Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Democracy in Jordan

In an exclusive conversation with Akram Hoque and Sayan Ghosh, H.E. Mohamed Ali Daher, the Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan talks about Middle-East peace process and democracy in Jordan
 
B&E: Jordan has a good record in human rights, but Amnesty says that honour killing still remains a major problem in the country as on an average almost 20 women die each year on account of the same. Is the government concerned about the issue?
MD: We attach great importance to family honour. Family tradition in other societies may be a little more flexible. Jordan has some incidences (certainly not 20 every year) and government is tackling the subject very seriously. There has been a discussion at the parliament and the Ministry of Justice is about to come up with laws to curb the problem. Earlier, the punishment for such crime was low, now we are looking at it with a different perspective. We will definitely come up with some modern solution.

B&E: Reports show that 70,000 foreign workers suffer from human rights violations in Jordan. Do you agree?
MD: No. Let me tell you one fact about Jordan. For over 70 years, we have been living with our Palestinian brothers who are refugees in our country. But they enjoy all their rights just like the Jordanian enjoy. We even have people from them elected as our Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Director General of Police and so on. Now, we have refugees from Iraq as well due to the prevailing situation. Our government has made laws to facilitate their stay in the country. They are working freely, they own lands, they own projects and have even established their own businesses. Under such circumstances, I don’t see any reason for such accusations. For information we even have very good records in the UN.

B&E: King Abdullah is the ruler of the state, how do you see him as a leader?
MD: Well, to answer this question, I will not answer as an ambassador, but as a ordinary citizen of Jordan. We, the Jordanians, are proud of our king. King Hussain was a legend. And his son our present King has been following the footsteps of his father. He is very much loved by the people. The world recognises the role he plays. He is one of the wisest leaders.

B&E: Can you comment on King Abdullah’s successor?
MD: Well, in monarchy, we don’t have to worry about who comes after. King Abdullah’s son is now our crowned prince.

B&E: Jordan has successfully escaped the global recession. Was it because the country’s economy is less integrated with the global economy or you have a conservative banking system?
MD: No, certainly our banks have been very vigilant. It’s a blessing that we have a small economy and not a big one, so we are affected very lightly. But definitely, a lot of credit goes to our financial institutions, headed by the Central Bank of Jordan. I happen to be a great friend of the Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan. I worked with him in New York and I know him very personally. He is one of the wisest people in Jordan. He has been taking all kinds of precautio-nary measures to protect the country from recession.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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