Saudi Gazette IN this third and last part of Dr. Sobhani's interview-excerpted series, we highlight his impressions of King Abdullah's internal change and reform. We thank Dr. Sobhani for permission to share it with you. In fact, it should also be noted that King Abdullah's outstretched hand is also relevant at home as he embarks on a series of reform initiatives that have the potential to transform the Kingdom and dramatically lift up millions of Saudis. In February 2009, the King initiated the most significant cabinet shake-up since assuming the throne. He installed reform-minded figures in key religious, judicial, communications and education positions, appointing a new Head of Judiciary, Minister of Education, Minister of Information, and leader of the “religious police,” known as the Committee to Promote Virtue and Prevent Vice. These appointments underscored the reformist vision that King Abdullah has displayed in his rule, and were hailed by some of the Kingdom's leading intellectuals and modernizing voices. The move also won praise from many Western commentators and long-time observers of Saudi Arabia. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and former Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliot House wrote on February 23, 2009: “In a country where the norm has been one tentative step forward and two back, this time the King has reversed that pattern to take at least several serious steps in the direction of real reform.” Meanwhile, veteran Newsweek Middle East correspondent Christopher Dickey, in an article on March 30, 2009 about King Abdullah entitled, “The Monarch Who Declared His Own Revolution,” described the cabinet shake-up and the King's reform initiatives as part of a broader vision to transform and modernize Saudi Arabia. In a hugely symbolic gesture, King Abdullah also appointed the first female Deputy Minister, Noura Al-Fayez, to the Education Ministry. In the Saudi context, amid a deeply conservative and patriarchal society, this proved to be a stunning appointment that captured world headlines and earned the praise of Saudi women's rights activists. Though Saudi society still has a long way to go before women's rights are fully enshrined, the King's move brought hope to millions of Saudi women equally searching for opportunities to serve their country. In a sign of tangible progress, more Saudi women have been granted government scholarships for graduate studies abroad than men, at approximately a 60-40 percentage ratio, and King Abdullah has made women's education at home a top priority. Several new women's universities have been launched and King Abdullah's most ambitious education project – the multi-billion dollar King Abdullah University of Science and Technology launched in September 2009 and expected to become the MIT of the Middle East – is open to both women and men and the campus will be co-educational. King Abdullah's sense of responsibility and outstretched hand to the poor has been well known throughout the Kingdom. A well known episode recalls a time when King Abdullah heard about a particular area in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, that was home to several dozen families who barely had enough food to eat. According to many Saudi insiders with knowledge of that day, King Abdullah grew angry and demanded that he proceed immediately with his driver to the designated areas. His security detail had to scramble to keep up with him as the King and the driver left the palace. Upon arrival, King Abdullah listened to their stories and provided them with some temporary relief, but he knew that he needed a long-term solution. Shortly thereafter, the King announced a new organization: The King Abdullah Housing Foundation. This organization would provide low-cost housing to all Saudis who could not afford their rents or a home. Saudis also often describe encounters with King Abdullah that reflect on his humility and genuine interest in his people. Once, while on a visit to a shopping mall, King Abdullah caused a stir when he sat down in a food court near a McDonalds and chatted with all who were nearby. As the crowds gathered, King Abdullah engaged in conversation with a group of young Saudis, a few older women, a janitor, and anyone else who happened to be sitting in his direct vicinity. Once again, his security detail scrambled to ensure that the King was safe, but King Abdullah was clearly relishing this moment of spontaneous interaction with ordinary Saudis, reaching out his hand to his people as they reached back. “It will be clear from these pages that King Abdullah is truly a leader of consequence, and, historians will look back on him as one of the most important leaders of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Saudi historians might see King Abdullah as the King that most closely resembled King Abdul Aziz, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia and one of the most visionary leaders of his era.” __
