Nomination, election platforms, statements, campaign. These are the terms that, until lately, we were not used to reading or hearing about in our media. Now, those words appear on almost a daily basis, especially since an entity known as the Saudi Journalists Association came into being. The association decided to exercise democracy, as is done in various civilized nations, by electing a board and inviting journalists to be candidates in the election. Things, however, have not gone as planned and the experiment was thrown into confusion when several candidates who had earlier announced that they would run withdrew. Their withdrawal forced the election to be postponed until further notice.
Following the postponement, women entered the race with full force, informing everybody that they were here and were very much going to exercise their right to become candidates. The message sent by the female journalists is evident. As long as there is nothing in the association laws that differentiates between males and females, every female journalist has the right to run for the board. It all began with one woman who was followed by a second and then a third — and the list grows ever longer. Everyone has chosen a platform, issued short statements explaining their programs and making maximum use of the media, especially the Internet, to promote themselves.
Can we say that something new is happening to our society? No, I don’t think so. It is true that the word election — which was virtually absent from our vocabulary — has been treated with such extreme care that no one would talk about it since all realized that doing so would likely mean finding themselves in trouble.
At a time when the whole world was busy with elections, with everyone from trash collectors to members of Parliament busy forming civil associations, we chose to live outside our time until we realized that exercising the right was not so bad or damaging.
What then happened to our society? Has it suddenly turned topsy-turvy? Are we experiencing a social and moral earthquake? No, nothing of the kind. It is simply that people have begun dealing with things in an open and civilized manner that has won them respect and appreciation. With women entering the fray, the whole procedure won even more respect. It is time the experiment was expanded to include other professionals.
— Arab News Local Press 22 January 2004
