RIYADH, 11 September 2005 — Saudi businessmen and academics have described as “half-baked” the comments appearing in some of the American media that nothing has changed in the Kingdom since Sept. 11, 2001 except for a change in leadership and that “the people are ripe targets for extremists.”
Commenting on the reports, Yasin Alireza, a Saudi businessman, said: “Those who criticize Saudi Arabia have no idea about the country at all. All these instant pundits who claim to know about Saudi Arabia betray their ignorance of the country. There is a mood of optimism in the country and people are looking forward confidently to the future.”
A Saudi academic said “Let the barking dogs bark. The caravan marches on and we know where our interests lie.” According to Saudi English teacher Ali Al-Zehrani, the Saudi educational system has been revamped over the past few years.
The present syllabus is different from that in the past and is now the same for both boys and girls — which was not formerly the case. Some units that were considered inappropriate have been dropped.
In fact, this year’s English textbook, “Say it in English”, which will be taught to the Third Intermediate students makes an attempt to expand their intellectual horizons. Names of illustrious individuals in western history and culture and from other countries have been introduced into the textbooks for the first time, says Al-Zehrani.
Similar views were echoed by Abdul Mohsen N. Al-Huwaidy, another English teacher, who said textbooks had undergone comprehensive changes since 9/11 in order to reflect the changes that are taking place everywhere. “History textbooks have been revised. There is greater emphasis on the teaching of science and other subjects,” he observed.
At the political level, he pointed out, the Kingdom has introduced change by holding municipal elections while a move is afoot to further reform the Shoura Council, whose membership has been increased from 60 at the time it was set up to 150 this year.
A book, “Post September 11 (The Arab Perspective)” published last year “explains the sweeping change in the US government’s policy which allows it to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries according to its perception of national interests. The book quotes Arab journalist Haitham Manaa: “The United States wants to interfere in everything around the world as it pleases without being accountable to anyone. Washington voted against the basic system of the International Criminal Court in Rome, although it endorsed the text at the 11th hour in 2000.”
The book points out that unless the US government makes a sincere attempt to solve the problems in Palestine and Iraq, its attempts to bulldoze countries into submission will only be counter-productive.
