Kuwait more important than ‘colors’
Days of misleading nation over
“ON SATURDAY a phase of political unrest in Kuwait’s history will come to end, but I expect that the country will witness a new phase of excessive unrest in the wake of the parliamentary elections,” columnist, attorney and former Editor-inChief of Al-Watan Arabic daily Mohammed Al-Jassem wrote for AlKuwaitiah daily.
“In other words, the current political crisis will not come to an end following the closure of the ballot boxes and the declaration of the results of the elections, rather the crisis will only divert its path.
“In this context, we elucidate the popular opposition action will use the emergency decree which amended the voting system to ‘one man one vote’ as an occasion or introduction to reflect the popular rejection of the manner of managing the affairs of the State.
“Post Saturday, the validity of the emergency decree in question will come to an end just like an ‘occasion’ and the opposition will most likely adopt an alternative slogan calling for the downfall of the new National Assembly.
“However, in my personal opinion the scope of the crisis will aggravate, particularly since we know the previous popular move was based on a specific time framework which determined the ceiling of the popular move.
“In other words, this move was seemingly engineered on expectations that the government shall nullify the emergency decree which gave ‘one man one vote’ while others were hoping the new parliamentary elections would be postponed through a Administrative Court verdict.
“But in the wake of the parliamentary elections, there will be no specific ‘time ceiling’ and this is likely to enhance and encourage the popular action.
“I had previously said that the cost of the persistence of the new National Assembly will be too high and it would be difficult for the government to promote this Assembly especially if the turn out of the voters on election day is low.
“The expected high cost, is likely to be represented by the resumption of calls for the establishment of a constitutional emirate and a government from among the elected Members of Parliament. In this connection, we expect to go back to square one for possibly a longer period of time.
“In other words, the so-called members of the opposition bloc are frustrated because the government has gone ahead to hold the parliamentary elections and this will inevitably lead to acceleration of action by the opposition and this means the government will not be in a position to deal in a balanced manner with this action.
“Such being the case, the government will have no choice, but to dissolve the new National Assembly and ultimately ‘bow’ to the demands of the popular opposition.”
“Kuwait is on the threshold of new parliamentary elections which are being held under the atmosphere of division between those who will go to the ballot box and those who will boycott it or between the so-called ‘blue’ group and the ‘orange’ group,” columnist and Professor at Kuwait University’s Political Science Department Dr Haila Al-Mekaimi wrote for Annahar daily Friday.
“However, the local arena recently witnessed the appearance of a new color, ‘yellow’ and this color floats in between the blue and orange.
“In other words, the followers of yellow color are seemingly determined to adopt a neutral attitude between those who will participate in the new parliamentary elections and those who will boycott them.
“Personally speaking, I believe what is currently taking place on our local arena, can be seen as alien to the Kuwaiti community. Not just that, this is a silly imitation and an attempt to import some foreign practices that have nothing to do with our historical heritage which are based on solidarity in terms of political opinion and this should have been good enough to let us get rid of blind imitation.
“For example look at how we heard that many people are currently talking about the contribution of the Qatari religious scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi to the so-called Arab Spring.
“Likewise, the people are also talking about the book ‘From Dictatorship to Democracy’ written by Jean Sharp in which the author calls for ‘The Peaceful Change’.
“Speaking of the Kuwaiti crisis, this is not new. It can rather be dated back to 2005 when we allowed a group of people from among us to import the so-called ‘Orange Revolution’ from Ukraine.
“This happened although the US intervention in this revolution was too obvious to such an extent the US embassy in that country was involved in distributing orange sashes to the Ukrainians who supported the then pro-West candidate in the presidential elections against the then proRussia candidate.
“Such being the case, we have observe that the ‘orange’ group had managed to play with the emotions of the citizens, but in reality all of us must take part in the new parliamentary elections and sort out any differences that may divide the country.
“I say this because Kuwait remains a priority above all colors. Keep in mind that all Kuwaitis have one color when it comes to patriotism and their allegiance to their homeland.”
“The electoral campaigns have passed without exchanging accusations or using offensive language against the dignity of any national symbols and figures. The candidates managed to stick to the concepts of sincere dialogue and the rational thinking which focus on the good of Kuwait, its development, services and controlling corruption and corrupt individuals,” columnist Hassan Al-Mehaimzi wrote for AlSabah daily.
“They tackled how to provide a fair mechanism for the society and provide equal opportunities for all citizens without being partial to any side.
“This saw this good ‘scenario’ after we were fed up of the previous electoral campaigns which reached advanced phases of achieving personal and political interests.
“Apparently, the days of misleading the nation and manipulating with the Constitution and political bargaining are over as Kuwait will ring in the new Parliament, which will be underpinned with fair and honest elections, to initiate a new phase of the parliamentary activity away from abuses and personal conflicts.”
“As a step of judicial collaboration among the GCC countries, I hope to recruit temporarily the Qatari judge, who has sentenced to life imprisonment the poet who wrote offensive phrases against the symbols of Qatar, to look into the cases of Twitter users who have directly and openly abused the position of HH the Amir in Kuwait, columnist, former MP and general manager of the Scope Satellite TV Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“I want him to look into these cases because some of the suspects have been released on bail and now are await for trial. I say the Qatari judge will not be satisfied this time with life-imprisonment.
“I also hope to look into the cases of those who used offensive language during seminars and rallies besides the group of ‘We will not allow you’ to issue an appropriate verdict in this regard.
“After this, we can end the term of the judge or even renew the deal with him to close the door of humiliation and abuses and even offensive tweets.
“Although I could not accept the tough verdict issued against that poet in Qatar compared to the crime he has committed; yet, the dignity of the ruling regime requires more than this so that those who abuse will think thousands of times before using offensive language especially against the symbols of the country.”
“In spite of the incidents and changes that have taken place in recent times when organizers of the rallies put forward popular demands epitomized in activating the constitutional monarchy and the government elected by the people, the government managed to deviate the attention from these demands and issued the emergency decree giving ‘one man one vote’ as if it is the key issue which we should fight for and use it as much as possible to serve the citizens and the nation,” columnist Mohammed Mosaed Al-Dosari wrote for Alam Alyawm daily.
“Indisputably, the step taken by some to reject the law of one vote and boycotted the elections was essential in the sense it will send a message to the government that the nation refuses manipulations against the Constitution.
“Yet, we should focus on the substantial demands which will get us out from the incessant and provoked crises. This should be the role of youths who lead the popular movement.
“Deviating the attention from the demands for an elected government is definitely a smart move and an attempt to put a stamp of acceptance on the decree of ‘one man one vote’.”
“First of all we must congratulate ourselves, Kuwaitis, because we are the only ones in the region who have a democracy and free elections, and a Constitution to regulate the affairs of our lives,” columnist Dr Abdullah Ghareeb wrote for Al-Dar daily.
“Because of that, we these days we celebrate the democratic wedding with blessings from the government and the good people. However, we expect them to be fair and keep away from chaos and cooperate with the Ministry of Interior to monitor this election to prevent any sort of corruption.
“In my opinion, we consider ourselves lucky in this upscale government because of its dealings with the people, especially at this critical period which the country is going through.
“The Kuwaiti citizens are concerned and scared about the current elections. Frustration is written all over the faces of some candidates, most of whom are young people especially because these elections have come at a different time and conditions than the previous elections because of the time shortage, which did not exceed one month or a little more.
“The situation does not favor the new candidates because during the elections a campaign is most important in the form of advertisements and seminars to know their candidates to allow the voters to choose the right candidate.”
“I once was impressed with the way the US president delivers his speeches until I saw Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi talking, and he surpasses President Obama,” Dr Wael Al-Hasawi wrote for AlRai daily.
“President Morsi can talk for one hour consecutively without reading from a paper. This is the first step by which we excel over America, but the major problem is that Dr Morsi has joined the world of politics without previous experience and he presides over a country full of complicated social issues and extreme political instability. The country has lived in a state of dictatorship since 1952 or even the era of Pharaohs.
“I wish the above mentioned were the only problems inherited by his government which needs to lay down a new set of laws inherited from the previous government, with nullification of the Parliament by the Constitutional Court shortly before he took over. He has to manage every structure of governance but he should take it easy with Egyptians with the way he enforces the required changes, so that he can set his priorities and start with the most important issues down to the least important.”
“We have to stand up and resist affiliations whether there are factional or doctrinal. So what is the issue with brothers who are fighting the resistance brothers while they are supporting the enemy Israel?,” columnist Abdallah Khalaf wrote for AlWatan Arabic daily.
“Not long ago, a bulletin was published on the website called ‘Livni’, which mentioned a book in which the former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni proudly talked about some Arab countries which supported Tel Aviv during the 2006 war against Gaza during which the Gazans had managed to hit most Israeli towns and sank a huge Israel war vessel.
“Israeli newspapers have published their predicament which they have engaged themselves in and shameful failures to achieve their goal, while on the other hand, Arab newspapers published Israel emerged victorious in that war.
“The people of Gaza refused to be subdued since 1967 and it will continue to do so; but the question is: Why is our media seem not to be supporting the resistance in Gaza?”
“The option of boycotting the elections is an effective political protest if all required factors are in line to ensure its success in changing decisions or affecting the level of participation in the elections,” columnist Mohammad Humoud Al-Hajeri wrote for Al-Qabas daily.
“The most important thing is for all political blocs to speak with one voice and cooperate without arrogance or excessive behavior. They should agree on matters with the right attitude and a method that is acceptable to all involved parties.
“However, the nullified majority bloc failed to unify their views in the so-called Ramadan petition when they decided to boycott both the nominations and voting aspects of the elections.
“The opposition at this stage should focus on implementing the law concerning the period of absence of the National Assembly. The method of protest should not contradict the provisions of the Constitution and the protestors’ speeches should be within the limits of respect, constitutional framework and decorum.”
“Have we started shelling Gaza from Kuwait? Indeed, some of our writers with their pens have started shelling Gaza with poisonous ink, which is considered more powerful than Israeli bombs. The Kuwaiti missiles have already killed 165 martyrs and most of them are children,” Badar AlAlosh wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“It’s shameful for Kuwait — as a country that has defended the struggle of Palestine since 1948, to have people from the community using their pens to defy the Palestinian struggle and support Israel by claiming the people of Gaza were those attacking Israel. This gives Israel the right to defend itself.
“It is clear those writers were not in their right senses. How can Israel have the right to defend itself against the people whom they have ravished their land? Since when did the aggressor obtain the right to defend itself? This goes to the writers and columnists entering the dunghill of history with their rotten spiteful hearts and thoughts.”
“The Muslim Brotherhood Movement in Egypt has a long history of deception and political guile and a reputation of changing their colors depending on their interests without any concern whether their ways of achieving their goals are legal or not,” columnist Qais Abdullah Dahraab wrote for Al-Shahid daily.
“Unfortunately, they are now in control of the Egyptian parliament and under the influence of the Salafists who did not have a status in Egypt earlier. Egyptian military is the only safety seal that stops the Brotherhood Movement from turning against democracy. People gave Brotherhood Movement the reins of Egypt and now the movement will not stop at anything until they control everything.
“All that is left for them to do is place their sympathizers in the military to enable them to take over the military. However, this would result in an Egypt without democracy or various political ideologies.
“The question is — Will the Brotherhood reach that level or will the people of Egypt discover their plan and stand against them before they eradicate the culture and heritage of Egypt?”
“The low level of effective youth participation in the recent protests is unprecedented within the Islamic Bloc. I personally think this happened because of the inaccurate manner of analyzing the political and social aspects, which requires objective and realistic approach,” columnist Lemi Fared Al-Othman wrote for AlJaridah daily.
“They should start all over again and this time they should find out who the people responsible for the crisis are and what the reasons are. These youths, who are agitated about their pitiable situation, cover all strata of the society. However, they are now divided among themselves into supporters and boycotters of the elections. All components of the society including the Islamists, liberals, tribal groups as well as the political and religious sects have members who are proponents of either election boycott or participation.
“Stop brainwashing the youths, as they are only trying to express their right to participate in decision-making for the good of the country in a peaceful manner. The beauty of democracy takes root from two major factors that are missing from the political arena right now — governance of people and separation of power among the authorities.”