‘Need to solve pending issues’
‘Kuwait-Saudi ties deep-rooted’
“THE State of Kuwait these days organizes a fair that is designed to project the dates of the march of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the late King Fahd Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, we pray to Almighty Allah to bestow his mercy upon him,” columnist and attorney Riyadh Al-Sane’ wrote for Al-Kuwaitiah daily.
“In his eternal phrase the late King Fahd said – we pray to Almighty Allah to rest his soul in peace – post the heathenish Iraqi invasion of Kuwait ‘there is no term Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, rather we are a ‘unified’ country and that means we either live together or die together’.
“These words actually reflect the strong and distinguished relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the sisterly country of the State of Kuwait at both the official and popular levels, given the fact that these relations date back to the far past woven with multiple dimensions with every dimension having its own obvious aspect and evidence which mostly signify the volume of cooperation, love and fraternity between the two countries.
“However, if we concede the figures are an evidence that reflects the relations among the states, then we say the march of the Saudi/Kuwaiti relations includes fixed facts such as the principles which the leaderships of the two countries believe in and the traditional bonds linking many other factors such as the unity of religion, blood, ethnicity and neighborhood bonds.
“In this context, we say, Kuwait was one of the first countries visited by the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the late Abdulaziz Bin Abdurrahman Al-Saud in 1320 AH followed by another visit in 1335 AH in addition to another visit in 1356 AH.
“Not just that, the reciprocal visits between the two countries by their leaders and senior officials was in the areas of strengthening cooperation and boosting coordination in all political, economic, cultural and security domains.
“Apart from the above, the fraternal attitudes between the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are crystallized by the pages of heroism and honorable attitudes represented by the Saudi leadership and people in support of international legitimacy during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the participation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the liberation operation of her sisterly country the State of Kuwait and the expulsion of the Iraqi troops during the Second Gulf War and the further strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in the area of security and safety of the Arabian Gulf region.
“Not only that, both the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the basis of deep-rooted fraternal and historical relations based on reciprocal respect and absolute faith in the unity of the joint fate of the two countries as well as their permanent keenness to strengthen and boost relations in various fields inspired by the instructions of their wise leaders – the instructions that have resulted in creating a qualitative shift of cooperation between the two countries, given the fact the most prominent fruit of this cooperation resulted in founding of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
“In view of the big bond between the leaderships and the peoples of the two countries, we found how His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad in the wake of receiving Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd and their Royal Highnesses the accompanying princes expressed his pride in the deep-rooted historical relations between the two countries as leaderships, governments and peoples.
“In the midst of this deep-rooted link and convergence, maybe it is high time for the two countries to settle the problem related to the suspension of oil fields situated in the divided zone between the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom – the zone that can be dated back to an agreement that was concluded between the two countries in the 1920s – demarcating the borders between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on equal basis.
“In this connection, we say that the Wafra oilfield is under operation by the Kuwait Gulf Oil Company managed by the Kuwaiti government and Chevron Company which manages the field on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“While the Khafji Oilfield is managed by the giant Saudi Aramco for Oil along with the Kuwaiti Gulf Oil Company, given the fact the Kingdom had shut down the Al-Khafji Oilfield in 2014 citing environmental grounds and in 2015, Chevron had shut down the Al-Wafra Oilfield following the failure of reaching an agreement over the commissioning fields with the State of Kuwait.
“However, it is a known fact that the postponement of the process of oil output shall increase the cost of maintenance and although the fact that Khafji and Wafra areas are not geographically connected, the resumption of production in any of them will be connected to the other.
“Anyway, in this context, we say that the historical heritage and good relations between the two countries call for settling the problem between them to prevent loss of millions of dollars, particularly since we know the issue of borders between the two countries was not defined by documents, but by reality.
“Live long the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arab under a unified word and a single heartbeat.”
“The Israeli/American leaks over the so-called ‘Deal of Century’ has steadily increased in the framework of attempts of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to promote this deal,” columnist Mubarak Mohammad Al-Hajri wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“Not just that, Netanyahu alleges that he is in touch with some Arab leaders and claims he has never experienced life (of convergence) today with these Arab leaders.
“Of course, the lies of Netanyahu will not cheat anybody, because he is the biggest leader among the Zionist liars. Moreover, he is involved in cases of corruption and will be contesting the upcoming elections where his chances for success look dim.
“Given the above, what credibility this cheat has who is currently involved in promoting lies day and night in collaboration with some American media.
“This happens although one can perceive to the contrary what is happening inside Israel where Netanyahu is currently facing acute criticisms due to persistent lies and cheating before the local public opinion in a quest to get their votes, betting these votes will help him remain in power and eventually deter the accusations of corruption although he is involved in it to the core.
“Ironically Netanyahu has intruded Iran in the Israeli elections in a silly and exposed game that will not succeed. Moreover, the Arab countries will ensure his malicious scheme fails, because the said scheme is aimed at embroiling the region in a useless war for the Arabs, where the Arabs will harvest nothing but devastation and destruction and ingrain grudges among the peoples of the region who have already suffered too much since the establishment of Israel.
“Such being the case, we wonder of what benefit are the prospective relations with Israel – nothing, yes nothing and this my dear reader is obvious in light of the situations of the Arab and Islamic states which are linked with the Israeli entity through diplomatic relations, although the internal fronts of these states have yet to be stabilized and their economies reactivated because they are suffering from bad circumstances and Israel stretching no hand of assistance.”
“The government, which makes up nearly a quarter of the members of the National Assembly, holds all the keys to the game. It is a joint intervention at any session, while 49 deputies are faced with no coordination or vision. MPs who belong to the same political orientation, are prisoners of the general mood of voters in their constituencies, and perhaps the closest example of what happened in the voting session for confidence in the former Minister of Social Affairs and Labor is an example given the position adopted by the deputies of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) during that vote,” columnist Dr Hamad Al-Ansari wrote for Al-Rai daily.
“Of course, this political reality was not born at that moment, but came with the birth of Constitution of 1962, which is considered as the ‘minimum’ Constitution, which was supposed to have been revised and developed to give more freedoms and popular gains.
“The founding fathers were aware that the Constitution – which was written in 1962 – did not meet the people’s ambitions, but it would be developed at a later date, but the authority does not allow it. The rigging of the 1967 elections came to ensure that the MPs did not support the Constitution.
“When we say today that there is a big problem because of the sectarian and tribal division and the spread of services deputies, it did not come from a vacuum, but there was a big problem and we see what is happening today.
“The division of the constituencies during the first coup against the constitution and dividing the country into twenty-five small constituencies greatly contributed to the consolidation of the concept of services deputy and the deputies of the tribe and sect.
“This bad division lasted for more than twenty-five years, and we see that the great control of the government on the political decision-came because of the reality of the Constitution. The Constitution today adopts a hybrid system that does not have clear features. It combines the two presidential and parliamentary systems, which distort many of the basic political concepts.
“The democratic and parliamentary work in the natural situation is aimed at enabling the people to participate in government. The Parliament reflects the general mood of the majority of the people through the formation of a parliamentary majority that contributes to the formation of the government elected by the people and cooperates with it to implement the program. Consequently, the minority that does not agree with that program is the opposition.
“The situation is quite different in Kuwait. Neither the people nor the government represents that majority, so we have a distorted concept of opposition. The government is always the peer and the opponent of the Parliament while the origin is cooperation.”
“For many years we have been hearing stories about the increase in the bank balances of some former and current MPs, but there were never evidences to confirm those allegations. Perhaps those who with complete information are unable to complain to the Public Prosecution for some reason,” Talal Al-Saeed wrote for AlSeyassah daily.
“We see some Twitter users publishing pictures of MPs and accusing them of receiving money illegally. Such a method of exposing them is not correct, as the Public Prosecution is the right direction to be followed for those who are really on confronting corruption or caring about the public interest. It is nonsense if they only want us to know about the issue because we will not be able to take any official action against the accused especially when those who are supposed to have the evidences are content to spreading accusations without going through the effective gate represented by Public Prosecution.
“Every time we hear about MPs who receive illegal money, we are not informed why the money was paid or what the MPs provide in return. Apparently, those who obtain evidences prefer to threaten instead of calling the relevant authorities. Or maybe they are afraid to go to the Public Prosecution with unconfirmed evidences as ambiguous evidence is interpreted in favor of the accused.
“Another problem is the lack of legislation since this action is not punishable. Furthermore, no MP forwarded a bill to specify a penalty for it.
“The problem in a nutshell is that the society and traditions ignore when an MP receives any benefit or advantage from his position as member of National Assembly. It is the voters who can punish the MPs.
“In conclusion, all talks about the increase in the bank balances of some MPs are useless and are aimed for merely personal interests.”
“Political regimes can be grouped into three categories – democratic, semi-democratic and dictatorial,” Basel Al-Zeir wrote for Al-Nahar daily.
“The worst kind of regime in any state is the second one, as it is neither purely democratic nor purely dictatorial. There is also the illusion of acquiring knowledge that is more dangerous than plain ignorance. The one who knows well but thinks he is ignorant is much better than the one who thinks he knows everything but actually knows nothing.
“This is applicable to those who believe they live in a democratic country with elections, Parliament, voters and separation between authorities when the truth is that all these factors are nothing but an illusion.
“To get out of such a miserable situation, focus must be given to spreading awareness among individuals and informing them about their civil rights including their right of freedom.
“This is more important than politics, as democracy is a mere part of civil rights system. Democracy should be practiced at home, in school and within the society before it is practiced in the political level. Democracy must be part of lifestyle before implementing it in deficit regulations or articles of the Constitution.
“Writer Mohammad Al-Ratyan said, “The more the society is aware, the lower the level of prejudice falls. The more ignorant a man is, the more prejudiced he is”.
“Focusing on trivial issues within our local politics indicates that we are still beginners in democracy. We do not practice our freedom properly. Long years and hard work in terms of increasing the awareness of citizens through media and civil society organizations are essential. Unfortunately, the latter is absent from our reality.
“Last but not the least, democracy corrects itself as long as there is a class of aware intellects who take the initiative and direct the entire society in terms of adopting outstanding issues.
“Kuwaitis have become a joke for our neighbors because of our democracy. We have MPs who are keen about issuing laws that restrict freedom and toughen penalties. They are interested in creating social disputes and dividing the society into isolated tribes and opposing sects.
“To add to that, the government supports the MPs in such behaviors. This indicates deterioration of legislation that has nothing to do with democracy. Do we still deserve to enjoy democracy after so many years?”