When new airline companies were established in the Kingdom, we expected to see marked improvement in the management and organization of our airlines. We felt the new companies would bring with them modern techniques in management. Instead, the new companies resorted to employing retired personnel — those who no longer had any place at Saudia. As a result, the Saudia system was copied and humbly presented to the new companies. We have not, so far, seen anyone who prefers the new airlines to Saudia. This is ample proof that the new airlines have not been able to achieve the excellence that would draw attention to them.

When new universities were set up, we hoped they would create a revolution in terms of performance. Instead, the majority of these universities copied what was available at the old ones. Some of them even sought the help of those who had retired from the old universities and gave them leading positions. Similar to what has happened in the new airlines, most of the staff brought into the new universities were part of the old universities. They were unable to detach themselves from the obsolete philosophy of management and administration that prevailed in the old universities to come up with a new management system. Thus, the new universities have become a replica of the old ones.

Now we have a new company in the field of education, the Holding Education Company. How will it be constituted? Will it be run by those who have retired from the Ministry of Education? Will they copy the same management ideology that currently prevails in the Ministry of Education? Are we going to see nepotism in the appointment and transfer of employees of the Ministry of Education to the company? Or are we going to make it a Saudi company with modern international thought?

We have good people who only need motivation to absorb new ideas. They deserve to be given a chance. I hope people will not be angry with me when I say many of the staff appointed at the new education company have spent long years under the old system until they became part of it. They, therefore, cannot change. I also hope the new company will not become a place where retirees are honored at the expense of performance, progress and change.