Page 226 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

214 Records of Bahrain

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(o) It is qulto true that oonditlona in Kuwait and Dlbai
differ from those at Bahrain but tho faot that popular movo-
men to have arisen in those St at os, which are more backward than

Bahrain, shows how genuine in tho Arab Staton is tho feeling
for more democratic foims of governmento To go outside the
alf, it is a point of sane interest that much the somo agita­

tion is now prevalent in the Indian States.

7, To sum up. The present autooratlo government of Bahrain
suits uu very well, and any advioe from us to the Shaikh and his
Family to ohango its form for a more democratic one, even the
modified one of a nominated Advisory Council, would not bo

palatable and would tend to make us unpopular with them. There
is therefore no question of our giving this advice before it is
neoessary. At the same time agitation for a more democratic

form of government has arisen in Bahrain, though it is at
present confined more or less to the activities of an immature
Youth Movement. It is true that the govornment of Bahrain is
efficient, but its great defect fran th.e modern popular point
of view, which is now being taken in the Arab States of the

Gulf, is that it is an entirely autooratio one, in which the
people - exoept in the Municipalities - have no hand. This
oritioism is all the more cogent, at all events from the

agitator’s point of view, sinoe the Bahrain Government nowadays
administer, in addition to its revenue from other sources* a
large inoorae fr<to oil royalties, A considerable portion of the
lattor, as well as a Civil List which is also paid by the
State, goes into the pookets of the Shaikh and his Family.

6hould the present agitation increase and spread from the
/ Youth

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