Wednesday, November 03, 2004

On a sombre note

I start this weblog on a sombre note. The quest for a better world suffered 2 blows on 2/11 2004. Sheikh Zayed passed away and Bush Jr. looks set for imminent victory again.

But first, Sheilh Zayed. A truly visionary leader Muslim world has seen in the last 100 years. In my view, the whole billion strong community of Muslim has seen only two such leaders in a long time. Zayed and Mahathir. Largely working for their own peopl but still ended up doing commendable jobs for many others. For the starters, Zayed was the Ruler and president of United Arab Emirates, many confuse with Saudi Arabia. Better known for having a city by the name of Dubai which many presume to be a country in itself.

So, Sheikh Zayed was one such leader and because of his personal integrity Zayed acquired a moral authority that few other Arab rulers have attained in recent decades. Away from all controversies that usually surrounds the Middle East despotic rulers, his personal integrity enabled him to introduce radical reforms that in most other places would have either been blocked by conservative forces or triggered conflict and violence. Such reforms as opening secular schools and universities, giving girls a chance to have an education, introducing elected organs of government and letting women vote and stand for office were achieved over many decades of struggle even in the advanced Western societies. In the UAE, however, Zayed’s charisma made sure that they happened within the lifetime of a single generation.
Zayed proved something that conventional wisdom excludes a priori. It is that a traditional ruler with no modern Western education may well be better equipped to lead a traditional, conservative Arab society into the modern world. He knew that one could change without aping others. He had not read Hobbes, Tocqueville, and Hegel. But he had been able to develop a keen understanding of the nature of politics by reading classical Islamic texts. The model he aspired after was “The Virtuous City” as described by Muslim philosophers over a thousand years ago.
He succeeded where so many self-styled Arab Socialists, Pan-Arabists, and so-called liberals failed. The reason? He was authentic and they were not.
But when all is said and done, Zayed’s greatest achievement, perhaps, was that he made himself dispensable. Having built institutions and allowed a whole new generation of leaders to form and come forward, he was able to gradually script himself out of the UAE’s decision-making. He had never tried to turn the UAE into a one-man show that disintegrates as soon as the “strongman” is taken away. I wish UAE a peaceful and prosperous long future, home to a 5 million strong Indian community.

And Bush on the victory path..the lesser said the better.

I am once again proud to be part of the democratic India and a blue passport holder. A country where democracy works in real sense. Seems like Indian voters, whom the world sees as largely rural illiterates, have a better understanding of what their leaders do and what they expect of them even when the voters seemingly get let down again and again.