Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: Omani policy is wise by virtue of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, said Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs. He stated that the leaders of the international community sincerely appreciate the rightness of Omani policy, and its way of dealing with the various international and regional events.
In an interview with Shurfat Al Majlis magazine, which is published by the State Council, he added that the international community often takes side with the objective Omani positions. At the same time, he praised the gradual development of the Omani
Shura march.
When asked about the secret behind the Omani quietness, at a time it is surrounded by wars and fires from the four directions, he said: “Wisdom is behind this quietness. Allah Almighty says “Don’t throw yourself into destruction”. When we see a fire somewhere, we have two choices: whether to help in extinguishing it, which is a good thing, or go away as if the fire will not reach us. Oman, as His Majesty always says, is a country of peace. Peace is the principle that is in harmony with the system of life, because Allah Almighty calls Himself Al-SalÄm (the Peace). Allah Almighty creates the universe and humans, and makes peace obligatory for them. Therefore, those who believe in this principle shall not ignore it and go against it. Peace is a fundamental concept in the religion and in the Omani policy. The mission of the Omani diplomacy is to represent the Omani political point of view. It strives to make more friends and minimise the enemies as much as possible. Everyone has his own opinions, concerns and justifications. These justifications may be real ones that require taking an action, but they may not mean the same thing to the other party. As stated in the Holy Quran, Allah has enabled people to defend themselves against one another. At the end of the road, this will lead to ease. There is a proverb in the Muslim culture that goes as “After hardship comes two eases”. You face an ease, then a hardship and then another ease. This ease is obtained through bringing peace and extinguishing fires. Humans tend to take time until being convinced by something. This is the human nature that is linked with their instinct. We find that humans tend by their nature to be ambitious. This ambitiousness may lead some people to go against their instinct”.
Omani renaissance
In reply to a question about his patronage over the Rapprochement Conference, the Civilization Dialogue, Tolerance and Peace Project and other activities in this direction, the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs said these activities are part of the philosophical perspective of the Omani renaissance that was established by His Majesty. It is like a bouquet of flowers which would not look beautiful without the various colours and smells of its flowers. Life is like this bouquet of flowers. We all need a stable life but we can’t be out of the reality of differences. Allah Almighty stresses in the Holy Quran the importance of forgiveness. Almighty says “If you pardon, forbear and forgive, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful”. He also says “If you endure patiently, verily it is better for the patient”. It is true that Allah allows humans to take their rights from others, but, at the same time, He urges them to forgive and pardon. It is not right to disagree with others only for the sake of disagreement. People may disagree with each other, but it is a good manner to tolerate others. Why do we disagree? We can disagree with others if they violate the moral principles. However, it is better to leave disagreement if it is for materialistic interests. Disagreement is temporal and disappears by time.
He added: “In fact, the Omani policy is a deep philosophy. Humans, by their nature not their instinct, love what make them thrilled. However, I am certain that the vast majority of people in the world and in this region wish that these fires are extinguished. This is because the consequences of these fires (wars) are catastrophic. We hear every day that someone is killed here, others are wounded there and places are destructed.”
In a reply to a question about the ability of long experience of humanity to extinguish these fires and stop these wars, he said: “In fact, there are many wise and good people who are striving to stop these wars. Life is going on and there should be an end for everything. As I said before, people are defending themselves against one another. This will make them tired and bored, and regret the past. Then, they will move to the second step after they have ruined what they have. The role of the Sultanate here is to bring closer the interlocutors and disputants. This takes time especially with us in the Arab region because we are still living the tribal life despite living in this developed world. We have the technology but our culture is still tribal and Bedouin.”
Vision of His Majesty
He added: “As you can see, there are many wars, discussions and disputes. Everyone wants to use his power to defend himself and to defeat others. Oman, by virtue of the wise and future vision of His Majesty, stops and eliminates all causes that may lead people to be in conflict with each other, with their neighbours and their friends.”
When asked about demarcation of borders as an example of the Sultanate’s efforts to make peace, he said: “Yes true, demarcation of land and maritime borders is the solution. It is essential that your neighbour is satisfied with you and you are satisfied with him, because if you are not satisfied with him, you can’t do anything. His Majesty foresaw the future and educed these fact in earlier time. This wise vision of His Majesty formulates the Omani policy.”
In reply to a question about pillars of the Omani foreign policy, bin Alawi said: “As we said before, if you are satisfied with your neighbour, you will be safe and you can develop. We are working on making comfortable neighbourhood. Of course, you can’t move this neighbourhood or change it because it is a human and geographical neighbourhood.
“If you can’t convince your neighbour, it is better to work in the framework of understanding. It is true that governments may disagree because there are various views in life. However, the relationship between humans remains even if they are separated by borders. If there is a great confidence between people, then we can convince the decision makers to make a comfortable neighbourhood.”
Western philosophy
On the human experience role in governing parity and balance in life, he said: “There are limits for governing and regulating this matter because people are defending themselves against one another. We can even find this concept in the Western philosophy. The world can’t be without wars. What can govern this is the international laws, conventions and organisations established consensually by the international community. This is known as “governance”. The United Nations (UN) has no army, but it has laws that connect all the armies of the governments to these international laws. For example, if a state has justifications and wants to invade another state, it can’t do so unless it gets a decision from UN. If it doesn’t get that decision, it will be considered as an aggressor state.”
Omani Shura
When asked about the 25 years of Omani parliamentary experience and its vital role in establishing the political awareness among the Omani citizens, the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs said: “I think that this experience is taking root more and more. It is in a real harmony with the renaissance, not an artificial one. The Omani Shura experience is stemmed from the Omani environment. In many stages of the Omani history, the tribal system in Oman was based on the Shura concept. The Sheikh, what is so-called Tamimah Sheikh, is assigned through consultation among the tribe, as per specific characteristics. The best proof of this in Oman is the tribal coalition between the “Hinaoa” and “Ghaferi”. This alliance is seen by some people as negative because they didn’t understand it deeply. If specialists study this example, they will find that this was a means of stability, because it was governed by rules and balance. This helped in maintaining stability in different stages. It is true that there were some conflicts here and there, but this alliance made stability and respect. There were various schools of jurisprudence in Oman as a result of this alliance.”
In reply to a question about parliamentary experiences in the Arab region, he said: “When we look at the democracy and the struggle of the civil administration in our region, and compare it to the developed countries in Europe and the US, we find them preceding us. They precede us in the civil organisation and we followed them but to a small extent.”
He explained: “This is because we followed them in the way of establishing a national state which is a restoration of the tribal system. Restoration may take time because when you restore something it may collapse. With respect to the Arab Spring, it didn’t resist and achieve its goals because it was seen as revolution. Revolution means chaos and it needs long time until the state returns to stability.”
Dichotomy of revolution
In reply to a question about the inability of parliament to control these issues that have been dominating in some countries, bin Alawi said: “Parliament can’t resist in facing these huge waves. The dichotomy of revolution and chaos keeps interacting until the goal is achieved. This interaction needs reasons to be completed. The post-colonial states enacted their laws according to the colonial legacy, in terms of management, laws and borders. When we give a quick look at these countries, whether in Africa or Asia, we find that their borders are determined according to the previous colonisers’ borders. For example, the borders of a national state that was part of French colonisation is now determined by the previous borders of the French colonisation. It is the same with the national states that were part of the British and Spanish colonisation. However, when we look at the cultural and social sides of these states, we find that they are inter-related. You will find one tribe divided between two neighbouring states. The aim is to build a national state in which people are living peacefully. As far as I am concerned, the social and administrative systems in some countries become older because of the increasing human activities. For example, the population of a state was 5 million during the post-colonial time but the number exceeds 15 million during the Arab Spring. Thus, the social and administrative systems are unable to fulfil the needs of 15 million. These systems remain unchanged instead of the increasing number of population. Consequently, the chaos and revolution broke out. This situation will continue until stability and development is achieved; this needs time.”
When asked about the Omani media, the Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs said: “The impact of media will not appear now but later. It is like planting trees. You don’t expect that all plants will be good: you will have good and bad trees. In fact, the Omani media is stable like other sectors. However, we have to interact with what is happening around us. We also have to take the audience into consideration. What does the audience want to watch and listen? The specialists in the Omani media take these points into account.”
Parliamentary diplomacy
In a reply to a question about the parliamentary diplomacy, he said: “The human communication is important at all levels not only at the parliamentary level. Professors, students and government officials should also communicate with the world. The world becomes now as one village which implies the fast communication between people. This communication can be for education, exchange of experiences or other purposes. Nowadays, communication becomes easier by virtue of the advanced means of communication and transportation. When we travel to Europe, we feel that we are travelling to neighbouring countries. When travel to another culture, we feel that we are visiting our neighbours. I think that exchanging of ideas and connecting cultures is fruitful. We need to develop and increase these initiatives.”
Nuclear energy
When asked about the Sultanate’s decision on nuclear energy, he said: “We are protecting everything in Oman. Everything is protected: life, birds, reptiles and animals. Oman takes the precedence of protecting environment not because we want to be the first, but because we consider it essential to protect the environment. Oman has established a Ministry and a council for protecting environment. This issue becomes one of the essential pillars in protecting the environment. It is true that we can’t protect everything in light of the accelerating development, but we shall put a minimum extent of pollution. You can’t protect everything alone because you will not develop. The philosophy of protection is part of our lives. I think that others have started to use this approach. For example, at one point in time, people were talking about the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. We were among people seeking to take advantage of this energy. We know that we can benefit from that at any time, because the issue of risk control in nuclear energy has developed significantly. Why didn’t we go ahead with this programme? Firstly, because this energy is available at any time we want. Secondly, studies conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency show (here I am speaking from economic point of view) that if the price of oil is below $50, you do not need to produce and use nuclear energy. This is because you will use this energy by its production cost. Thus, oil and gas are cheaper than nuclear energy. However, if the oil price is above $50, it is better to use nuclear power because it is cheaper than $50. This is an economic equation. It is true that all nuclear power producers have designed reassuring safety procedures, but they can’t control human error, or environmental disasters. The contamination resulted from this power is also incurable.”
Bin Alawi added: “We are still in the growth stage, and our ability to reduce the risk is still very modest. For example, transferring people from one area to another is immeasurably difficult for us and for other developing countries. If something happens in one place, it is very difficult to transfer its population of around 50-60 thousand people to another place. It is also not easy to guarantee the protection from radiation. We may not expect that something will happen, but precaution is mandatory. We opt for not going ahead with this project for these reasons and because we can do it in any time. Let us see first the experience
of others.”
In reply to a question about the role of Omani policy in reducing the severity of complicated situations suffered by Omanis in other countries, he said: “It is impossible to satisfy everyone. Omanis by their nature love searching for the future in different places, and travelling around the world. However, some of them don’t take the needed precautions, and they think that they are in their country. If something happens, like violating the laws or values, of course, they will be subject to the laws and procedures of that country. Intercession can solve the issue but it varies from a country to another. In our country, intercession has an influence but in other countries it is difficult because their culture and system is different. For example, a minister in a country can talk to a police officer and intercede for someone. However, sometimes he can’t do so because laws must be implemented. I think that people should ask about their destination and take the consultation of others before they travel. I don’t mean those who are travelling for treatment but those who are going for investment. They must ask the concerned bodies in those countries through the embassy or consulate. Some people may face manipulative situations that we are unaware of and suffer from troubles. These troubles are not faced by Omanis only but by others who travel abroad. However, the embassies or consulates, especially in the most-visited countries by Omanis such as India and Thailand endeavour to provide its services to the travellers. Travellers receive SMSs telling them about the contact numbers of the embassy or consulate in addition to the call prices in these countries. These services aim to guide the travellers but some people feel safe and don’t care about these messages.”
When asked about the effect of conspiracy theory on political dialogue in the Arab region, he said: “It is easy to say this is a“conspiracy”. They say it is a conspiracy to find something to blame. I think that this concept doesn’t exist. No one is intending to organise conspiracy against you.”
‘No conspiracy’
He added: “I think that the reason behind this conviction is the recurrence of this concept in media. There is no conspiracy, but there are interests and everyone is defending his interests. There is no conspiracy organised against a specific state especially in these days where everything is clear. If we could hide 50 per cent of information in the 1950s and 1970s, we can’t now hide 5 per cent of these information. Thus, there is no hidden conspiracy. There are interests that will be achieved through wrong ways if not achieved through the right ways. We have to acknowledge that others have interests. Life is about giving and receiving. No one owns the whole life alone; it is for everybody.”
He explained: “Our Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) was dealing with the Jewish traders in Al Madinah. He didn’t say that Muslims should not deal with Jews. They were part of the community and some of them became Muslims.
“Those who didn’t become Muslims were protected under the umbrella of “To you be your religion, and to me my religion”. Life is continuing while everyone is seeking his own interests.”
