RIYADH — A prominent Saudi academician has called for an exclusive television channel with special Internet chat rooms to ensure broader participation of Saudi youth in the national dialogue initiated by the King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue.
Dr. Abdullah H. Al-Homiedan, dean of the College of Languages and Translation (COLT) at King Saud University, said “the proposal is significant in view of the growing Internet usage, especially among Saudi youths.”
An author of 70 books and articles, Dr Homiedan, who has been contributing to the efforts of the King Abdul Aziz Center, told a press conference on Sunday night that “such dialogue either on television or in chat rooms will help clear the misconceptions.
Moreover, the debate online can be supervised by applying a code of dialogue to ensure mannerism and discipline.
Let the Saudi youth or disgruntled elements discuss freely the whole range of issues ranging from economy and politics to challenges facing our society”, he said.
The move to hold dialogue for reforms on visual channels is significant keeping in view the fact that the Kingdom has now more than one million Internet subscribers and over two million users, mainly youngsters.
“In fact, traffic on the Net has jumped substantially during the last few years”, said the academician, adding that the television channel and the chat rooms will also help in disseminating the right information among Saudi youth about government’s commitment to bring reforms in all sectors of Saudi society.
Dr. Homiedan said that the dialogue can be conducted according to the famous “Robert’s Rules of Order”, a book which contains ways and means to hold dialogue and discussions.
An 800-page Arabic translation of this popular title has been prepared by Dr. Homiedan himself.
This Arabic version will be published shortly by Arab Unity Center of Beirut.
Referring to the need to promote foreign languages in Saudi Arabia, Dr. Homiedan said that the long-awaited Saudi Society for Languages and Translations (SSLT) has been set up with a mandate to map out plans to promote new languages.
The move is significant in view of the fact that there is great dearth of high-value translated works in the Arab world.
