His Majesty King Abdullah II
His Majesty's Address to National Leaders
August 16, 2005
Amman, Jordan
In the name
of God, the most merciful, the compassionate,
Dear brothers,
May God Almighty grant you strength and good health, you are most welcome in
this House, your House and that of all Jordanians. For some time now, I have
been thinking that we all should meet, members of the Upper House, deputies and
government, together, since we are all one team working for the realisation of
the same goal and the same interests; that is the national interest, which
should top all other interests and considerations.
If you allow me, let us be frank and admit that there is a certain degree of
failure to do what should be done and that there are mistakes. The
responsibility of this failure and these mistakes are not shouldered by any one
party alone, they are the responsibility of all.
I said, brothers, several times that work should be done in a team spirit, and
that all of us, members of the Upper House, deputies and government, are
partners in shouldering responsibility. We all stand in the same trench. I also
said that the relation between the three authorities, especially the legislative
authority and the executive authority, should be one of cooperation and
complementarity, a relationship built on confidence, respect and feelings of
shared responsibility. But it has been really disheartening to see that
distrust, exchange of accusations and blame-laying exists. Even more
disheartening is the tug-of-war and arm-twisting between the government and the
deputies.
To be even more frank, brothers, I would say that if the deputies are not
satisfied with the government's performance, they should know that citizens
and I know the citizens well are not satisfied with the performance of our
brothers, the deputies.
When we face a problem, each party starts to lay responsibility at another's
feet, or just stands aside as a spectator or observer. Hence, the head of state
or the king is required to interfere, as if responsibility is his alone to
shoulder. No, my brothers, responsibility is for all, and everybody should
fulfil his duties and shoulder his responsibility, courageously and faithfully.
It is unacceptable and unreasonable that the king should interfere in every
detail or shoulder all responsibility alone.
Since the days of my father, may his soul rest in peace, responsible officials
used to tell people whenever these officials wanted to put into effect a
certain resolution or whenever the results of any resolutions were negative
that they were merely complying with directives from above, meaning directives
from the king. Today we hear the same thing, but instead of saying they had
directives from above, they say they had directives from the peak of the
pyramid.
I know the position of everyone of you, those who are shouldering responsibility
now and those who were shouldering responsibility before, and I am asked to bear
with everybody and to accept everybody, in a fatherly spirit.
Here I hope that everyone of you, brothers, should know that when he leaves
office, he is not being exempted from responsibility. On the contrary, he is a
reserve soldier who should have a sense of his responsibility towards the
homeland that honoured him with such a high position and uphold it accordingly.
To see that everything is good and correct while you are in a position of
authority, and then claim that all is wrong when you are out of office, is a
form of logic that is unacceptable and shameful.
Criticism, brothers, is rather easy. The important thing is to provide
alternatives, have a positive and courageous spirit in facing challenges and
suggest realistic solutions to problems.
For example, there is much talk about unemployment and the failure to do
something about it. As you all know, I follow this issue with great interest
and concern. I asked the deputies to give us plans and solutions for dealing
with this problem in their constituencies, but I am sorry to say that I received
nothing except a response from one or two members of Parliament. This means that
there is no follow-up. We know that the major cause of this problem is not the
absence of job opportunities, but rather the reluctance of some citizens to
accept vocational or manual work, meaning that the cause of unemployment is
misguided social concepts.
In some governorates, hundreds of jobs were made available, and the youth were
asked to come forward and take them. Only a handful did, because these youth
want office jobs. At the same time, most of the young women for whom job
opportunities were made available whether manual or vocational work accepted
these jobs and were comfortable with this type of work. This is really something
positive and a source of pride.
This leads us to the topic of wasta [intermediation]. I really wish that every
deputy, member of the Upper House or minister, instead of endeavouring to get
jobs for others, would rather along with the rest of us try to change our
sons' and daughters' perceptions of work and jobs. Our sons and daughters should
understand that manual or vocational work is no less important or less worthy of
respect, or even less rewarding financially, than office work. They should
understand that wasta is not an honest deed. None of our children should start
their career in a dishonest way or through a form of corruption.
The challenges before us are immense. They need effort and real work, and they
need cooperation and real partnership among all, rather than the mere talk that
is going on at the salons that are fortunately not found, except in certain
areas of the capital. Some of the patrons and attendants of these salons leak
rumours and false news to the foreign press to serve their personal agendas, or
try to intimidate our homeland through their relations with some foreign forces.
I want these people to know that nobody should ally themselves with others to
intimidate our homeland or try to intimidate us because we are travelling the
path of right. Our affiliation to the homeland is much stronger than anybody who
draws courage from any other force.
I know these persons, and I know their goals and movements. They do not even
spare me from their accusations and empty talk. Also, some weekly newspapers
compete in spreading rumours and lies for financial gain, even at the expense of
the national interest. These newspapers attack in every direction and all those
in charge. We should refrain from joining these newspapers in promoting whatever
rumours, accusations and slander they circulate.
I want every citizen man or woman of this country to know that I am for
everybody. Nobody is closer to me than any other, and the status of any citizen
or official is measured in my consideration of him by his honest and decent
service to this country, irrespective of any other consideration.
The challenges we face are much bigger than a discussion of who wants to be a
minister, prime minister, speaker of the House of Representatives or speaker of
the Upper House. The interest of the homeland supersedes any position or any
other gain. It is not the interest of the homeland that the relation between the
legislative authority and the executive authority is one of struggle or
tug-of-war; nor is it in the interest of the homeland when the Lower House
becomes a battleground between blocs or centres of power, as some people call
them.
I know and do appreciate the fears of some of you that plans exist to redraw the
map of the region and to settle some historic issues at the expense of Jordan.
We are talking about the issue of resettlement and the alternative homeland.
Frankly, we in Jordan whether our origins are from the west of the river or
from its east, or from the north or the south of the country should stand up
to any plan that aims to deprive the Palestinians of their right to return to
their homeland or to establish their independent state on Palestinian soil, and
nowhere else. If such a plan exists, it is a plot against the Palestinian people
as much as it is a plot against Jordan. I should not be alone in confronting
such a plot, if it exists. No, all of us should stand up to this danger and this
threat, foremost among us Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
I want everyone to know that the only way for us to confront such plans, if they
exist, or any other threat that endangers this country, is to build a Jordan
that is strong; that is economically, socially and politically advanced. If it
is weak, God forbid, it will become the prey of the strong. If we want to
strengthen Jordan, we should all be working together as a team, and we should
continue along the path of reform, modernisation and development. This endeavour
requires new legislation, the delay of which will obstruct our progress. We are
at the threshold of a new stage of modernisation and development, so I ask all
of you to work with maximum capacity and with the highest sense of
responsibility.
When I speak with you so frankly and transparently, it is because I aspire to
the realisation of the national interest and wish to confront head-on any
problem that we may face in the future.
God bless you and grant you strength and good health.