Silver LiningWhy the hustle and bustle over al-Sam’ee proposal?! [Archives:2005/854/Opinion]
By Mohammed Hatem al-Qadhi
[email protected]
The article member of parliament Sultan al-Sam'ee who belongs to the socialist party published last week seems to have created a political crisis in the country and put the life of the man hanging in the balance.
The authorities and the ruling party have accused him of felony and breaking the Constitution and demanded that his immunity should be called off and put on trial. The socialist condemned this attack, considering it an attack on the party.
As an initiative to reform the situation in the country, Al-Sam'ee suggested that Yemen can be divided into four territories, changing the presidency into a sovereign council. He proposed that these territories should have some kind of autonomy while the sovereign council has an honorary power and authority.
The same thing was put by the well-known writer and politician Abdullah Salam al-Hakeemi. He was badmouthed and accused of high treason.
The ruling party caucus demanded the trial of al-Sam'ee. The state-run and the ruling party newspapers condemned the views of the two guys, considering them a call for secessionism and split of the country. Al-Sam'ee was scared and said that it was just a proposal he put which is not binding and that he followed the speech of the president Saleh who asked the Arab regimes “to reform before they get reformed”.
It is fine that people reject the proposal of al-Sam'ee but not in this way. They can argue and defeat it down to the ground.
Wow! What is really astonishing and very bad is to bring into the surface again an old hidden rotten apple. In other words, when al-Sam'ee was a member of the parliament in 1993, he wrote an article asking Saleh to resign following a political crisis between Saleh's party and the socialists. He chased up by the police who tried to arrest him despite his immunity. His escorts clashed with the policemen and two of the second were killed.
The police was not able to arrest the MP who was fully protected by the people of his village and constituency. Some social dignitaries interfered later during the presidential elections of 1999 and the problem was sorted out through tribal norms, of course.
The president interfered and convinced the families and tribes of the two murdered policemen to accept the blood money. Everything was over.
What is very scaring and unwise now is that the authorities started to move the case with the tribes of the two policemen again, instigating them to appeal to the parliament to lift the immunity on al-Sam'ee and put him on trial.
This is very dangerous and shows the tribal mentality that still governs the mind of the people in authority and how they think. How can they call people to respect the law while they themselves do not cherish it.
This can lead to tribal revenge and instigate hostilities between the people of Sam'e and Aniss. It truly shows the weakness of the regime. It should not bet on such tricks and live by them. They are of devastating consequences to the country at large.
In my opinion, there should not have been such a hustle and bustle about the article of the man. The ruling party and the government could have debated and refuted it in the way, through newspapers, bringing out its dangers and it is up to the public opinion to decide who is wrong and right.
Hey guys, we do not need the tribes to sort our political problems and differences. There is no even need for further political problems. We need to look after our development priorities. Mind you, we do not have even enough electricity.
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[archive-e:854-v:13-y:2005-d:2005-06-27-p:opinion]
