Local councils and the expected role [Archives:2007/1049/Opinion]
By Abdulaziz Hamoud Al-Jindari
One of the fruits of the Yemeni Revolution and Reunification is supporting the popular participation in decision-making in line with the will of the political leadership and its emphasis on the importance of people's participation in decision-making. In addition, participation of the public is essential for driving forward the wheel of development in different political, economic, social, and cultural areas.
The political leadership took a wise decision regarding the establishment of local councils nationwide with the aim of reducing the dominance of centralization and enhancing the public participation in the process of decision-making. The initiative of local councils helped the people to get the development projects they need without going through any bureaucratic procedures, which they have suffered under the umbrella of centralization. This centralization was prevalent everywhere, thereby posing obstacles to the distribution of development projects to different parts of the country. Also, the unfair distribution of development projects nationwide is attributed to the lack of required studies.
What strengthens the status of local councils and ensure good progress of their operations is that their representatives are selected by the ballot boxes and directly elected by voters without any pressure. Consequently, every citizen has the suffrage to select his local council representative with full satisfaction. The availability of local councils in different parts of Yemen depends on the vital role of public participation. The local council representatives are mandated to protect Yemen's national heritage in cooperation with the concerned governmental parties. Also, they are responsible for organizing and leading efforts as well as the effective popular role in spreading awareness and helping people learn about what the Yemenis inherited from their forefathers through the different stages of history.
The local councils' role is not limited to spreading public awareness about different issues and organizing symposia along with workshops to popularize the necessity of protecting and conserving our heritage. Instead, the local councils should work hard to persuade people not to misuse the ancient sites and attractions in order to take out their contents in a random manner. These conducts may cause big loss, damage these things, and expose them to risk due to the use of heavy machines and other tools which people don't know how to use. Consequently, our ancient wealth is exposed to perils while important historic information, which plays a great role in teaching us about our past, gets lost.
Other duties delegated to the local councils is persuading people not to traffic or sell antiquities to any foreign or local parties and these things must not be taken to other countries. Also, they should convince people to submit the antiquities they have in their homes, particularly if these antiquities contain important information about history, calligraphy, arts, and architecture.
If these antiquities remain at home, nobody will know about them. Additionally, the right places for these antiquities are the national and regional museums that have been built in the provincial capitals and are required to help the local councils to better deal with any antiquity-related problems.
The absence of local councils' role in increasing awareness about participation of people in protecting and maintaining the Yemeni heritage in different parts of the country makes the national heritage lose the most important components of success. It fails to keep possession of a significant and essential component, which helps people value the importance of heritage and that maintaining heritage is not only meant to disclose the secrets of our history but also is to play an integral role in activating the domestic and external tourism as the human heritage is everyone's possession.
The historic cities, sites, and ruins are pondered upon as one of the means of attracting tourists to the country, particularly after tourism has become an industry in different world countries that pay closer attention to such a vital sector. For the world countries, tourism is one of the important national income sources as well as an alternative to oil and minerals that are projected to deplete at any time.
I believe in the necessity of joint coordination between governors, local council leaders, and the concerned parties in the tourism and culture ministries, plus the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums who are supposed to facilitate the work of local councils. These councils are tasked to protect the ancient sites in different governorates from those who want to stain the history and civilization of Yemen.
Another duty of the local councils is to facilitate the work of national and foreign teams during the exploration operations and the implementation of surveys at sites. These teams are usually mandated to conduct surveys under cultural agreements between the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums and the foreign heritage centers and institutes working in Yemen. This agreement must not allow any foreigner to work at any of our ancient sites unless there is a permission from the concerned authorities.
The concerned governmental bodies have to contribute to increasing awareness of people about the significance of ancient sites and their contents, as well as instruct them not to harm these sites under any circumstance. It is strongly recommended that the concerned authorities organize symposiums and workshops at schools and other similar places and take students to museums and historic sites in order to implant patriotism in their souls and make out of Yemen's history and civilization a source of pride and dignity for Yemenis. Students and other social groups need to bear in mind that maintaining heritage is an exalted national duty, which is not less valuable than defending one's homeland.
I hope that the concerned authorities benefit from the local council experience to protect our ancient sites and other tourist attractions in order for the bless to reach different parts of the country of faith and wisdom. Such cannot be achieved unless there is contact, consultation, and coordination between governors and local council leaders. The councils still need support and assistance, as well as qualified human resources, to maintain this wealth and cease the phenomenon of antiquity trafficking.
Moreover, we pin a greater hope in the new government, led by Ali Mohammed Mujawar, Prime Minister and the Minister of Culture Abu Bakr Al-Muflihi to adopt a good strategy for maintaining antiquities and improving the living standards of those working in the sector of antiquities and museums.
Abdulaziz Hamoud Al-Jindari is the National Museum Secretary-General
Source: Al-Thawra Daily.
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