Legitimizing the Ruling Family in Bahrain

محروم.كوم · #1 09-20-2011, 02:20 AM

Since the beginning of the influx of Al-Khalifa tribe to the islands of Awal (Bahrain) to establish their Shaikhdom in 1782 (by the power of sword, which they called a conquest!) until 1971 the tribe had not gotten any political legitimacy or public acceptance to take over the governance and resources of the State, except that the tribe was protected by the exclusive conventions concluded with Britain in the years 1820,1847, 1856, 1861,1880, 1892, imposed through a series of obligations on the Shaikhdom. In return Britain promised to protect them against external aggression on their land, maintain the autonomy of their entity, maintain their political and economic interests, protect the interests of their citizens in the abscess, and to conduct their foreign affairs. During this phase the ruling family expropriated people’s properties, lands, and lives. They undertook in plundering, looting everything under their ascendancy, and subjecting people to a system of forced labour under the mentality of booty and subjects, which the tribe has pursued!

After signing the documents that ended the earlier treaties, on the morning of August 14, 1971 Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Council of State -- who became prime minister – read the Declaration of Independence and the policy of the new state on behalf of his brother Isa, Ruler of Bahrain who became Emir under the announcement of the independence. That was in the presence of Crown Prince Hamad bin Isa the commander of the Bahrain Defence Force.

The Emir intended to establish a political legitimacy based on the popular will, especially since independence was built on the referendum conducted by the good offices mission mandated by the United Nations on March 20, 1970 under the chairmanship of the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General Mr Vittorio Winspeare Guicciardi who questioned the people of Bahrain about the allegations of the Shah in the dependency of Bahrain to Iran. The Commission concluded and stated in their report, which was escalated to the Secretary-General, that “the overwhelming majority of the people of Bahrain wish to gain recognition of their identity in a fully independent and sovereign State free to decide for itself its relations with other States “. Consequently the Security Council decided in its meeting No. (1536) May 11, 1970 by unanimous vote on the resolution (278), which welcomed the conclusions and findings of the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General.

In December 16, 1971 Emir Isa bin Salman announced in an official statement the draft of a modern contemporary constitution for the country that ensures applying the principles of peaceful democracy. To implement that statement, a constituent assembly was established by (22) elected representatives, (8) appointed by the Emir, and (12) ministers representing their positions. The assembly held its first meeting on December 16, 1972 and ended on June 9, 1973. The draft of the Constitution was approved by the Emir and ratified without any reservations on December 6, 1973. The constitution stated in Article II, ” The rule of Bahrain shall be hereditary, the succession to which shall be transmitted from His Highness Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa to his eldest son and then to the eldest son of this eldest son and so forth, generation after generation, unless during his lifetime, the Amir appoints one of his sons other than the eldest as his successor (…)”, in Article IV “ The system of government in Bahrain is democratic, under which sovereignty lies with the people, the source of all powers. (…)”.

In the December 7th, 1973 elections were conducted for the National Council (Legislative Authority), upon that a new cabinet was formed on December 15 from 14 ministers, half of them are members of the ruling family. The cabinet was headed by Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. The first meeting of the National Council was held on December 16, 1973. By that, the Shaikhdom was framed in a constitutional consensus that allowed a reasonable margin of people’s role in legislation, supervision and management of the state. That did not last long as the Emir issued a decree on August 26, 1975 to dissolve the National Council, suspend the parliamentary constitutional articles, and assign the legislative power to the cabinet along with the Emir himself.

This subversion on the Constitution dropped the political legitimacy of the Emir and the cabinet that was headed by his brother Khalifa bin Salman. To impose government’s control and dominance -- which is out of the supervision of the dissolved parliament -- the Emir issued in October 22, 1975 a decree-law on State Security, an emergency law grants the Minister of Interior wide powers and security authorities opposing the principles of the constitution!

On March 6, 1999 Hamad bin Isa came to power, succeeding his late father. The new Emir was aware of the cumulative magnitude of the crisis and desired to impose his political legitimacy and assure his inherited rule.

On the 16th of December, 2000 the Emir announced in a televised speech the launch of the (National Action Charter) project, which he described as (the Compact) and (Allegiance renewal).

The Charter came in seven chapters similar to the provisions stated in the Constitution of 1973 as paths for national action, the most important and serious part was in Chapter VII (Outlook) section which identified that the activation of the basic ideas contained in the charter requires some constitutional amendments:

First -- The Name of the State of Bahrain

An amendment of the constitution shall determine the official name of the state of Bahrain as may be adopted by the Amir and the people of Bahrain.

Second -- The Legislature

The provisions of part 4 Chapter 2 of the constitution on the legislature shall be amended to be consistent with democratic and constitutional developments worldwide in so far as the introduction of bicameral system is concerned. This would mean that one chamber is constituted through free, direct elections whose mandate will be to enact laws while a second one would have people with experience and expertise who would give advice as necessary. Laws shall be enacted as prescribed in detail by the constitution and in congruence with constitutional norms and traditions followed in deep-rooted democracies.

Given the ambiguity surrounding the interpretation of the Charter, the mechanism of activation, and the system of two chambers, politicians and lawyers called for clarification of those ambiguities. Upon that, Minister of Justice, and Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Charter Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Khalifa stated in a recoded television statement (published in the local newspapers the next day) that the legislative powers are enclosed in the elected chamber, where the appointed chamber is to give advice only.

As an initiative, the Emir Hamad visited Mr Alawi Al-Ghuraifi (a religious leader) who reviewed a list of demands: the governance of the Constitution over the Charter, not to prejudice the constitutional constants, full legislative powers of the elected chamber, immediate start of progress to apply the Charter after being ratified, and serious intention to accelerate activating the Constitution. The Emir has signed in handwriting on the list of demands presented by Al-Ghuraifi.

Despite the controversy that has prevailed about the credibility of the project, the anxiety about what is required in the (Outlook) section , and the ambiguity of the mechanism of implementation, people had voted in 14th and 15th of February 2001 (yes to the Charter) by pro-98.4% and with a participation rate reached 90.3%.

A political spring began in Bahrain repealing State Security law and State Security court on February 18, 2001, continued until February 14, 2002, when Emir Hamad bin Isa announced himself as King due to the new constitution he publicized, which grants him – as a King -- wide and absolute powers. This minimized people’s powers and breached all commitments and declarations made before voting for the (National Action Charter).

New and previous authorities of the King reinforced autocracy and monopoly by the King who is the Head of State and his person is inviolate, the Head Supreme Defence Council and appoints its members, the Head of Supreme Judicial Council and appoints judges, appoints the Prime Minister and Ministers, appoints the Head and half of the National Council (Legislative Authority) members, orders elections of the other half, determines the distribution of electoral districts by decree, calls the National Council to meet by a royal order, has the right to dissolve the elected chamber, also has the right to issue decree-laws in the absence of the National Council (Legislative Authority), declares state of national safety or martial law, appoint civil and military officials and diplomatic representatives to foreign countries and international bodies, appoints the Head of the Financial Control Office and his deputies, and several other powers.

On this basis, the Ruling Family in Bahrain lacks political legitimacy and they are aware of that, as the political legitimacy is granted by the people to the governors not the contrary, where people are the source of powers and authorities.

Any governor who imposes his authority on people by force of armed mercenaries and the military, clearly knows about the lack of his acceptability among people and aware of the absence of political legitimacy, especially since the Ruling Family has turned on the only two documents which granted them political legitimacy, the Constitution of 1973 and the National Action Charter, 2001.

Therefore, the Ruling Family fears popular pro-democracy movements whose relationship with the Khalifas is based on a lack of trust and the absence of allegiance, thus breaking the equation of the Shaikhdom and subjects which the ruling family is pursuing.

Source:
كود:
http://14feb-youth.com/?p=368 __DEFINE_LIKE_SHARE__

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