“I THINK the major factors that currently impede the progress of our democracy are endless serial political crises which we have been witnessing for the past half century. This can be attributed to the fact that the Kuwaiti democracy was born deformed and immature and still lies in an incubator,” columnist and former MP Mubarak Al-Sunaideh wrote for Al-Watan Arabic daily Sunday.

“In this context, we suggest there can be no democracy without political parties and Kuwait is the sole country in the world which practices democracy without parties in the absence of political pluralism.
“However, the discords between political parties in some Arab countries must not terrify us and prevent us from promulgating political parties in our country, particularly since we know Kuwait is the only country among the democratic countries which still practices democracy without political parties.

“This happens although there are many ‘unofficial’ political parties in Kuwait, which have yet to be promulgated, and the government is currently dealing unofficially with these parties.
“In this context, let us say if the political parties in the country are licensed and the Elections Law is revised accordingly, then we expect the country will get rid of the sectarian, tribal and provincial fanaticism and this means the election lists will include candidates belonging to various political parties and the voters will not vote in favor of any candidate, rather they will vote in favor  of the platform of the candidates irrespective of the sectarian, tribal or provincial belonging of these candidates.

“With regard to discussions of topics propounded in the National Assembly we say according to the current system, we see 50 MPs talking about one topic and every MP giving his opinion  about the topic in front of his voters.
“But under the partisan system the picture will be different. In other words, let us presume that five political parties are represented in the Parliament and each party has 10 MPs. In this case, only five MPs representing their respective parties will talk about the concerned topic — each representing their party in Parliament and this will save the time of the MPs.

“Moreover, the Speaker of the National Assembly will be in a position to control the Parliament because instead of dealing with 50 MPs during one session, he will deal only with five MPs.
“With regard to parliamentary interpellations, under the current system it depends on the mood of the relevant MP, but under the partisan system, the parliamentary interpellations will not be filed against any minister unless they are fully studied from all aspects by all MPs representing the party.
“Furthermore, under the partisan system a government which is formed will have representatives from the parties and this shall enable the government to cooperate with the two parties, for instance, or may be more to secure the necessary majority and this shall help ease political tension in the country and foil attempts to revise the Constitution because political parties will refrain from supporting proposals aimed at curtailing the freedoms in the country.”

Also:
“There is nothing in the offing to reveal that Iran will be exposed to imminent danger at least for the moment. In spite of the above, we have observed that the media when dealing with the Iranian dossier has tilted to blow things out of the proportion,” columnist Fuhaid Al-Busairi wrote for Al-Rai daily Sunday.
“However, the topic of military attack on Iran by the United States of America is non-understandable, but it is needless to say the war of words between Tehran and Washington is reasonable because these kinds of wars are fought in the framework of political tactics to achieve specific objectives.
“Meanwhile, we have observed how the current global situations contradict with attempts to blow out of proportion the political differences between Iran and the United States of America.

“In other words, the United States of America and its allies are currently in an unenviable position. This happens although Iran currently has been celebrating triumphs to such an extent many people throughout the world at the moment envy Iran for the victories it has scored in its struggle with the West to achieve a single objective, but the Western alliance is trying to achieve many contravening objectives through its struggle with Iran.
“Such being the case, the prospective US military attack on Iran is doomed to failure, because we know the Untied States of America is still involved in Iraq and more deeply sunk in the Afghan quagmire at a time when the US Treasury has been emptied by the international financial meltdown.
“Apart from the above, we expect Russia’s attitude, which had remained idle during the invasion of Iraq by the United States of America, to be the same. Hence, we expect the United States of America will not militarily attack Iran even if the Iranians were involved in a political maneuver against the West.
“Such being the case, the Americans will have no choice, but to attempt to persuade the international community to impose new sanctions on Iran with the aim of impeding and confusing Tehran’s plans.”


“The United States of America has threatened to use military force against Iran because it has failed to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),” columnist Jaber Al-Hajri wrote for Al-Qabas daily Sunday.
“The United States of America has reacted by deploying Patriot missiles in many parts of the Arabian Gulf to encounter Iranian missiles which are likely to be fired by the Iranians against countries in the region if Iran is exposed to a military strike by American troops stationed in the Gulf states.
“Needles to say the eruption of a war between Iran and the United States of America will not be in the interest of our region, because we know this part of the world had been exposed to many wars over the last three decades.
“Consequently, it is time for the Gulf states to strongly reject any kind of war that is likely to be waged against Iran, because this war will bring severe consequences and is likely to cause mass destruction in the Gulf region that shall hurt not only Iran, but all countries in this part of the world.
“Such being the case, if America still insists to go ahead by some new or old plans which were drawn up by the administration of the former American president George W. Bush, we must send a clear cut message to Washington in this regard to reject any prospective war in the region and this means Washington must resort to diplomacy to solve its problems with Tehran, because war in this part of the world will bring destruction and all of us are aware that Iran is not the same like Iraq.”


“The US policy in our region is volatile and we cannot relay on the Americans during any war that may erupt in this part of the world, because these wars are engineered to serve only US interests,” Kuwaiti columnist and academician Dr Jalal Al-Rasheed wrote for Al-Dar daily Sunday.
“In this context, we cite the suspicious communications currently taking place between Afghanistan and the Americans and their old allies, the Taleban movement and the al-Qaeda network, and this proves the volatility of the US policy in the region.
“Needless to say the United States of America is a superpower and has huge interests in all countries of the world. Such being the case, we have observed how the Americans are moving from place to place motivated by the theory of ‘shifting interests’ of the United States of America.
“In this context for instance, we would like to return to the 1980s when the US had interests with fundamental organizations in Afghanistan. In other words, the US had woven a coalition with these organizations and Washington had provided them with the sophisticated US Stinger missiles to fight one anti-Islam power against another anti-Islam power to such an extent the loyalty of these fundamentalist organizations during that time to the White House was equal to their loyalty to Holy Kaa’ba.”


“Since the Al-Naeem Police Station incident, we have been warning about security negligence and chaos in Al-Jahra governorate. More than one-third Kuwaitis live in this governorate and though several notorious incidents have been taking place here, none of the officials at the Ministry of Interior have been held accountable and this is aggravating the problem,” columnist Talal Al-Saeed wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“After the chaos and near rioting which took place after electricity disruption in the governorate, senior officials of the Ministry of Interior should have been sacked, but regretfully, nothing of that sort took place.”  
“The Al-Doha stunt incident once again highlighted the extent of security deterioration in the governorate. Though we know that reckless drivers and stunt performers are not restricted to this governorate alone, we are absolutely sure that there is more than one reckless driver in every street of Jahra. The incident has once again brought attention to the increase in   stunts and illegal races held in this governorate.”


“All the recent attempts to sow discord among various groups of Kuwaitis have made us even more determined to stay united. From now onwards, our slogan should be ‘Allah, the homeland and the Amir’,” columnist Abdullah Abbas Bwair wrote for Al-Wasat daily.
“We were worried and alarmed when the miscreants started exploiting the mass media to destabilize the country and threaten national unity. We want to remind all Kuwaitis that our national unity helped us stay together and face all the worst ordeals. Maintaining this unity is every Kuwaiti’s national duty.” 


“The series of political achievements made in the recent past are a source of joy and pride for every Kuwaiti and they know that it was possible due to the renewed spirit of cooperation and reconciliation between the executive and legislative authorities,” columnist Ahmed Bin Fahad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“No doubt these accomplishments reassured Kuwaitis, but at the same time they are waiting for the implementation of the new development plan, the disabled law and others. The approval of these bills proves that the government, headed by HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad, is keen on keeping its promise of taking care of the country and its people. The prime minister had earlier said that each government member took an oath in front of Allah and before HH the Amir to look after the country’s interests.” 


“The executive and legislative authorities are enjoying cordial relations these days and this development is yielding positive outcomes,” columnist Abu Khalid wrote for Al-Hurriya journal.
“Part of the positive outcome of the relations is approval of some bills, including the government’s development bill, public authority for stock exchange market and handicapped rights bill. However, it seems some lawmakers are trying to destroy the atmosphere by initiating grilling requests against the information minister.
“We have repeated umpteen times that we don’t have any problem with grilling, as such, as we have witnessed the grilling of four ministers, including the prime minister, in a single day and noted that nothing special happened. What is surprising is the unusual interest some lawmakers have developed in the grilling process and their persistent lust for creating crisis at all times. This is happening at a time when citizens are yearning for development and continual understanding between the two authorities.” 


“I was happy to participate in the recently held Arab Intellectual Conference held in Kuwait to compliment the efforts exerted by the Kuwaiti government in hosting the Arab League Economic Summit last year,” Dr Huda Abdulghafur Ameen wrote for Al-Nahar daily.
“It is not strange the two meetings held in Kuwait had been successful, since the country is considered one of the most important centers in the Arab world, and the Gulf to be specific, where several political, economic and cultural activities take off.
“During the meeting, I interacted with some of the audience, including business persons, and well-informed people from inside and outside the country. Several issues were also discussed at the conference, which the young generation took note of, while successful business persons shared their experiences”.


“The end of every strategy is about the consistent chain of alternatives and actions, which could be regulated according to time, nature and the personalities involved,” Abdul-Latif Saud Al-Saqer wrote for Arrouiah daily.
“If crises destabilize a strategy, then it must necessarily be regulated in line with strict timing and action. Today, any strategy planned for Kuwait should follow the time limit and consistent steps as dictated by the nature of the crises. The strategy is development oriented, so the embedded contradictions are long-term activities, while crisis management is primarily based on short-term action. The objectives of development are probably the most dangerous aspects of the contradiction at the present time.
“In summary, the real issue lies in the selection of a development strategy during crises. This is because development is all about activation of human resources and expansion of people’s alternatives.
“Right now, this hypothesis is accompanied by the slogan “Development is freedom”, such that freedom is known in various forms, involving freedom from hunger, subjugation and everything that hampers a brighter future. Therefore, development strategy requires gradual removal of any forms of retrogression”.


“Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with lawmaker Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaie, you have to admit that he is one of the most prominent figures in parliamentary work,” columnist Dr Sajed Al-Abdali wrote for Al-Jarida daily.
“Anyone who tries to recall our parliamentary scene, will definitely find the image of Al-Tabtabaie among the first images that come to mind. Although, Al-Tabtabaie lacks charisma in television meetings and seminars, he managed to gain the trust of voters in many successive rounds. This is because he is a model lawmaker whose performance is consistent and clear to everyone. Despite this, some hidden attempts are being made to spoil the good image of Tabtabaie, especially after he took a cheque from the Prime Minister for his own charity organization  and for his support to the demand of dropping loan interests.”


“A prominent female Kuwaiti personality in the oil sector and the former minister of oil, who recently returned to the country from Iraq, confirmed Kuwait lost a golden opportunity after the cancellation of the northern oil fields project,” Sami Abdullatif Al-Nisf wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“They pointed out this project was supposed to include the use of the most advanced technology to dig oil from intricate areas.  They revealed Iraq has signed contracts with foreign companies which will use state-of-the-art machines and modern procedures to dig oil.  They warned these companies might dig oil from Kuwaiti territories, particularly along the borders between the two countries.
“They asserted the cancellation of worthy projects, such as the northern oil fields, Dow Chemical, and other petrochemical deals, has discouraged many international companies from investing in Kuwait.  The country now lags behind its neighbors in terms of development due to the delayed implementation of vital projects. 
“As if these cancellations are not enough, the former minister of communications has also called off deals for the purchase of Airbus and Boeing aircraft for Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC).”


“HH the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem led the independence in 1961 and oil exploration, prompting him and his companions to establish modern Kuwait and draft its constitution,” Nawaf Al-Shimmari wrote for Al-Shaab - weekly publication.
“These men have been included in the golden pages of Kuwait’s history.  Due to their hard work, Kuwait has been worthy of emulation among the GCC nationals, who closely monitored the development of this democratic nation.
“Kuwait is currently in the era of frozen development process and investments have been transferred to other nations due to the instability in the region.  After the liberation of Kuwait from the Iraqi tyrant, it somehow recovered from its losses but it never regained its leading role in the region.”


“MP Dr Maasouma Al-Mubarak wants to see women occupy leadership posts in the country.  She wants women to come out of their homes to activate their role in the political arena,” Fahad Al-Mandeel wrote for Alam Al-Yawm daily.
“Apparently, Al-Mubarak is oblivious to the fact that the most important role of women is to raise children who will be the future leaders.  Women must nurture children and teach them how to become worthy citizens who can greatly contribute to nation-building. 
“Society expects a mother to take care of the children, while the father earns for the whole family.  Therefore, the mother’s role in a family is as important as that of the father, but Al-Mubarak seems keen on repeating her mistakes concerning women’s issues.
“Al-Mubarak should carefully study history to understand factors that divert societies from the right path.  Problems occur when everybody tries to play another role that he is not qualified to do.” 


“The majority of Kuwaiti citizens are not enthusiastic about the development plan, whose projects are not feasible, and yet it’s valued at 37 billion dinars,” Mohammad Al-Mulla wrote for Al-Shahid daily.
“I regard the whole thing as a big mistake, because the government should have rather mandated the private sector to execute the plans through the BOT system or floated the projects through companies that will involve the participation of citizens. This is better than the paper companies, whose main objective is founded on bourse deals and playing with share values to exploit the pockets of citizens.
“We were expecting the government to assign some public agencies and the ministries in service-providing to manage the projects through private companies. This would have improved the infrastructure with annual excess income for the country and provide jobs for Kuwaiti youths, which would in return activate the market and banks, and serve as the initial step against unemployment in the country”.

“HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad, with the support of National Assembly speaker and other lawmakers,  managed to completely change the political behavior in the country and this resulted in the approving and issuing of three important laws, namely the stock market law, development plan and handicapped law,” columnist Dr Ali Al-Za’abi wrote for Awan daily. 
“I was happy, like everybody else, to see parliamentary-government committees working day and night to amend and modify some clauses in the above-mentioned laws. The laws received different reactions, ranging from satisfactory to dissatisfactory. However, the purpose - to issue laws in a democratic way - was achieved.
“The disagreements between the Parliament and government were not intended to delay or obstruct projects. They were intended to make sure that all the projects are on the right track. I think we are finally experiencing real democracy.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb