these questions still to be answered about the forthcoming elections, another first in the history of Saudi Arabia is the human rights conference in Riyadh. There have also been questions raised about the rights of oppres-sed people all over the world.

As an observer put it bluntly, if the West is too concerned about the state of human rights prevailing in Saudi Arabia and other Islamic states, it should also be concerned about the fate of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, who are being held without trial or the right to prove themselves innocent.

A very credible question, but indeed in the unipolar world of today, one should not expect an answer from those who matter.