Page 129 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

another, producing no sound arguments on which to base their demands.
have had higher education abroad, all of which has been provided for
In two years they published seventy-eight manifestoes, many of them
them freely by their Government, consider themselves, on account of
entirely contradictory. They make strange reading! They declared that
their superior education, more capable than those who are now in control.
there were no longer any differences between Sunnis and Shias, and that
They want more say in the affairs of state. They do not appreciate that, in
all the people in Bahrain were merged in the popular movement, yet they
spite of what has been said and written to the detriment of Bahrain, there
took the greatest care to appoint an equal number of Sunnis and Shias on
are more democratic institutions and more popular representation in
all their committees, even in the case of the representatives who were
Bahrain chan in any other state in the Gulf. When I used to remind my
sent to discuss matters with the Shaikh. They were subject to pressure
Arab friends of this they said that we should not compare Bahrain’s
groups inside their organization, and as these represented the views of
political development with the Gulf states, we should compare it to
Sunnis and Shias separately The Committee had constantly to change its
European countries, such as England! This, I thought, was a somewhat
ideas to satisfy first one sect, then the other. After The Committee was
ambitious point of view.
dissolved, in 1956, one of the members, the Sliia mullah, wrote to me
For years there have been elections for many public bodies; in some
saying that he had not agreed with many of The Committee’s actions. I
cases half and in other cases all of the members have been elected by the
votes of the public, though when elections were held the voters were would have taken this as merely a culpatory letter had I not known that
he had threatened to resign several times, because The Committee was
usually indolent and uninterested. In Manama women householders are
entitled to vote in municipal elections, which is in advance of many more acting in a manner contrary to the interests of the Shias.
progressive Eastern countries. The councils and committees which the In Cairo members and supporters of The Committee, who went there
Government set up to deal with Education, Health, Rural Affairs, frequently, described themselves as a ‘Resistance Movement’, but when
‘Waqfs, Minors’ Estates, town and village Municipalities and other matters asked what they were resisting they found it difficult to reply. There was
include members from a wide cross-section of the population with repre­ wild talk about blowing up the refinery, which provides work for most
sentatives from the villages, who used to play no part in public affairs. of the Bahrain people, but when asked whether they had the means to
But the young men are impatient. They regard the councils and com­ carry out this project the answer was in the negative. The Committee’s
mittees, which are doing valuable work, as dull and uninteresting, because attacks on the Shaikh’s Government were not strongly supported in
the work which they perform is unspectacular. They want a definitely Cairo, which was concentrating on attacking the British; this put The
political organization in which they can air their views and make political Committee in an awkward predicament, because in Bahrain they worked
speeches. If one or two members from each of the councils and committees on the assumption that they were being backed by the British. During a
which already exist could sit as members of a general council, it would be visit by Nasser to King Saud a parry from The Committee went over to
a step towards a more democratic form of government which would, to sec him. I was the subject of some of their discussions. When they came
a certain extent, satisfy the aspirations of the young would-be politicians. back I was told that, much to their astonishment and greatly to. my
It is on lines such as these, not by violent political upheavals, that Bahrain ^surprise, when they launched into a tirade about me, Nasser, instead of
should acquire a more liberal form of government. agreeing with them, told them that they might have been much worse off
The men who led the popular movement which disturbed Bahrain if I had not been working for the Shaikh. This may have been partly due
for two years and which culminated in the disorders of 1956 were a very to the King who, I heard, thought that I should not leave Bahrain. I had
amateur and uneducated group of Nationalists. They depended mainly met Nasser once when he stopped in Bahrain for an hour on his way to
on emotional appeal which they used with a reckless disregard for truth, India; his visit was unexpected and unannounced, and as the Shaikh had
logic or consequences. They knew that they were dissatisfied with the received no official intimation they did not meet.
existing state of things, but they did not know what they wished to I am constantly asked what I think is the solution for the future of the
achieve. They were devoid of constructive ideas and contented them­ Gulf states. Various opinions have been expressed. Some people advocate
selves with attacking the administration. They were confused and un­ a rapid withdrawal by the British from all the states, leaving them to stew
certain, and having no definite policy they switched from one thing to in their own juice, and a severing of our treaties and obligations, save that
238 239