JEDDAH, 21 September 2005 — A preparatory meeting for the Fifth National Dialogue Forum was held here yesterday. The Forum itself will be held in December in Abha. The preparatory meetings usually take place in different parts of the Kingdom, with the participation of a number of well-known personalities who are chosen by the center. The dialogues are being held under the King Abdul Aziz National Dialogue Center, which was set up in August 2003 in order to expand citizens’ participation in open discussions of national issues related to the economy, society, culture and politics.

Yesterday’s meeting in Jeddah was attended by about 60 men and women. The audience discussed the main points to be taken up in the coming forum whose subject is “Us and the Others.”

Saleh Al-Hussayen, chairman of the center, Dr. Rashed Al-Rajeh, the vice chairman, and Faisal ibn Muammar, secretary-general, co-chaired the meeting.

Al-Hussayen clarified at the beginning of the session, which lasted for six hours, that the participants would present their opinions concerning the relationship with the other — the non-Saudi whether Arab, Muslim or Westerner. The discussions were divided into three main areas: Religion, culture and economy/politics.

Before the debate, Muammar pointed out that whatever was presented from the floor in the meeting was only personal opinion. He stressed that only the general statement at the end of the meeting would represent the suggestions of the entire group.

The discussion varied between wanting to understand the “other” and to be understood by them and the view that the Islamic character of the Saudi society was decaying and being destroyed by the “other.”

Dr. Zuhair Kutbi, one of the participants, said: “We were taught in our schools that Shiites are unbelievers and Sufis are incomplete Muslims. I have never in my life seen a Saudi religious scholar debate, as Ahmad Deedat did, with Christian clerics and not offend them or accuse them of disbelief.”

Another view was from Khaled Al-Huwais who thought that the very title of the forum was all-inclusive. Nowadays we witness a great deal of melting into the “others culture,” he added.

What was clear from the participants’ speeches was that many of them digressed from the main topic. The speeches stressed local issues such as women’s rights and education.

Many contributors believed that before knowing how to deal with the other, we had to know first how to deal with ourselves. “We should focus on national issues in the first place, that’s the priority,” said Basma Al-Syofi.

When asked by Arab News about the clear contradiction between the stated subject of the meeting and the comments from the audience, Muammar said: “That is a normal thing as it is only one stage of many other stages of the forum.”

On the sidelines of the meeting, a workshop was held for a group of university students. The workshop was entitled “Dialogue Principles” and aimed to educate the young about how to conduct and participate in a serious dialogue.