Jordan Times
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Political development
priority
By Francesca Sawalha and Mohammed Ben Hussein
AMMAN — Lawmakers on Wednesday received favourably a policy statement by new
Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, who pledged to implement the National Agenda of
political, economic and fiscal reform and protection of freedoms, despite
anti-terror legislation to be introduced in the wake of last month's terror
attacks.
Opposition and conservative deputies alike anticipated that Bakhit's government,
sworn-in on November 27, was likely to obtain a large majority in a confidence
vote slated for the end of next week, though they differed on the reasons behind
the rosy prospects.
Some expected a large number of deputies to rally behind the government in a
show of unity and support to the institutions in the wake of the November 9
suicide bombings.
“We want to support him, we need to work hand-in-hand after what happened,” said
Mamdouh Abbadi, head of the Democratic Alliance bloc. Others thought Bakhit was
to win a large majority because of his personal charisma and reputation, rather
than because of his political platform.
“The government will win a large majority not because of the contents of the
policy statement, but because of Bakhit's personality,” said Hashem Dabbas, from
the National Action Front bloc. “He's a new man, though his government is old,”
added Dabbas, in an apparent reference to the fact that the 23-member Cabinet
includes 14 former ministers.
The Islamic Action Front said it needed to study the details of the policy
statement before deciding whether its 17 deputies will grant the government
their yeahs. But IAF leaders concurred with their fellow legislators on a
positive forecast for next week's confidence vote.
“The policy statement was not different from previous governments',” commented
IAF bloc leader Azzam Huneidi. “It is still too early for us to say how we will
vote, but the government will certainly win a comfortable majority.”
Most lawmakers seemed confident the government will win more than 80 of the 110
House votes.
Most deputies also agreed that one of the most striking aspects of Bakhit's
policy statement was its length — 28 pages, over which the premier often
indulged in technical details.
“We put political development as a priority in our agenda, since it is the
fundamental basis for development and modernisation,” Bakhit said at the
beginning of his policy statement.
Emphasis was also placed on “protecting freedom of opinion, freedom of
expression and individual rights,” and ensuring that anti-terror draft
legislation expected to be submitted to Parliament soon will not conflict, but
complement, the safeguard of public liberties.
“We see no conflict between security and democracy, they complement each other,”
Bakhit declared, in an apparent bid to allay fears by international and local
human rights watchdogs that the anti-terror draft might tighten already
stringent limitations to freedom of assembly and expression.
Reiterating earlier statements that the National Agenda of political, social and
economic reform over the next 10 years will constitute his government's “guide,”
Bakhit vowed to carry out the most important legislative changes foreseen by the
reform document, submitted to His Majesty King Abdullah on November 23.
“We will amend several laws, including the political parties, municipalities and
elections laws, as well as all laws on civil society, such as the professional
associations and press laws,” Bakhit said.
“These amendments will also require an overall review of other related laws,
such as the Public Gatherings Law, and all legislation and procedures
contravening Jordan's commitments to international human rights agreements and
standards.”
The controversial Public Gatherings Law, introduced as a temporary legislation
in summer 2001, requires that organisers obtain authorisation from several
authorities three days prior to the holding of any rally, march, or public
assembly.
The National Agenda recommends a revision of the one-person, one-vote system,
applied since 1993. It proposes to either open the electoral race to national
lists, in addition to individual candidates, or to institute a two-vote formula,
with voters casting one ballot for a candidate and one for a national list.
Bakhit also promised to reform the income tax system under guidelines set by the
National Agenda, which recommended widening the taxpayers' base, and abolishing
current deductions and exemptions while at the same time significantly raising
the ceiling of taxable individual income.
The policy statement also announced a programme to qualify and train preachers
and imams who would spread moderate Islamic ideology and guide the masses away
from the lure of hardliners, fundamentalists and militants who promote a
misleading image of Islam.
Huneidi praised the government's initiative to train preachers and imams, but
warned that criteria to evaluate the qualifications of preachers can vary
greatly.
“There is a large number of qualified preachers who are not allowed to preach,
while unqualified preachers are filling the mosques,” Huneidi commented. “We
need to take a serious look at the potential of all preachers and decide on the
basis of their level of education.”
In his Letter of Designation on November 24, King Abdullah asked Bakhit to “wage
an all-out war against the schools of takfir that are nourished by bigotry,
backwardness and isolationism, live on the ignorance of simple and naïve people
and work under the guidance of misleading fatwas and approaches.”
Yesterday's policy statement detailed the government's strategy to fight
unemployment, mainly by marketing Jordanian labour in the Gulf and setting up a
comprehensive vocational training programme supported by a public-private sector
fund that will guarantee decent wages, health and social security coverage to
Jordanians willing to take up jobs thus far filled by foreign workers.
The government also promised to widen health insurance coverage, restructure the
investment arm of the Social Security Corporation to bypass bureaucracy and
ensure safer investments, jump-start public sector reform by restructuring
ministries and government departments and setting up job descriptions for each
post.
In another of the 78 points in his policy statement, Bakhit also vowed to
proceed with programmes to build capacity at the local government level.
“The speech was too long,” commented Dabbas, who is also a former minister. “All
these points would be too difficult to implement in a person's lifetime — leave
aside in a government's lifetime. Plus, we don't have the financial resources to
carry out all this.”
Daher Fawaz, head of the National Front bloc, said “with such a long speech, [Bakhit]
opened the door to a lengthy and heated debate on each point.”
“He should have outlined general policies, instead he gave deputies a chance to
[bicker] on each detail,” added Fawaz.
Amongst the many “details,” Bakhit also mentioned supporting the Aqaba Special
Economic Zone, reducing dependence on oil while increasingly relying on gas,
encouraging private investment in public transport, completing the Zarqa-Amman
railway, continuing the privatisation of the telecommunications and post
sectors.
“I'm being realistic, I'm not going to make promises to find a job for everyone
or abolish poverty overnight, but we will do our best,” the premier concluded.