The State of the Nation: Not Much to be Gratified About [Archives:2001/03/Focus]

COMMON SENSE
By: Hassan Al-Haifi
Around this time of the year (20th of January), the President of the United States addresses a joint session of the Congress to report on the state of affairs in the country. It is a common practice of leaders of democratic countries to put their performance on the line for evaluation by the representatives of the people and the public at large based on their report of conditions in the country and to show that they are well in command of the situation, notwithstanding the difficulties that may be seen here and there. They also give their perception of how things appear to them, applauding themselves, somewhat modestly, for their accomplishments, while at the same time not failing to mention the downside of the state of affairs in the country and explaining the circumstances surrounding such unfavorable conditions and proposing the substantive remedies that hopefully deal with such deviations of the norm. At the same time, they will present these proposals to their respective parliaments to authorize the necessary appropriations for financing the remedies, while pointing out the standards that may be used to adjudicate their performance in dealing with the downside of things according to criteria that are measurable and observable. The point to be made here is that there is no perfect nation, where all things are rosy and bright, while discontent and frustrations are invisible within the society. Yet, life is made easier when things are laid out in the open and dialogue is invited with a view towards reaching consensus on the appropriate course that nations should follow in managing their affairs and in remedying their problems.
Time and again, Common Sense has called for a realistic self-appraisal of the state of the nation, and it goes without saying that there is sufficient evidence to warrant such a comprehensive self-assessment, with most indications showing unfavorable signs of decay and social disintegration, with no clear signs that things are about to take a turn for the better. This analysis is called for, not so much because it is deemed to be a common practice of democratic societies (assuming that there is a common understanding between the rulers and the people of this country on what a democratic society really entails for both the rulers and the governed). It is almost impossible for any keen observer of the mood of the overwhelming majority of the Yemeni people, from all walks of life and transversing all the social strata of the society, not to discern that the downside in the state of affairs in the country prevails in just about every sector of our socio-economic-political make-up with unparalleled stubbornness. Moreover, if the government and the various powerbrokers that purport to have a grasp of the helms of authority in the land are not the cause of the almost unbearable level to which most areas of our social fabric have literally collapsed to and continue their sustainable downward slide, at least they should have the courtesy to recognize that such conditions deserve to be seriously looked into, if not dealt with constructively, with a view towards arriving to a halt to this sustainable slide into the abyss of social decay and fragmentation. We are truly facing monumental problems that often defy logical explanation orfail to find sympathy and understanding for the failure of the institutions of government to contend with the situation in an agreeable manner that reflects serious concern of those holding the helms of power for the obvious absence of care for the well-being of the nation and the welfare of its people. When we say this and by we, this observer seems to speak for many keen observers, we share the contention that the time has come for constructive dialogue and action to exit this dismal climate that hangs over us, which is not created by any force majeure, but by the careless and self-centered attitude that seems to prevail among those responsible for overseeing public affairs in the country, who forgot that it was they who sought these positions, but apparently overlooked the awesome moral and ethical implications that go with public office, and the inevitable accountability they are bound to face for their performance good or bad! But the wide-ranging mishap of the state of affairs seems to be looked in a rather nonchalant way by almost every senior official, who might have some potential for influencing the course of events in the country, that one is bound to look aghast at the ineptitude by which crisis after crisis is managed in the country, as though the regime and the organs it purports to mange is immune from accountability and responsibility for being unable to alleviate the overall calamity that our management of public affairs has become.
We know that these words are not what could be to the liking of many of those who have captured a niche here and there in the loose fabric that links the various elements of the power structure in the country, but somehow someone has to make it clear to the society that what we are facing does not defy solution, as the apparent impotence of government at this time seems to indicate. The issues are relatively simple and often require no more than will power and a great sense of loyalty to the Republic and faith in our self that we really should be in a much better state. On the other hand, if these elements cannot be made to see the bad side of the state of affairs of the country, it would be difficult to expect that they are willing or able to respond to the aspirations of the majority of the people of the country, rich and poor, who have all expressed their obvious disapproval of how affairs in the country are managed, or rather mismanaged, and surely the best way to start is by insisting that there is no one in the society above the law.
There is no question in any ones mind that when a society has different standards for the application of law, with respect to the different elements of the society, where the governed find little mercy and the rulers have almost unquestioned immunity from prosecution and punishment as ordained in the very laws the rulers have sworn to uphold, then that society is bound to face the kind of situation Yemen seems to have fallen into, and its people have become victims of almost voluntarily. The essential logic in the state of affairs of the country is that this is not the work of any external or supernatural force, but rather, regrettably, a course, which fellow countrymen have chosen for us and somehow find it difficult to realize the ill health of the nation that is paramount and the great disservice to the national interest of the country that such a situation brings to fore.
We implore our leaders to seriously assess the present state of the nation and to assess their performance and the reason why this performance has not shown any hopeful let up in the continuing deterioration of the economy, and in the lawlessness that is reflected by the rising disregard for human life and safety, which has spread among the criminal elements and even among the elements of the elite of the society, and in the disintegration of our values and mores, many of which have transformed into expensive ceremonial extravaganzas that defy logic and social equity, which the Quran calls for and which our Constitution insists to be the motto of our national being. There is no reason why rulers and governed can not come to a shared realization that where we stand now is unhealthy for both sides and it is often those that tend to overlook the downside of a countrys conditions that are the first to feel its prickly stings when the suffering reaches a level of uncontrollable anger that strikes at anyone that failed to have the sympathy for their fellow citizens who have been denied access to all that our religion and constitution insist are standard rights and privileges for all the people in the land. These are fundamentals of government that cannot be overlooked. Surely, any self-assessment would show there is a for social ordinances that apply to both the rulers and the governed equitably. Otherwise that downside will continue to reflect the inevitable demise that inefficient government and inequitable application of law are bound to lead to, while at the same time give a chance for all latent evils of the society to come out and unleash their horrifying poisons throughout the fabric of the society. In the end, those who even purport to enjoy immunity from the demise and the suffering of the majority of their people, will be the first to look for a way out of the situation, in body and in soul.

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