A word for the departed Amir
I am not well versed in writing eulogies, but the loss of a great person of the stature of the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad AlSabah deserves to break the hesitation due to lack of experience and to write what comes to mind and express what we feel in terms of loss, both at personal level and nationwide.
By Ahmad alsarraf
It
became crystal clear, after the departure of the great leader, how much he was loved by the people not only in his country but all over the world – his reputation has spread to all corners of the world. We saw how much he was concerned about eliminating Arab disputes and personally exerting tremendous efforts to solve them, given the number and complexities of these problems.
He played a lofty role and was involved in almost every problem of the Palestinian cause. His presence was evident in the Lebanese issue, in the Gulf disputes, and in Yemen’s internal problems and with its neighbors, since the beginning of the tragedies that afflicted all.
The late Amir played a vital role in Syria, Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria, and even in Iraq, and in many other countries. His most important, dangerous and decisive role was to ‘bury’ sedition – a product of the ‘Arab Spring’ and saving our country from a group of ‘evil’ people.
Sheikh Sabah was not the Amir of a small country whose area does not exceed 18,000 km2, and citizens who do not number more than one and a half million. Rather, he possessed the energy and an overwhelming desire to resolve conflicts and help countries so that the borders of many countries extended to add a lot to the borders of Kuwait, and peoples seeking to add themselves to the population of Kuwait to make it appear as if it was tens of millions.
This is how we felt and still feel in the State of Kuwait, a country whose Amir was Sabah Al-Ahmad, and whose Amir is His Highness Sheikh Nawaf AlAhmad Al-Sabah.
My short and intermittent follow-up of the events from the moment the aircraft carrying the remains of the late Amir touched down at the Kuwait Airport, the prayer for him, his burial, and the reception to his mourners made me feel sad and regretful, as if the one who died was a normal person, as almost all parties concerned with the matter, including the Ministry of Information, failed to show the momentous occasion and focus on the status of the deceased, rather, it adhered to the minimum organizational arrangements, as if the person who passed away was an ordinary person, and was not a statesman and not a global figure or a person of great stature, who had played a decisive international role in many cases, and achieved huge successes on the internal front.
The late Amir deserved a more prestigious reception in line with his position, and the great legacy he has left behind which must not be forgotten.
All the arrangements and preparations appeared lackluster and devoid of the participation of the army and security forces. The TV cameras did not show the achievements of the deceased inside the country, or his major works outside. What we saw was unlike what we see in many other countries during such times. The corona pandemic may have played a role in modest measures, but the deceased’s standing, locally and internationally, required something much better.