Suspicious delays and repugnant excuses

Friday, Sep 4 2009

During the holy month of Ramadan, the Lebanese people are feeling disturbed by the conditions in their country, whether the absence of an executive branch under a caretaker government, the hold-up in the process of the formation of the government or the ambiguity of future political options and the fate of a country beleaguered by sensitive and specific regional and international agendas. What kind of reality is this for the Lebanese people as they continue to be held hostage to various considerations, with internal issues being linked to external factors so that the Lebanese citizen is a victim to suspicious delays and repugnant excuses.

The repeated calls by President Suleiman to speed up the process of the formation of the government do not spring from a vacuum but rather come from assessing the troubled Lebanese reality, both politically and in relation to security, and working on a way to get Lebanon out of its crises. The key here is to speed up the process of government formation as this is a fundamental step towards bringing back life to the institutions and making effective the work of the administrations. It is also important that each group not seek to promote agendas according to their own interests. The leader of the Future Movement assigned to form the new government should take his first opportunity to head the government as he is responsible to the president and in the constitution for the delay. Saad Hariri did well when he met the leader of the Coalition for Change and Conciliation, General Michel Aoun, under the patronage of President Suleiman. This was a necessary and important step despite the fact that this meeting came over two months late. Indeed, the task of the PM designate is to communicate, hold meetings and move quickly and seriously in order to form the government! All the Lebanese people are agreed on the fact that the political crisis relating to the problem of the formation of the first government after the parliamentary elections is reminiscent of the tense atmosphere of the past four years with the rising crises pointing to a crisis of the system which goes right to the root of the Lebanese formula, particularly in light of the sectarian and factional issues which are taking place, especially between the Sunnis and the Shiites. In this context, we are talking about the existence of a vacuum that afflicts the third main position of leadership, that is the Prime Minister's role. This vacuum is similar to the situation last year in the position of the presidency. The frustration seems to be spreading across Lebanon from one sect to another and from one group to another fuelled by the sectarian system first and foremost which affects all sects. We at the National Dialogue Party believe that the injustice towards the Sunnis and any other sect or confession comes from them being crammed into the corner of confessionalism and isolation.

The Sunnis have not, for one day since the establishment of Lebanon, acted as a minority. Rather they have been the promoters of a community within which various sects and creeds coexisted, and have never resorted to 'sectarianism' or to the Sunni confession to support themselves or to rise to power. And so, the Sunnis have to rise up, as do all the Lebanese sects and confessions. We need to avoid the mentality of minority, for this approach is one which gives rise to frustration particularly in our current situation with the Sunnis being asked to align themselves against the Shiites. This is alien to the Sunni Muslims, or rather to Sunni Islam, and to the historical role of the Sunnis in raising the banner of Arabism and leading Arab solidarity in all Arab nations.

Thus, we ask who is working for the Sunnis for their participation in the state? Indeed, the more difficult question is what has happened or changed so as to now give the Sunnis two choices: the Hariri family or the 'Al Qaeda system'? It is noteworthy that after all this pressure on the Sunnis in Lebanon an opinion poll was conducted by the International Institute for Information on the Lebanese people in countries interested in Lebanese affairs and the source of their fear and concern. The results showed that 62.8% of the Sunnis believe that Iran is an ally and a friend, similar to the attitude towards Egypt and Syria (68.7% and 63.9%). This position amongst the respondents – if the poll is ratified – points towards the start of the Sunni openness which has long been one of their characteristics in Lebanon. The result indicates the start of something which may be consolidated in the future if the civil community is successful in taking back the initiative from the sectarian and confessional groups with all their isolationist tendencies.

We are well aware that, in light of the political layer which was renewed in the recent parliamentary elections, the Lebanese people will not get a chance to put a real end to the crisis. How will the government be able to accomplish anything of importance at the political or economic level across the country in specific and in the region in general? We must also consider Lebanon's social and economic problems which weigh on Lebanese society with the deterioration of services, water and electricity supply, lack of social benefits, healthcare, education, rampant corruption and waste in the Treasury set against a decline in jobs and the rising cost of living and inflation.

It is unfortunate that the current government crisis is adding to the other crises. This does not bode well, and there are no attempts whatsoever to restore the people's confidence after the very recent elections. The concerns of the people are simple but urgent, such as ensuring an acceptable electrical supply (who remembers the $14 billion which was spent on electricity with the promise of 24/24 hours of electricity as the slogan), the reduction of duty on petrol and diesel, the reduction of the overall burdens with the new school year, in addition to providing education and opportunities for graduates and addressing problems such as industry and agriculture. How can we hope, for instance, to remove the tensions from the internal situation, with relation to social and health related issues and other issues such as unemployment and immigration? All of this calls for a ministry with a plan and a programme separate from political conflict and outside a system of sectarian quotas.

This is not even possible in the current situation! We at the National Dialogue Party regret that we do see even a glimmer of hope in this situation. Even if a national unity government or a coalition government is created, it will just be the same as its predecessor in relation to economic and social issues, that is a government which will only deal with economic issues as part of a process of extortion and corruption and through mutual consent. A reading of the unhealthy political reality explains the situation which the country is currently in on all levels, with a level of decay that begs the question of who is responsible for the absence of the middle class which is missing as a result of the post-Taef economic policies.

We must also ask who is responsible for the size of the public debt (which stands at $50 billion) and for which Lebanon has no solution. This is the responsibility of those currently in power, even though some of them are the heirs of those who had been in power in the post-Taef period. Will the Lebanese people forget the system of quotas which was in place and the 'troika' which took over the political scene, starting with the electoral law and ranging to the various policies which attracted regional and international interest in Lebanon and allowed betting on international pressures for the sake of preserving personal and factional interests of only a handful of individuals?

After all this, can we ask what is behind the delays in the formation of the government and what possible justifications there can be for this according to the PM designate? Let us put aside the talk that the charge sheet on the assassination of Rafik Hariri which has been leaked numerous times since its issue by the international prosecutor Belmar is behind this delay, or an expectation that Israel will conduct a war against Iran that could lead to the reshuffling of the cards in the region is behind the delays which are clear in Saad Hariri's behaviour. There is also the possibility that the delay is due to the expectation of an initiative by President Obama regarding a settlement in the Arab-Israeli conflict and what may be arranged through this for the Arabs and for the Lebanese. All these are reasons which may possibly explain the delay in the formation of the government, and these would be legitimate. However, none of these reasons can stand in the face of the Lebanese misery, the breakdown which is affecting the various state facilities, the frustration amongst the Lebanese people and the fear that the state institutions are the target. Whatever the intentions of the various political powers are behind holding up the communications, whether personal, factional, local, regional or international, the result will be the same and that is that the country will collapse under a caretaker government with all the negative effects on the economy and living conditions as well as on the security situation.