Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Reform comes from within,
Badran reiterates
AMMAN (Petra) — Prime Minister Adnan Badran has stressed that the comprehensive
reform process led by His Majesty King Abdullah "comes from within," noting the
Steering Committee for the National Agenda is working on drafting an integrated
reform plan for the country.
In an interview with the Dubai-based Al Arabiya satellite channel, aired Sunday,
Badran said when the King designated him as prime minister, he "underlined the
need for accelerating reforms so that that we do not lag behind the world."
Part of these reforms, according to the premier, is a modern law on political
parties that would enhance political development so that the country could forge
a "healthy democracy under the umbrella of the Constitution."
Badran said he believes in the need to promote the freedom of the press. He
noted that the government, implementing the King's directives, has prohibited
the arrest and detention of journalists in work-related cases.
"The government will lead a reform process in the media and allow the
establishment of private TV and radio stations," he said.
Badran told the station he would soon go into meetings with parliamentary blocs
to discuss their demands, including the "geographical representation in the
ministerial team."
"I believe there are qualified people in the areas that were not represented in
the Cabinet. I have no problem in expanding the government taking geography into
consideration despite the fact that there are no constitutional provisions that
stipulate geographical representation in the Cabinet," he told Jezel Khouri,
host of the talk show, "In Plain Arabic."
He said his government is currently drafting its policy statement to present to
the Lower House during its upcoming extraordinary session.
Asked about the facilities Jordan is making available at border crossings,
particularly on the bridges between Jordan and the Palestinian territories, the
premier stressed that the Kingdom is a tourist-oriented country and was acting
on this basis rather than for any political purposes.
He said Jordan is not worried because of rumours that it would be a replacement
homeland for Palestinians, affirming that the Kingdom "believes that the
Palestinian people are clinging to their land and want their independent state.
They will not accept any alternative to that," he said.
He reiterated the Kingdom's position on the planned Israeli withdrawal from
Gaza, which, he said, should be part of the roadmap peace plan.
On Iraq, the prime minister voiced hope that the new constitution would lead to
elections that produce a political system where all the Iraqi spectra are
represented.
He said bilateral relations between the two countries are in good shape and
announced that a financial-legal committee was working out a solution to the
issue of Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, who has been convicted by a
Jordanian court of bank fraud.
He said he has not visited Baghdad so far due to "security rather than political
reasons" and that he would head for Iraq when the security situation allows him
to. Meanwhile, he said he has invited Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari to
visit Amman.