News
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saudi king wields carrot and stick* King Abdullah announces billions of dollars in handouts for his people but warns security forces will ‘hit’ whoever ‘considers’ undermining the kingdom’s stability
RIYADH: Saudi King Abdullah announced on Friday billions of dollars in handouts for his people and boosted his security apparatus in a renewed effort to shield the world’s top oil exporter from unrest rocking the Arab world.
In a speech aired on state-run Al-Ekhbareya television, the king warned that security forces would hit whoever “considers” undermining the kingdom’s security and stability. He coupled the warning with an announcement of massive social benefits, including offering employees two months extra salary, higher unemployment payments, better healthcare and improved housing.
“You are the hitting hand against whoever considers undermining the nation’s security and stability,” the king said, addressing Saudi security forces. He also announced the creation of 60,000 more military and security jobs and the establishment of an anti-corruption committee to fight graft.
According to Friday’s royal decree, the OPEC kingpin, for the first time, set a minimum wage of 3,000 riyals ($800) a month for government employees. The king also announced 500,000 new housing units to which around $67 billion would be allocated.
The king made a brief statement congratulating Saudis for their loyalty and national unity before a battery of decrees were read out suggesting he was embracing increasingly conservative policies. Amongst a wave of new spending, the decrees outlined a boost in welfare benefits, bonuses for public sector workers, including the army, and a massive drive to build new housing.
In addition, the king ordered the creation of 60,000 security jobs within the interior ministry, promised more money for the religious police and, in a sign Saudi’s ruling Sunni elite will tolerate no dissent, said the media must respect clerics.
Saudi Arabia has mostly avoided the protests seen elsewhere in the region, but dissents have nonetheless built up and some demonstrations have taken place – especially in the east where many Shias live.
The new pledges came as a wave of protests, triggered by poverty and unemployment, swept across the Arab world, including neighbouring Yemen and Bahrain, where Saudi Arabia has sent troops to quell Shia-led protests against the ruling Sunni dynasty.
In Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich mainly Shia Eastern province, hundreds of Saudi Shias rallied late on Thursday to show solidarity with Shias in Bahrain.
Witnesses said Saudi security forces fired tear gas at demonstrators in the city of Qateef where shots also rang out. Marches were also held in the cities of Tarut, Safwa and Awamiya.
King Abdullah last month announced an economic package worth an estimated $37 billion in an initial move to ease social tensions. Friday’s measures are significantly more costly, with plans for a building spree set to cost $66.7 billion alone.
With more than $400 billion in foreign reserves, Saudi Arabia is in a more comfortable position than many neighbours to alleviate social pressures such as high youth unemployment. But it was not clear if financial measures and boosting the security apparatus will silence critics within the kingdom.
Reformers have been hoping for a move towards democracy such as new elections to municipal councils, or even elections to the Shura Council – an advisory body of appointees. The kingdom has been slow to carry out reform promises in the conservative state since Abdullah came to power in 2005. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk