Resetting Saudi Arabia’s course into the twenty-first century

Upon observing the giant leaps taken by Saudi Arabia within a few short years, one cannot deny that what Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has achieved for the Kingdom is nothing short of extraordinary. It has become evident that His Royal Highness has reset Saudi Arabia’s course into the twenty-first century and succeeded in transforming the country entirely.

At this point, both, backward thinking conservatives who believe that the traditions of the past must be maintained, as well as modernist libertarians who believe that we must keep up with the modern developments of the twenty-first century, can agree on this fact.

Some might mistake my words for empty flattery, or opportunistic praise; however, if you happen to follow the articles that I have written throughout my career including previous participations in discussion forums, or tweets, it can be noted that this has long been my writing style.

I have always been a firm defender of all the things I believe in and I tend to make sure that I provide sufficient and well-argued justifications that are objective and impartial.

It is true that my fellow writers and I, never had a doubt about the fact that all these achievements will be made, yet with all our optimism we have never even dreamt of all these reforms taking place in such a short period of time.

The revolutionary developments introduced by Prince Mohammed bin Salman are enough to qualify him to join the ranks of distinguished pioneers that will surely go down in history.

It is only natural to expect that these daring ambitions will be met with some who attempt to place internal or external obstacles in his path. Those who stood in his way have either had their nefarious agendas or they simply held on too firmly to their conservative backward ways.

Despite all of this, armed by a clear vision, tremendous courage and unwavering ambition His Royal Highness managed to overcome all these obstacles, and he succeeded in transforming the Saudi society by introducing modern values and that have been established as part of the rights of Saudi men and women, which can no longer be bargained over or denied.

In my opinion, we are living in a period of historic unprecedented developments that have significantly transformed Saudi Arabia in record time. The major leaps undertaken all across the board, as well as the rapid progress that is being achieved, are proof that the dreams we barely entertained years ago have turned into reality.

These changes will be particularly clear to those who lived in the Kingdom before the reign of King Salman and are still here to witness the miraculous shift at all levels due to Prince Mohammed’s determination, firm leadership and guidance.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a firm believer in the fact that a country’s survival and continuity depend firstly on economic and social development, and secondly on establishing security and stability. It is known that the absence of real efforts dedicated towards development, or any slowdown in these efforts would serve as an indication of the onset of turmoil and unrest.

For this reason, His Highness has assigned economic development as his top priority and he made sure to overcome all obstacles, including outdated customs and traditions, that would impede Saudi Arabia’s development process.

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I believe that educational and judiciary reform will be his second and third priorities in the next few years. I am fully confident that just like he was able to achieve the impossible within a matter of two to three years, he will certainly be able to successfully tackle those two objectives.

The only difference here is that educational and judiciary reforms tend to take time that cannot be expedited, since this includes dedicating efforts towards training and qualifying teachers and judges and preparing them to handle this new stage. Reform in these two areas requires more time and patience in order to achieve real lasting change.

This article was originally published in, and translated from, Saudi Arabian outlet al-Jazirah.

Read more:

The city of the future and the prince of hope

Where would Saudi Arabia be without Mohammed bin Salman?

Saudi Arabia’s revolutionary modernization journey