RIYADH, 3 March 2008 — Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday urged businessmen and traders in the Kingdom to fear God in their activities and warned them that the government is watching.
"Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah has been monitoring the situation closely and urging ministers to tackle inflation issues efficiently and with circumspection, and set aright any mistakes in the past," said Prince Naif, while opening a forum on religious propagation and the translation of the traditions and biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him) at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University.
On the likelihood of rising inflation and unemployment posing challenges to the Kingdom's security, Prince Naif said, "There are government departments to study and handle issues affecting the economy and people. However, I do not say that these are the only factors that foster terrorism and extremism although they are serious issues. We hope to successfully solve problems that affect citizens and expatriates in their public and private lives."
He said there was an urgent need to ensure prices of essential commodities remain stable and reasonable.
The interior minister, who opened the seminar and forum on behalf of Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, noted that the economic and security situation in Saudi Arabia is better compared to many other countries. "The economy is the best gauge to map the security level of any country. Capital is so cowardly that it shows up only in a secure environment. If a country's economic and developmental activities are robust it means the security situation in that country is excellent," the prince said.
The interior minister advised students and universities against being influenced by erroneous ideologies. "(Islamic) universities have been founded to produce judges and scholars capable of making in-depth study of the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah and to keep away from flawed ideologies," he said.
"However, one cannot ignore the presence of some thoughts that are extraneous to Islam at the university," he said and hoped that the current university administration, headed by Dr. Abal Khayl and the minister of higher education, would take appropriate steps to rectify the situation.
The prince said the government was keen to share with the public precise information about involvement of foreign elements in terrorist activities in the Kingdom and this would be revealed at the appropriate time.
