Politicians and Qatami

With all its details and traits, the concept of a ‘statesman’ is far from the kind of individuals running public errands in parliament or in the government. Parts of the image can be seen in the personality of the late Jassem Al-Qatami. So many of us have noticed how politicians change sides and lie all the time. We have read articles that they have written about the principles of a state management only after they left sensitive leading offices that they have failed in running. Some of them even dared to speak on TV about bribes they gave to some lawmakers to get a law passed in parliament.

Reviewing such an unhealthy atmosphere, I could not help but remember a unique patriotic man; that is the late Jassem Abdul Aziz Al-Qatami (1929-2012). I wondered how this man managed to remain faithful to his principles and values despite assuming many various positions and how he managed to use all those positions to serve the people and protect their dignity without yielding or giving in.

Jassem Al-Qatami, who assumed various positions as a policeman then a police chief in 1954 submitted his famous resignation justifying it by rejection of a direct order to use force on protestors during the tripartite aggression against Egypt in 1956. He then served as an executive politician with the foreign ministry, later as a lawmaker and finally an advocate of human rights. There was a very thin line between all these positions; that is the summary of the concept of a ‘statesman.’

Things developed and that man, who had just taken off his uniform, remained faithful to principles. He demanded a constitutional democratic regime in a speech he delivered at Shuwaikh High school on the anniversary of the Egyptian-Syrian unity. He was then punished by withdrawing his passport and remained unemployed from 1959 to 1961 when he was appointed as an advisor in the Amiri Diwan. He was then appointed as undersecretary of the foreign ministry when it was founded in 1962.

He faced the problems caused by Abdul Kareem Qassim before he resigned to run for the first parliamentary elections in 1963 where he fiercely defended the constitution and people’s rights. Along with Rashid Al-Farhan, he was the first to demand women rights in 1975. He practiced politics and parliamentary life until 1985 when the parliament was dissolved.

Later in the 1990s, Qatami became a human rights activist, as human rights regionally prevailed after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He founded Kuwait’s branch of the Arab Human Rights Organization. He then founded Kuwait Society for Human Rights where I had the honor of working with him for six years until his health deteriorated.

This is but a summary of Jassem Al-Qatami’s biography; the man who never changed or yielded to make any gains. He remained an icon for values and good virtues that rarely exist amongst politicians these days till the very last day of his life. —Translated by Kuwait Times