Page 135 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

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123

Bahrain.

3/11/36

„ •.oirlitmnn,
°r ’ ' i think the following may he of interest to you in
■rctlon with the " agitation ".
,nl This morning n deputation of leading Bahama came to see
„j|0y consisted of Mnnsoor ul Arayth, Said Seyd, l/oh6en al Tajir,
• Jrothor and another of the party, in fact tho big noises of the
f n Bahama who claim that they are the representatives of the
n‘. community. Maneoor and Said did almost all the talking.
0 They did not once mention the Shla court and I think it can
attuned that they, if not all the Bahama, are satisfied with
c oition which we have taken. Some of the local Alims are I hear
pV unset but that is because they thought themselves possible
ndid'-tec for the post of Kadi.
They suid that there were matters about which they wished to
;.plr.in, 1 let them talk ar/l they stayed about two hours. These were
c subjects.
Justice. They said that the present judges were useless, that they
Id not know how to take coses, they had no education and no experience
•»y implied that Arabs in the courts were better tceated than the
*hniTi(i and they said that there should be Bahama sitting on the
inch. They said that there was no system in judgments and that
H.ir-hr.onU- for the 6ame offence varied with no reason. I mentioned
ic Cow it lee which was preparing a Code, they agreed thut the membrers
' the Committee had become slack ond ended by failing to attend, they
lid if it was restarted the Shia members at least would attend all
letim's. I asked them whether they thought that any of their own
mmily were more capable, experienced and suitable to sit on courts
ton U.e present magistrates. They replied that none of them were but
icy thought it unfair that only Khalifnh should be Judges... what
ffiht hnrt they to judge others because they happened to be H.H.b sons
A nephews. They mentioned the case of Sh All bin Mohammed, who got
•urt. the other day and had n row with the villagers. I said that it
.'cred to me that they were not socking to improve the judicial
>ndiLions but to obtain more influence for their community, they
killed tliis and said that they were three quartern of the population.
•®y c'siti it was wrong of the Khali fah to think that belonging to
,e Ruling Family gave them the right to posts such as judges. They
iid ti.nl the Shins all over Bahrain were oppressed and could not get
»8tice, and a great deal more of that sort of thing, but they talked
hte .'.uictly and whenever Mahaen al Tajir began to get violent the
-Mrs 'juieted him.
. Bllndya. They complained that all the officials were
!*.» ,:ot Bahama, that the Government members were illiterate and
jj .no I»nrt in debates, that the President was no use - Sh Abdulla
lat 8 ~ that he left too much to the Secretary. They suggested
'-hen elections took place there should be a committee to prepare
cn 14°** con('idnteo who wore to be voted for, 1 told them this had
<irc\isscd at the last election but that it was thought that
Cht i°C WnB not rendy for this yet. They said that the Bahama
, * hnire more members - at present they and the Arabs have the
inrnn i»cr* rh<i«v nrfjned, 1 think wrongly, that there are more
lad’° 1iun Arnl)n in Manama. Tliey said that people who were on tho
to^*1 council nhould be paid and also members of the Meglia Tajara.
f ‘then that elsewhere people in their position did lot6 of work
ey count?*y freely, they said that poor men should be paid.
ouldiCU880rt the Mefflis Tajara on tho same lines saying that there
bc more Bahama and less Arabs.
^'“otion. The main argument waa that schools in the Arab towns
e Bohn. °tter education than the village schools which was unfair on
Uc®tlonnn*°f th° vill°Ee0» Qt the onD,° time they said that the
Hey 6nn ♦ tlle ochools was usclon8 and nobody benefited from the
y* tom2i*^ey l^nGlioh taught in the villages to enable
Ret jobb with the Company*