Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef
Dr. Abdullah Omar Naseef, former deputy chairman of the Shoura Council, has supported the present system of appointing qualified members to the Saudi consultative body.
“Shoura is an important system and it needs people of experience and wisdom to run the show. I think people who call for elections have not taken this important point into consideration,” he said.
In an exclusive interview with Arab News at his office in Jeddah, Naseef said the Shoura Council is equal to any parliament in the world. “Our Shoura members are highly qualified academics and technocrats and the Shoura decisions are based on the Qur’an and Sunnah. This makes our Shoura Council different from other parliaments,” he pointed out.
Dr. Naseef described Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah as a charismatic leader who is loved not only by Saudis but also by foreigners.
Following is the full text of the interview:
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article618701.ece
Categories: Asia, Democracy, Saudi Arabia
Let’s be honest: He does have a point. We should not ‘blindly’ imitate systems of democracy that have evolved over centuries in other countries.