On the Saudi Arabia Reforms

INTERVIEW

Over the last month, Saudi Arabia has experienced more changes than in the last fifty years. Is young prince Bin Salman really turning one of the world’s most conservative countries into… well, into something that allows women to drive, gives out visas to tourists and preaches moderate Islam? And if so, what impact would all of this have on the Islamic world? That world includes two of Georgia’s immediate neighbors: Turkey and Azerbaijan, and let’s not forget the muslim North Caucasus, too. GEORGIA TODAY and Panorama Talk Show approached Melik Alkan, researcher and lecturer at the University of Georgia and International Black Sea University, to give us some first-hand expertise on the Saudi Arabia case.

Is what we are witnessing a Saudi Arab ‘spring’ or is it yet another brutal takeover disguised as a liberal agenda?

Critics have two camps. One says it’s an Arab spring another that there’s a strategic failure taking place in Saudi Arabia (SA) now. What we’re seeing now in SA is completely multi-dimensional. We have 32-year-old Mohammed Bin Salman, son of King Salman, who wants to dramatically change the country; trying to diversify the economy, open SA to the world, and to contain Iran. In order to contain Iran, Bin Salman needs an internal shift in SA. He came up with the anti-corruption committee overnight and detained several senior princes who have been quite powerful and dominant in politics and business. For example, Waleed bin Waleed is a billionaire tycoon not only in SA but beyond: he holds 25% of Murdoch’s media. Bin Salman also detained 11 ministers, including a princess. So, while we can say that there is a power struggle going on, according to Crown Prince Bin Salman, it is a cleaned house. He told Saudi’s tycoons and billionaires, “You’ve been feeding on corruption, getting money using your personal leverage. Now it’s time to give back.” It seems that his father’s tenure will be a transition period for the prince’s eventual ascendancy.

Imprisoned were, among others, two sons of the late King Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the billionaire investor in Twitter, Apple, Citigroup, News Corp, and dozens of other global brands; and Adel Fakieh, Minister of Economy. It’s one man vs the establishment. No matter how visionary, how ambitious he might be, do you think he has a chance to achieve what he started?

What happened on Nov 4 really sounds like something from a movie. Bin Salman called for a meeting of several members of SA royals about “development and investment of SA economy”. The invited royals came to that meeting after which Bin Salman invited them to the Ritz Carlton hotel. Then the hotel asked its guests to leave. Then Bin Salman was able to detain the royals that hotel. The public of SA, about 65%, under the age of 30 mostly, cheered him on, saying it’s a “real reform” that will “take SA to the world stage”. Trump tweeted Bin Salman that he is a “very good guy,” that what he is doing is right. In the royal family, a lot of princes supported him. He detained about 200 people who are both senior and wealthy. Most of them said that we will help you and we are ready to leave 75% of wealth to you in exchange for freedom. So, deals were made. If he wants to make thorough reforms, he needs support from the royal family, otherwise he knows very well that next step will be a family feud. And that will be disastrous for SA. Instead, he aims to get back $100 billion with which he plans to diversify the economy.

There is also the question of moving from a solely oil-based economy to a more technocratic model, with all these tech-silicon projects the new prince seems so fond of. What does it mean for those other countries that still rely on oil as their chief income?

At that meeting in Ritz Carlton hotel in November, he gave citizenship to robot Sofia; it was a very symbolic gesture and a first worldwide. His idea was to attract technology. Japanese companies are coming to Riyadh to invest, as are US companies. Before, SA had only oil production: the largest since 1933. Bin Salman says that this monopoly gained [those imprisoned] a lot of money and now they must give that money back because he told the world he’s changing the country, in terms of oil, economy, tourism, and even religion.

Bin Salman’s liberal reforms include allowing women to drive, touristic visas to Saudi Arabia, and most importantly, his pledge that his country will adhere to moderate Islam. How does this affect the Islamic world?

It’s a question that has defined SA as a country for decades. Saudis have been ultra conservative in their idea of Islam since 1933 (Sunni Islam). And then we have Iran which fulfills the same role but for Shia Muslims. Why is Bin Salman talking about moderate Islam? Because he knows that the ideals of Islam they adhered to created fundamental radicalization and isolation for his country. Adhering to an interpretation of the Quran in Sunna cannot tie in to the world that we are living in today. Also, he emphasizes “moderate Islam and not modernization of Islam”. He says we need to go back to basic Islam. And he’s right. He says we’re going to allow women drive, because that’s how it used to be: in 1945, SA was very modern. We’re even going to open our doors to non-Muslim communities. We want to do a bit of inter-faith dialogue, he says, and that was unheard of before from a Saudi royal. We need to leave those ultra conservative ideas and lifestyles to make other people here comfortable. This is all about investment: to show the world that SA is open to reforms, that it’s safe to come and invest. It also means reforming the education system. For example, SA sending 1700 teachers to Finland to get more education then come back to SA to do an education reform. He’s playing his cards quite masterfully.

As regards Iran. There are two ideas. SA has been promoting wahhabism. We all know that. Bin Salman is leaving that behind. But Iran is promoting Shia and this is a huge problem. Prince Bin Sakman says that we need to counter Iran, but first we need to clean our house. Iran has been influential in the region since 2003 when the US left Iraq and created a vacuum power that Iran filled with Shia ideas. In the Middle-East, Iran controls four capitals. SA wants to counter that strategy.

What lessons and conclusions are there to make for Georgia and the Caucasus in general?

If SA makes those upheavals in a constructive way, leaving ultra-conservatism behind, Georgia and the South Caucasus would definitely benefit, mainly in terms of economic benefits. If SA opens up to business opportunities, the South Caucasus may contribute to the economy. But there will also be counter fights between SA and Iran: they’ll likely be trying to “steal” customers from different sides. Right now, the South Caucasus and Georgia are doing great in terms of international aspiration with NATO and the EU. SA ideology is very different. Georgia has a more European mindset. But don’t think that’s negative: it might be positive for relations, and Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who is an honorary citizen of Georgia, may even come back here and do business.

Vazha Tavberidze