The Political Transformation of Gulf Tribal States by Shaul Yanai

Author:Shaul Yanai [Yanai, Shaul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Middle East, General, Political Science
ISBN: 9781845196158
Google: c4XLAQAACAAJ
Publisher: Sussex Academic Press
Published: 2015-01-15T04:18:16+00:00

The Failure of the 1938 Reform Movement

The lessons from the events in Kuwait and Dubai were better understood by Sheikh Hamad and his close advisors, including Belgrave, than by Fowle. In order to prevent similar developments in Bahrain they operated on two parallel tracks: first, they addressed some of the Shiites’ demands. The goal was to create a divide between the traditional Shiite majority and the smaller urban intelligentsia class. The British viewed the Sunni-Shiite coalition as a threat to their interests because of Sunni expressions of anti-imperialist nationalism. Weightman and Fowle asked Belgrave to persuade Sheikh Hamad to agree to some of the Shiites’ demands and thus stave off an alliance with the Sunnis.250 According to al-Rumaihi, it was Belgrave who succeeded in preventing greater cooperation between the Shiites and Sunnis. He met with their leaders and promised the reform of the courts. This convinced them to withdraw their demand for a legislative council, the key issue of the Sunni merchants.251 Many opposition leaders and organizers of the oil workers’ strike had been were arrested. Without a viable leadership and the religious leadership’s support, the reform movement and Shabab al-Ummah had to face a united ruling family. Peterson noted that most of the Sunni leaders who had been taken into custody, such as Sa’id al-Shamlan and Ahmad al-Shirawi, were banished to India. Eighteen of the oil workers’ leaders were fired in order to serve as deterrence to others from taking their place.252 Second, reforms were implemented in employment policy, salaries, and the educational and health systems. Their goal was to show the population that the government was willing to answer specific demands as a long as they did not undermine the powers of the ruling family. Thus, for example, Sheikh Ahmad al-Khalifa was appointed the government’s representative to the oil company directorate. His role was to carry out government policy in giving priority to Bahraini citizens over foreigners and improving labor conditions. Under the ruler’s insistence, the oil company financed the construction of workers’ housing to replace the shanty-towns where they had been quartered until now. The company was persuaded to cooperate with the Bahrain government and grant the local workers extra pay, improved labor conditions, and professional training.253

The response to the majority of the oil workers’ demands, excluding the establishment of a trade union, appeased this highly productive sector and prevented further clashes with the government. The latter also agreed to reforms in the school system. An advisory council to the ruler was set up whose role was to study the reasons for the education system’s failure to produce graduates capable of replacing the foreigners in local government, schools and the oil company. Based on the council’s recommendations, the Lebanese education supervisor, Faiq Idham, was dismissed after being found responsible for the low level of education. The committee also recommended changing most of the study programs in order to raise the level of schooling, enable the graduates to gradually replace the foreign workers, and counter future accusations that the government was not investing enough in education.

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