Page 107 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

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Baharnah agitation for reform, 1935 95

4.
Sunnis and they attend In large numbers. Unfortunately financial

stringency has so far prevented the establishment of village -
schools which v/ould be more useful to the Baharinah than to the
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Arabs, but it is intended to proceed v/ith the establishment of
more schools as soon as funds are available. There is a large
element of personalities in this question and among their spoken
demands was the appointment of a certain young man to be Head
Master of the Manamah School.

8. On the 30th January the four Manamah leaders called on the
Adviser to the Bahrain Government. Two were civil but the other
two were very rude and referred to the Shaikh!s letter in vulgar
terms. They said that none of their requests had been granted and
that as they had failed to attain their ends by lawful means, they

would use other means, and pointed out that there was great excite­
ment among the Baharinah all over the Island. They compared their
position to that of people in other countries, for example, 'Iraq,
but would admit no comparison with Sa'udi Arabia where, they said,
sheer oppression reigned. They threatened that people in India

would support them and that they had friends who v/ould write to
the Press (including 'The Times'). They appeared to feel most
strongly about education, but chiefly on the ground that the nephew
of one of the petitioners ought to be the Head Master of the
Manamah School. They seemed almost uninterested In the question

of establishing more schools In the country villages, which are
entirely Shi»ah. They claimed that but for their backing Shaikh
Sir Hamad v/ould not have become Shaikh, and there are points of
resemblance between the present trouble and that which arose Just
before the abdication of the late Shaikh Sir 'Isa bin 'All A1
Khallfah.

/9.