Page 75 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

INTRODUCTION 13
the administration. The Ruler, Shaikh Ahmad ibn rAli Al-Thani, has
very recently formed an Advisory Council of his own choice to assist
him in supervising the affairs of his administration.1 However, sub­
stantial reforms of a democratic nature have not yet been introduced
in the autocratic machinery of Government.2
Concerning Bahrain, an organisation called the Council of Admin­
istration has been formed, since March 1956, for the purpose of
supervising the affairs of the various government departments as well
as considering ‘topics of general interest’ which formerly used to be
handled by the Ruler personally.3 The members of this Council, who
have all been hand-picked by the Ruler himself, number ten, seven
of whom, including the President, arc members of the ruling family
and the remaining three arc government officials. The President of
the Council, Shaikh Khalifah ibn Salman, is also the President of the
Department of Finance and the members are heads of some of the
government departments. In addition, there are Education and Health
Councils which regularly discuss the affairs of their respective depart-
ments.-1 Although the Ruler’s decrees forming these Councils in 1956
provided, in deference to popular demands at the time, for the
election of half the members of each council and the nomination by
the Government of the other half, this principle has never been adhered
to in practice.5 Instead the procedure which has been followed allows
for nominating five of the eight members of each council by the four
urban Municipal Councils in the country, the remaining three mem­
bers being selected by the Ruler himself.6 The President of the Educa­
tion Council is Shaikh Muhammad ibn Salman, the youngest brother
1 Europa Publications Limited, London, The Middle East and North Africa,
1966 1967, 13th cd. (1966), pp. 536-8.
2 It is clear that the ruling family of Qatar has shown no inclination whatsoever
towards encouraging the establishment of any kind of representative institutions
in the country, in disregard of pressing public demands.
3 Sec Bahrain Government, Annual Report, Bahrain, 1956; Bclgravc, J. H. D.,
Welcome to Bahrain, 5th cd. (1965), p. 13.
4 Ibid.
3 Sec Notice (or Decree) No. 19, dated 9 Sha'ban, 1375 (corresponding to
21 March 1956), and Notice No. 20, dated 28 Jumada 1,1376 (31 December 1956).
I:or Sir Charles Belgravc’s own account about the political movement in Bahrain,
later known as the Committee of National Union, which precipitated the forming
of these Councils as part of general demands for reforms, sec Bahrain Government,
Annual Report, 1956. For an enlightening description of the Bahrain national
movement between 1954 6, sec Owen, R., The Golden Bubble, London (1957).
0 Europa Publications, op. cit., p. 533; JJcIgravc, J., op. cit. It is noteworthy that
although, in principle, half of the members of the Municipal Councils, from which
members arc nominated for the Education and Health Councils, should be elected
by the people, no municipal elections have been held in Bahrain for many years.
Consequently, the elected members of the municipal councils continue to serve in
their positions despite the expiry of the terms of their mandate. The attempt made
by the Government to hold municipal elections in early 1966 failed, due to the
people’s boycott of, or apathy to, the elections. In a leading article the Bahrain