JEDDAH, 22 January 2004 — Saudi Arabia yesterday denied reports that it was under pressure from the United States and other Western countries to change its educational curriculum. He pointed out the Kingdom was revising the curriculum for the educational development of its people and that the decision was its own.
“The Saudi leadership will go ahead with its plan for the educational development of its citizens by reviewing some curriculum drafted about 50 years ago. We are doing this not because of any foreign pressure,” Al-Riyadh Arabic daily quoted Interior Minister Prince Naif as saying.
However, the prince said the educational reforms in Kingdom would not be at the expense of religion or moral values. “Crown Prince Abdullah set up a 30-member committee of experts for educational development in 2000 to review the curriculum,” he pointed out.
Prince Naif strongly opposed the claim by some people that the Islamic curriculum bred terrorists. “Most people in the Islamic world have studied the same curriculum but their thoughts and ideas have not been corrupted like this small number of terrorists who were the product of deviant thoughts, alien to Islam,” he pointed out.
The interior minister said many of the Saudis who had gone to Afghanistan to fight beside Taleban forces had been trained by Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network. He said Osama Bin Laden was working in the interest of foreign agents and not for Islam as he claimed.
Prince Naif said the present condition of women in the Kingdom was far better than before. “The number of girl students is greater than that of boys and Saudi women work in many state institutions.”
He said the ban on women driving was a social decision. “The evidence is that at the time of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, some women tried to drive and this created a big social uproar. Many people opposed their action and there would have been a catastrophe if the government had not intervened.”
Prince Naif said women are more honored in Arab and Islamic societies than in the West. “In our society, we take care of them and provide them with all services,” he said. “At the Manpower Council, we deal with problems related to women with equality and justice,” he added.
Prince Naif said a private human rights organization approved by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd would be established shortly. He said the 40-member body would include 11 women.
He also said the FBI and CIA had not intervened in criminal investigations in the Kingdom and had not taken part in the capture of terror suspects. He said the Kingdom would not hand over any Saudi to another country and that the Kingdom had intensified its supervision of the collection of funds to make sure they did not fall into wrong hands.
He said some of the terrorists involved in Riyadh bombings were wanted in connection with drugs and immoral practices. He highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to prevent smuggling of weapons across the Yemeni border.
“We have deployed additional numbers of well-trained officers at border posts to check smuggling operations. They are also provided with thermal cameras and other advanced equipment. We have also installed barbed wire in some areas to prevent infiltration,” he added.
