The long-awaited new Cabinet is now in place.
I would like to wish the new ministers in their new posts the best of luck and tell others who hoped for ministerial posts better luck next time.
Though the new Cabinet did consist of five new faces, the majority of ministers held their positions, to the disappointment of many in the country who wanted to see more new blood in the Cabinet.
As the international community was watching closely to see whether the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi would be replaced or not, we too were watching to see whether other important ministers who head sectors such as education, health, labor and social affairs, and communications would retain or lose their jobs.
Though the ministers of education and labor held their positions, the ministers heading the communications and health sectors were replaced.
But does new blood in the Cabinet necessarily mean progress and greater objectivity? That is the question that went through my mind when I saw photos of the new ministers taking oaths before the king in the local press.
I know for sure that the new mayors who replaced the old ones in several of our cities have not contributed in any way to the development of those cities.
How do I know that?
Take Jeddah for example. After an absence of almost two years from the city, I found the same potholes that I knew by heart on the main streets. They are still there, unchanged, damaging cars as they have been for the past decade. And Jeddah has had three mayors in the past ten years.
I also found good old Arbaeen Lake, or should I say Arbaeen sewage dump, in the middle of the commercial city, releasing its original odors to visitors and residents alike. It’s been there for as long as I can remember. That it is a biological crisis just waiting to erupt is the least I can say about it. If only the poor tourists abroad knew that the lake surrounding the National Commercial Bank that looks so beautiful on the postcards was a sewage dump in the heart of the city.
If the replacement of ministers in the Cabinet amounts to the same as the replacement of mayors in our cities then we might as well not bother. The only change will be that new names replace old ones when we complain about them at gatherings with our friends.
Of course a new minister is not a superhero. He does not obtain superpowers that enable him to fix things instantly. But he should realize that he has been chosen for that post because of his qualifications. He should also realize that he has been entrusted with the post by our rulers to serve the needs of the public: To serve us, the citizens of Saudi Arabia.
So what do we want from our new Cabinet members?
We want them to be truthful to themselves and to the public. We want them to know that their new post is an honor that comes with great responsibilities. We also want them to know that they are citizens first and foremost, before they are officials. By citizens I mean that they are supposed to be patriotic and want our country to progress. That also means that not to report truthfully to our leaders about the sectors they are supervising would be treason to our country.
We never claimed that we were a society of angels. Like any other country we have numerous problems that need to be addressed. That cannot happen if our ministers are not candid with our leaders and reveal to them the entire truth, not half of it. The full image, not a partial one.
When Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, visited the slums in Riyadh several months ago and saw first-hand the inhuman conditions some citizens were living in, he said to the TV announcer: “He who sees is different than he who hears.” The crown prince saw for himself how some Saudis were living below the poverty line in places you would expect to find in a poor Third World country, not an oil-rich one.
His statement could not be clearer. What he had heard of poverty in Saudi Arabia was different from what he saw with his own eyes.
Ministers should also not be defensive and accept objective criticism from the press. The press, after all, is the voice of the public. We are not battling against ministers because we are in the same boat. We are on the same team and want the same thing: A better future for Saudi Arabia.
Arab News Opinion 7 May 2003
