Saudi Arabia - King Abdullah

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King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia - official photo SUSRIS EXCLUSIVE

King Abdullah: Racing or Nudging to the Future?
A Conversation with Mark Weston

Editor's Note:

Among the many insights and perspectives on Saudi Arabia in Mark Weston's new book "Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present" he sketches a portrait of King Abdullah not often found in contemporary accounts of the Kingdom. On his background and character Weston starts by saying:

"Abdullah (the name means "Servant of God") has dark brown eyes and a slight stutter; a speech defect more than compensated for by a ramrod-straight posture that makes him seem taller than his six feet two-inches. A coal-black goatee makes him look even more imposing. By all accounts, Abdullah gets along well with everyone. He speaks frankly but is eager to hear what other people have to say, whether they are illiterate Bedouin or Western-educated professors. Even Abraham Foxman, the national director of the [Jewish] Anti-Defamation League, was pleasantly surprised during a trip to Saudi Arabia by Abdullah's willingness to listen carefully and ask questions.."

Weston's account of what Saudi Arabia is about weaves the story of Abdullah throughout its pages and helps give an understanding of the King's role in bringing the Kingdom to where it is today. As SUSRIS continues the work of chronicling developments in Saudi Arabia, by marking the third anniversary of Abdullah's ascension to the throne, we are pleased to present our conversation with Mark Weston sharing his impression of the King. Weston, recently a Visiting Scholar at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh, talked with SUSRIS by phone on August 3, 2008 from his home in New York.

SUSRIS EXCLUSIVE

King Abdullah: Racing or Nudging to the Future?
A Conversation with Mark Weston

SUSRIS: Thank you for your time today to talk about King Abdullah, his three years as ruler of Saudi Arabia and developments in the Kingdom. Can you start by talking about Abdullahï¿½s background? What experiences has he had that prepared him to be Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, his official title, and Saudi Arabiaï¿½s head of state.

Mark Weston: King Abdullah was 21 years old before the oil money started to come in to the Kingdom. So he witnessed the extensive changes Saudi Arabia has gone through and his values were formed before there was oil money.

The details of his youth ï¿½ what he did day to day ï¿½ and before he became Commander of the Saudi Arabian National Guard are difficult to come by. However, unlike King Fahd he never had a ï¿½playboyï¿½ reputation and therefore he has had more stature with conservative elements. So when it was the right time to move forward with reforms it has been easier for him to do so.

Insignia of the Saudi Arabian National Guard

In terms of his positions in the government he ran the National Guard very efficiently, more so than other branches of the armed forces. There was a greater value gained for the Riyals spent for weapons and equipment. Abdullah didnï¿½t always buy the latest high-tech weapons but sought equipment that was more useful, more manageable for the National Guard. He was a good manager.

SUSRIS: What has King Abdullah accomplished?

Weston: I think the crowning achievement of Saudi Arabia in recent years was joining the World Trade Organization. They signed dozens of trade agreements, passed dozens of new commercial laws, and participated in hundreds of negotiations. To join the WTO they had to modernize the economy and itï¿½s safe to say that King Abdullah modernized Saudi Arabiaï¿½s economy much faster than could have been done in a democracy where decision makers might be beholden to various special interests. In order to join the WTO companies have to be more financially transparent. I talked to one pharmaceutical importer just a few weeks ago when I was in Saudi Arabia and he said the business climate was much, much better than it was just four years ago.

The importance of the economy, a prince who runs a farm outside Riyadh, one of King Faisalï¿½s descendents told me, is that economic reform is the chariot that will drive all of the other reforms. It seems King Abdullah operates from that perspective. One of the first things Abdullah did when the current oil boom started was to pay off not just foreign debt but also domestic debt.

SUSRIS: Letï¿½s talk about those reforms ï¿½ economic, political and social programs. What has been happening there?

Weston: First, it should be said that changes are slow but steady; I like to think of Saudi Arabia as the tortoise. Still King Abdullah is acutely aware that Saudi Arabia is in a race against time. They have ï¿½ we donï¿½t know exactly how much ï¿½ if itï¿½s 40, 60 or 80 years before it runs out of oil for export. Saudis have a certain amount of time to be ready to compete in the world economy. So the fact that the government is still spending 25 percent of its budget on education and sending about 17,000 students abroad on full scholarships shows that Abdullah is aware of the timelines and they are doing what they can.

I would add that satellite television proliferation in the Kingdom is probably the single most important social reform there has been. It is allowing Saudis to see how other Muslims live. They see how Lebanese and Egyptian women live, for example.

SUSRIS: Americans often focus on womenï¿½s issues when there is discussion of social reform in Saudi Arabia. What is happening in that regard?

Weston: As you know almost 60 percent of students in Saudi colleges are women and they tend to be better students than the men. A great many people see that the lives of Saudi women are about to undergo great changes. The one thing that could stop progress on that score is if there is some terrible clash of civilizations that suddenly makes Saudi society become dramatically more conservative. But barring that there are going to be more and more things that women can do that they couldnï¿½t do before.

In just the past few months they have gained the right to travel alone, which they didnï¿½t have before, and their choices of occupations are growing. The Shura has recommended that women over 35 be allowed to drive from 7 in the morning until 8 at night and King Abdullah has followed almost all of the recommendations of the Shura. So I think youï¿½re going to see some half-step toward women driving very soon.

Politically, itï¿½s been more disappointing mainly because the municipal councils that were elected in 2005 havenï¿½t yet done anything. Saudi Arabia is having new elections in 2009 and women are expected to vote in that round. The prospect of women voting will accelerate social change but whether the councils that are elected have any teeth remains to be seen.

SUSRIS: As in any country going through social reforms there are going to be competing elements in Saudi Arabia ï¿½ conservatives challenging reformers and vice versa. Professor Jean-Francois Seznec of Georgetown University recently told us about how King Abdullah sought to marginalize the most conservative elements. How would you characterize this competition?

Weston: I would agree with Professor Seznecï¿½s assessment but I wouldnï¿½t use the word challenge. The beauty of the way the Royal Family mediates between the conservative clerics and the Western, reform oriented businessmen and professors is that they often introduce a reform when a huge majority sees a need for that reform. For example, after the Mecca school fire when they took the administration of the girlï¿½s schools away from the clerics and put it into the Ministry of Education, the whole country was behind that and even the conservative clerics saw that it was the probably the right thing to do.

So the Royal Family zigs and zags between reform and conservatism but usually when theyï¿½re zigging itï¿½s because they have their finger on the pulse of public opinion. So I donï¿½t think they are challenging. I think nudge might be a better word, that they nudge the clerics into the 21st century. Sometimes they put a brake on reform when they see that is necessary too.

SUSRIS: Letï¿½s turn to Saudi Arabiaï¿½s increasingly important role in the international community. Can you comment on this part of Abdullahï¿½s efforts ï¿½ that Saudi Arabia needs to expand international cooperation ï¿½ such as with the recent Interfaith Dialogue he organized in Madrid? What effects will these connections with the outside world will have inside the Kingdom?

Weston: The recent Interfaith Dialogue is a good example of the connections Abdullah is making. You know, SUSRIS provides so much wonderful information every day that itï¿½s all I can do to just print out the articles that I feel I need to read. So Iï¿½m trying to catch up with the implications of the Madrid conference. But I think one of the reasons he has opened a dialogue like this is that the Muslim clerics want the West to know more about Islam, to respect Islam, to understand Islam. So when they have these dialogues, one of the things the clerics hear is, ï¿½Thatï¿½s all fine, but meanwhile you canï¿½t build churches in Saudi Arabia.ï¿½ The clerics are hearing this from the other side.

Abdullah realizes that the more chances the Muslim clerics get to be heard by the West, the more the clerics themselves are going to hear how the West feels. I donï¿½t see any churches appearing in Saudi Arabia for quite some years but if you have a dialogue ideas surface and the clerics hear those ideas. I think thatï¿½s one of the reasons that King Abdullah has organized these types of dialogues.

SUSRIS: Among the remarkable developments in Abdullahï¿½s reign has been the Bayï¿½ah Council, dealing with Royal succession, efforts to reform the judiciary, expanded privatization and diversification in the economy and so forth. What specific actions attributable to Abdullahï¿½s rule in Saudi Arabia would you offer to anyone trying to understand what is happening in the Kingdom?

Weston: Clearly all of those things you mentioned are extremely important reforms, particularly the Bayï¿½ah Council, the Allegiance Institution. There are currently 16 sons and 19 grandsons on that commission so whoever becomes the next Crown Prince will have to have support of the majority of those 35 people. So that means at a very minimum 18 princes. But with Saudi Arabia being a consensus society it more likely means there will be at least two-dozen senior princes backing him. It means heï¿½s going to have to listen to their concerns, and probably make promises in advance. He will probably make a much better Crown Prince and later King for having met all of their concerns. Abdullah, through the way he structured the Allegiance Institution ï¿½ given that the power is going to be within the family for the next few years ï¿½ has democratized decision making within the Royal Family in a very creative way.

SUSRIS: Some Saudis and observers are worried that reforms in the Kingdom are operating on a biological clock, which belongs to King Abdullah. Whatï¿½s your sense of the long term commitment to the reforms that are underway and his legacy?

Weston: Saudi society as a whole likes his reforms and is committed to them in my opinion. But there seems to be a feeling among most Saudis I talk to that Crown Prince Sultan is not as committed to reforms as King Abdullah. Heï¿½s not seen as being reactionary or even a conservative but I think heï¿½s seen as less committed to the reforms than King Abdullah. Thereï¿½s a sense that should Abdullah die first the reform movement might slow down for a few years.

A session of the Saudi Council of Ministers (Photo: SPA) As to who would become Crown Prince after Sultan no one really knows and so much will depend on that choice. I guess it comes down to the question of whether the 35 princes on the Bayï¿½ah Council list are as committed to reforms as King Abdullah is. Since there are 19 grandsons of King Abdulaziz on that commission I suspect that they are.

I should add the business climate is so positive in Saudi Arabia that everyone is making more money and people donï¿½t like to make less money. So there is going to be a commitment to reform if only for the economic reasons.

SUSRIS: Talk to us about the tendency in the American media to portray King Abdullah in a negative light. Parade magazineï¿½s perennial labeling of him as among the worldï¿½s worst dictators for reasons like religious freedom ratings of the Kingdom is just one example. How would you explain King Abdullah to Americans who donï¿½t understand Saudi Arabia beyond what they might get in the mainstream media?

Weston: Two points are worth making. First in no way he is an absolute monarch. When I see someone describe Saudi Arabia as an absolute monarchy I know they know very little about the country.

The Saudi Arabian Consultative Council. (Photo: SPA) Saudi Arabia is a consensus society and the King consults so many people before any decisions are made. He has to consult his brothers. He consults the senior clerics. He consults businessmen. He consults professors. So nothing gets done in Saudi Arabia by the will of just one person. Abdullah is not a dictator. He is not an absolute monarch. He is a little bit more than first among equals but every decision is made by the group -- the group being the senior princes of the Royal Family but they consult many people.

The reasons why Saudi Arabia sometimes seems so low on the human rights scale is that there is no right to build a church or a synagogue or a Buddhist temple in Saudi Arabia. And itï¿½s like an ï¿½Fï¿½ in terms of religious freedom. ï¿½Zeroï¿½ is too unfair, but itï¿½s very close to ï¿½zeroï¿½ ï¿½ having ï¿½zeroï¿½ religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. So itï¿½s like an ï¿½Fï¿½ on a report card. If you have ï¿½Bï¿½s and one ï¿½Fï¿½ on a report card your GPA is going to be very low because of that one ï¿½F.ï¿½ The fact that Saudi Arabia has a small amount of religious freedom is one of the reasons it falls at the bottom of some of those rankings. Itï¿½s really unfair. I went to Brown University where instead of ï¿½Fï¿½ we had ï¿½No Credit.ï¿½ So if you had ï¿½No Creditï¿½ instead of an ï¿½Fï¿½ then Saudi Arabia would be among the top half of the ï¿½Semi-Freeï¿½ countries ï¿½ thatï¿½s if the religious freedom component was not taken into account.

Saudi Arabians regard their country as the cradle of Islam, sort of the Vatican of Islam. They would say there arenï¿½t any Buddhist temples or synagogues in the Vatican so why are you asking us to build churches or temples in Saudi Arabia. Of course it dates from the Prophet Mohammedï¿½s deathbed wish when he said let there not be two religions in Arabia. So the Caliph gave the non-Muslims several years to move. They werenï¿½t just kicked out in one swoop and they were paid fairly for all their possessions, but they did have to leave Arabia.

There are now some churches in the United Arab Emirates and in Qatar. As changes in Saudi Arabia have never been much more than five or ten years behind the other Gulf states, itï¿½s possible that over a decade there might be a willingness to have a district where people of another faith might be able to worship. Iï¿½d be surprised but itï¿½s possible. But itï¿½s unfair to Saudi Arabia to have this one facet of freedom pull down perceptions of the country.

SUSRIS: What stereotypes or misconceptions about King Abdullah and Saudi Arabia among Americans would you like to see corrected?

Weston: The very first time I went to Saudi Arabia I was expecting to see a religious policeman with a whip standing on every corner. Of course, itï¿½s not like that at all.

People talk about whatever they want in Saudi Arabia. Conversation is free. The press is tame and becoming freer than it used to be. I tell people that Saudi Arabia is a place where people go to work and raise children like any other place in the world. I tell people that this country really and truly is our ally. Even when relations were at their very worst in 1973 and 1974 during the oil embargo, Saudi Arabia was still sending oil to the U.S. military fighting in Vietnam. Saudis were angry at us at that time but even then there were limits as to how far they would let that anger go.

As you know they have pumped more oil at crucial moments like the week after 9/11 or the week before our invasion of Iraq so that world energy markets would be stable. The alternative to the Royal Family, as I said in a newspaper article, is not an Arabic speaking version of the Swedish parliament. The alternative to the Royal Family is a Sunni version of Iranï¿½s Shiite theocracy.

I have constantly asked Saudis if there were a free election and there were three parties ï¿½ one a Royal Family party; one an Islamist party; and one a Western, reform oriented party ï¿½ how would the vote go? I nearly always get the same answers, which is 50-60 percent for the Royal Family; 35-45 for the Islamists; and 5-10 percent for the reformers. So if the Royal Family was not there the country would be far more Islamist and anti-American and since it sits on a quarter of the worldï¿½s oil that would be a very dangerous thing.

SUSRIS: Thank you again, for your time to help us understand developments in the Kingdom and good luck with your new book, ï¿½Prophets and Princes.ï¿½

About Mark Weston

Mark Weston has recently returned from Saudi Arabia, where he was a Visiting Scholar at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh. He has completed a history of the kingdom, Prophets and Princes ï¿½ Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present, which John Wiley & Sons published in July 2008. Wyche Fowler, former U.S. Senator from Georgia and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, wrote the foreword.

Westonï¿½s interest in the Muslim world began in 1990, when he lived in Lahore while researching his first book, The Land and People of Pakistan (HarperCollins 1992) a work recommended by the National Council for Social Studies.

The Los Angeles Times called Westonï¿½s second work, Giants of Japan: The Lives of Japanï¿½s Greatest Men and Women (Kodansha 1999) ï¿½a superb new book.ï¿½ Foreign Affairs called it ï¿½vivid, an excellent introduction to Japanese history.ï¿½ Walter Mondale wrote the foreword, and the book went into paperback in 2002 and again in 2005.

Click here for information on "Prophets and Princes" by Mark Weston.

Weston grew up in Armonk, New York and graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in history. He spent a year at the London School of Economics, then earned a law degree from the University of Texas. He has been a lawyer for ABC Television and a journalist for ABC News, and has written articles for The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. His one-character play, ï¿½Meet George Orwell,ï¿½ has been performed at Trinity College, Oxford and the John Kennedy Presidential Library Theatre in Boston, among other venues.

In 1991 Weston won enough money on TV's Jeopardy! to start a company that makes geographical jigsaw puzzles for children. He sold his firm to a larger puzzle company three years later, then lived with a Japanese family in Tokyo while researching his second book. He has also written a childrenï¿½s book, Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars, that Lee & Low Books will publish in October 2008.

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