According to Princess Loulwa Al Faisal, the process of reform in Saudi Arabia has been ongoing since the country's independence.
The West has put a lot of pressure on Saudi Arabia recently to reform its educational system. From your experience, how valid is criticism of the Saudi educational system? If there is some validity, what kind of reform needs to take place?
Outside pressure for reform is not the kind of pressure that everyone is talking about. Educational reform has never stopped in Saudi Arabia, from the first day of its inception. We're a very young country, and reforms have been made not just in education. What has been happening lately is that, somewhere along the way, the use of technology was delayed in education. Most of the reforms happening now are related to introducing very quickly the technological part of education.
Other areas in which we have seen the need for reform are those in which extremism has now produced terrorism. And this is not just in Saudi Arabia; it's a reality in much of the world. Saudi Arabia has been aware of this for 10-15 years. We were the first victims of terror, and we have been calling on the world to help combat terrorism. Unfortunately, the world didn't really listen, didn't understand this threat. The world didn't feel it until September 11th. In Saudi Arabia, we had already started combating that kind of terrorism, but we needed to find the sources of it. But reform is not because of this new pressure; it's because we have been suffering from terrorism for all this time.
How can technology help young Saudis prepare to enter the job market and make a real contribution to the economy?
The jobs are there, but they are occupied by foreigners. The specialties of the Saudis are in a different field. We lost the way in technology. We are now starting a huge training program to enable people looking for work to fill those positions. At the moment, if you look at it on a wider scale, it's a much smaller problem. We are not going to have a problem, but we need to be prepared for the generation coming up because three-quarters of Saudi Arabians are under 25. They are not really in the job market now, but in the next 5-10 years they will be. This is when we have to be ready. Everyone, whether in the government, education or the private sector, is aware of that. There's a big movement in Saudi Arabia for reform in those areas to be able to meet that challenge. The population growth caught us by surprise. We weren't expecting it to grow that quickly. This is where we need to concentrate: on those young Saudis who are coming into the job market and on preparing the existing workforce for tomorrow.
Labor Minister al-Qusaibi has talked about both the need for vocational training, but also the need to change attitudes, particularly attitudes toward learning and work. Do you think this is valid?
Yes, certainly. Everybody needs to change. Changing attitudes is part of reform. We have excellent traditions that have stayed with us, but also traditions that were not that great in some areas. That needs to be changed. But we also need to keep the good traditions.
Which traditions are good and which need to be changed?
The traditions of family, community, taking care of everybody. You must remember that we are a tribal society. The tribe has to count on every person in that tribe, has to count on the others to be able to survive. In that list of traditions should be included decreasing the use of water because we don't have it. Water is very important for our survival.
You talk about the values of family and community. If you look at the economy of the United States, it's driven by an opposite set of values, which are the values of individualism. It seems that globalization favors individualism. Is this going to lead to some kind of conflict in Saudi society?
If you're a Muslim, you cannot be an individualist. Islam looks at the needs of the larger society, the whole. Islam is also very practical in its dealings with other societies, if you really know your religion. We are a Muslim country based on the Islamic Sharia. Islam gives you examples of how to deal with individualistic societies, holistic societies, all societies. If you really study Islam, it is a religion that is open to a lot of new ideas and thoughts. We just now need to learn how to deal with an individualistic society.
How significant was the recent round of municipal elections for Saudi Arabians?
They were very important. In our tradition, there has always been a choice of representative in the community. In the neighborhood, there was always the choice of the man who was going to represent them. It was always an individual choice of the person. Even the merchants had their own representatives. What has changed for us is the new system of voting. According to what we have seen lately, it seems to have gone quite well. There weren't as many voters as we expected. All Saudis were a bit surprised by that. It depended on the region: in some regions they had more voters. Probably in the next election, after people have become used to it and know what to expect, there will be a better understanding.
Foreign Minister Saud Al Faisal has said that he has no objections to women taking part in the next round of elections.
Nobody does. The people who prepared these elections said that probably by the next elections there will be women. We'll just have to wait and see.
No one in Saudi Arabia objects to this?
I don't know. Like everything, there are the people for and the people against.
In the Western press, Saudi Arabia is the kingdom in conflict: tradition versus modernity, conservatives versus liberals. When you see stories like this, do you see a grain of truth or utter misrepresentation?
The extreme side of it is utter misrepresentation but, like every country, you have both sides. We do have the traditionalists, we have the people who are in the middle, we have the people who are completely on the other side. It just depends on how you look at it: whether you're living in it or you're looking at it from outside. Some of our customs are old customs. According to Saudi tradition, each of us has his own place, and each person plays a role in the survival of the tribe. What has changed now is that those areas have disappeared. This is where you feel the difference of opinion. Some Saudis still insist on maintaining the old customs, of each person in his place. But the distinctions are becoming blurred. Now, we need to know where everybody goes. It is unclear where individuals are going to go in the scheme of the whole society. Up to now, everything has been going great. Saudis accept so many new things naturally. For the past 50 years, it was constant change. Personally, I think we're doing a great job. We need to show it.
Was life in Saudi Arabia better when you were a girl because roles were clearer? Was life easier when it was simpler?
It depends on what you mean by easier. We didn't have air conditioning, we didn't have that many schools. People were living a very rough life.
Psychologically, spiritually.
Everybody knew each other. Now, it's so different. But there are so many good things that came out of the change. We had a very harsh environment. It's a very hostile environment. Now, we have water and cool air. In Saudi Arabia, architecture, literature, painting and music was in the poem. We didn't have anything else. Everything that here is presented as beautiful buildings, painting, for us was represented as the spoken word. We didn't have any materials to work with. We have an oral tradition, even in education. Historical facts in Saudi Arabia can only be confirmed if there is a poem written about them. Our geography is known because a poet talked about this place in the middle of the desert. Everything is confirmed by poetry. Since Saudi Arabia became united, that has changed. We now have artists, painters, writers, music. So our oral tradition is moving in a different direction.
Is there a spiritual loss that comes with material progress?
It depends on the individual. For me personally or for the whole society?
For you personally.
I'm a practical person. We're very pragmatic in a certain way. When you live in the desert, the soul is always yours to deal with. But to be able to survive, you need to be practical. Desert people have always been very practical. Our soul is kept in our religion, in our way of thinking. In Europe, you have had the luxury of thinking about the spiritual side of things, much more than us in Saudi Arabia. Once we get to the point where we don't need to work constantly to get water, don't need to work constantly to fight sandstorms once we get to that point, we will have the luxury to think of what we're losing.
© Arabies Trends 2005
