We were in the middle of 1980, when the royal decree was issued to appoint a number of younger sons of King Abdulaziz as regional governors. They included Prince Majed (the 26th son), Governor of Makkah Region, Prince Abdulelah (29th) for Al-Qasim Region, Prince Abdul Majeed (33th) for Tabuk Region, and Prince Muqrin (35th) for Hail Region, as he reached his 35th birthday.
I noticed then that Prince Muqrin, a British-trained air force pilot, has an active life-long military career before his first civilian appointment.
As such, he became the first prince to be appointed regional governor with a professional military background.
Hail residents and visitors quickly fell in love with the young prince for his modern style, openness, accessibility and down-to- earth attitude. He would come at the very beginning of office hours, and leave after closing time. People would see him driving his car, shopping and going around the city with his family and friends, with no entourage, talking to everyone on his way. In his country ranch, he exercised, farmed and showed his love for nature and environment.
Twenty years later, in 1999, he was appointed governor of Madina Region, after the passing of its long-time governor, Prince Abdulmohsen Bin Abdulaziz. Again, his open-door and warm-hearted personality gave him the respect, admiration and love of his people.
As a result of his high dedication to his work, issues were effectively and quickly solved, and procedures were streamlined. His administration adopted e-government and became the top Saudi governance in the adaptation of e-services.
When I met him in his office in 2005, with a delegation from my newspaper, Almadina Daily, the mix of positive energy, gentleness and openness, together with his wide interests and knowledge, won our appreciation and admiration.
I asked him that day about his e-government project, and saw his face lightened up as he proudly told us about the achievements made and the awards his team of young Saudi technicians had won. With tech-savvy yet clear and simple language, he laid out his short and long-term plans and strategies to make Al-Madina Emirate a model for future public services.
Abu Fahad, as he is affectionally called, also showed his enthusiasm for youth and women empowerment, and for his use of modern tools in improving communication and government services. He had helpful thoughts and suggestions for better education, more competitive business and sophisticated media.
In 2005, he was appointed head of the Saudi Intelligence Services. His transparency showed up again when he invited journalists and citizens to visit and explore the secret service. His goal was to improve people's awareness and appreciation of its role.
Saudi Intelligence (Estikhbarat), globally renowned for its professionalism and effectiveness, is concerned mostly with gathering relevant, precise and timely intelligence, mostly abroad, to help the leadership in the decision making process. It also helps in fighting terrorism, drug and human trafficking by exposing their schemes and drying up their financial and human resources.
Counter intelligence is another assigned mission dedicated to the protection of national secrets and interests. Unlike some Arab intelligence services, Saudi Intelligence is not responsible for domestic security affairs—that is a mission left for the capable hands of the Interior Ministry and its concerned agencies.
In 2012, the veteran prince became closer to the leadership, as an adviser and special envoy to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. He was commissioned to head task forces concerned with certain regional political and security issues, and was sent as the King's representative and envoy to Arab and foreign capitals in important, mostly confidential missions.
After three decades of hard and productive work, Prince Muqrin won the confidence of the King and the Crown Prince, made valuable international relations, and gained political experience, in addition to his sophisticated administration skills. Such gains qualified him for the post of Second Deputy of the Prime Minister, in 2013, and a year later, 2014, for the post of the Crown Prince, a post introduced for the first time in that year, and he became the first prince ever to carry it.
Thirty five years after his first appointment as Hail governor at 35, Prince Muqrin, the 35th son of King Abdulaziz, was appointed in the 23rd of January 2015, as the Crown Prince to his older brother, now Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Abdulaziz ,the 25th son of King Abdulaziz, and the 7th King of Saudi Arabia.
At seventy, the prince has already won his place at the top of the nation's leadership, the world theater … and in our hearts.
— Dr. Khaled M. Batarfi is a Saudi writer based in Jeddah. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him at Twitter: @kbatarfi
