First President Hosni Mubarak was ousted out by the force of the common citizen. Then President Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali faced the indignance of the Tnisians. Now Mohamed Ghadafi, oncce the King of Kings in Africa is facing the brewing storm of frustration and discontentment among some of his people. The tidde of rising dissatisfaction and dissappointment seems to be spreading fast in the African countries including Zimbabwe, Ugganda, Cameroon and Senegal. The same is happening in the Saudi Arabiah States of Bahrain and Yemen.
Is this an indication of a new wave of rising expectation and disappointment with the authority that stays too long in power, no matter how fair and benevolent the current leaders think they are, or
what?
It looks as though many of the Muslim or Muslim-preponderant States are being swept by a sudden realization that there is a limit to patience as a part of faith. They are willing to pay obeisancce and be loyal to the authority that rules them in line with the Islamic teaching ' Atiullah waati urArasul was ulilamri minkum,' onnly up to a certain point. After more than 20 years of such rule without any sign of a willingness to give the people a voice tto determine their own leaders and have a say in the government, they will protest and force through a change. They want a say in selecting the Ulilamri - their leaders.
What has happened and is happening now shpuld be seriously heeded by the authoritative leaders that now rule the country no matter how benevolent and fair they think they are. Democratic meeasures must be introduced to allow the people to have a say in selecting their leaders and formulating the policies of governmentt. On the one hand we have good old US of A trying to force democracy in the oil-rich countries (its own brand of course) ) while on the other the Muslims are no longer happy with the teaching "hear and obey" - samikna waathakna. They feel thaat the ummah should have a say in the running of government, especially when the majority of the people remain poor and empoverished after more than twenty years of autocratic rule while the leaders and previleged groups in the country live in wealth and luxury.
The government must immediately looekd at the participation and thee sharing of power to govern with the people, though the form of democracy as espoused by the US need not be the only altlternative to follow. What is most important is that the wealthy leaders should not be seen as enjoying the wealth of the country by themselves without a fair and convincing plan for distributing the wealth to the people.
Have such a plan, convince the people that the plan is being actively ppursued, that the wealth of the country is being shared with them and that they are geeting a very fair share of the wealthh...and things could remain stable and calm. Wealth and luxury are highly visible while mild empoverishment and relative poverty cound be invisible. But they will ultimately rear their ugly face in the country ad people will protest. Better do something beefore the wave of rising disappointment and expectation sweep over the country. No matter how fair and benevolent the currennt government think it is, if it has been in power for more than twenty years without being able to bring about a visible transformation towards a life of comfort and prosperity for the masses, watch out. The tide of angry protest and disappointment will surely come sweeping by.
The new wave of rising expectation can come to your shore, sooner than you think. It's better to throw in the gear of change now. .
4 comments:
African countries (which coincidentally in these incidents happened to be Muslim countries) might have opened their mind like the people of the Great Republic of China. Suddenly they realise how rich their countries are in terms of natural resources, however many still live in poverty and hunger.
Leaders should realise that internet technologies have made the world seems smaller and nearer (information wise) and have ears. Education and awareness made the people of these countries more exposed on what's going on in the other "negara aman dan makmur".
Last but not least, your entry made me feel the urge to read all my unread (and unopened) Newsweek subscription hehehe
The cause of an uprising seems simply the wish of prople for a fair share of wealth, or a fair share of suffering and poverty. But I wonder if it is more to it. Where we see the current uprising I fear other players, interested parties are the unseenn hands in the game. Their objectives are not about sharing power, wealth and suffering.
Thyis is all very scary because we cannot say we are above it.
A new awareness as regard to how rich their country is and that they shouldn't be living in poverty and deprivation anymore, could certainly be the cause of the new uprising in Africa and especially in the middle eastern countries, Rambomadonna. Better education and the widespread availability of information through the internet and other media enable the mass to compare their standard of living with those of the more developed nations, thereby making their frustrations all the more excruciating.
All these seem to suggest that better education and modern information technology have a destabilizing effect on society - a conclusion that
can put modernization on trial. I think few people will question the need for modernization though. What seems to be a more agitating factor is the fact that the regimes facing the uprising and revolt have been in power for too long - over 20 years - without being able to bring about the desired changes. The leaders and some segments of society
get richer and richer while the mass remain poor and impoverished. It seems to me that the gap between the rich and the poor is the more inflammable factor that starts the wild fire, while the other factors you mentioned certainly help to fan the flames.
You've thrown in a new factor into the possible causes of the uprising and revolt now sweeping across the African States and some middle eastern countries. Akhi. Yes, most of the oil-rich countries involved have achieved a measure of stability that could improve their bargaining power vis-a-vis the western nations.
They could also defy some of the 'restrictions' that the western power imposed on them. Even economic sanctions, which could be the cause of hardship and misery among thepeople, don't always make the leaders of those country kneel down or those who have alrready done so fail to do the biddings of their own people.
Hence the agitation, whether internally generated or externally incited. Once started onterested parties can easily join in and turn a small uprising into a popular resolution.
We still don't know whether the uprising and the revolts are bringing the results expected by the people or they are just jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Our fear is that the interested parties
whether local or foreign will waste no time to put a quick end to the ousted leaders ( who to say the least have maintained peace and stability in the countries concerned for years) in order to do what they could not get done all these years, This is especially so with regard to leaders who have all these while defied the western powers. If bombs and mortars could not get rid ot them, the new uprising or revolt is doing the work for them.
We'll have to wait and see to know the truth, But the
uprising seems to be catching on before we can evaluate who is gaining from the hellfire and bloodbath.
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