Letter from Riyadh

...Other versions disdained the Iranian connection, maintaining that Abdullah himself had backed the mutinous generals (Whether they were from the Army or the National Guard, which the Crown Prince heads, also was a point of contention ) Looking the very prototype of a strongman, Abdullah is perceived as a tar more strict Moslem than Fahd, who has failed to win the admiration accorded his predecessor...

...Others pose threats beyond their sheer numbers Filipino workers, for example, arrive in groups and walk the streets in groups-something one hardly ever sees in Saudi Arabia, for the government views clusters of people as potential sources of unrest Filipino women also are notoriously slack in their conformity to Islamic dress codes Their arms are exposed and their skirts occasionally ride above the knee, offering a glimpse of a world the authorities are determined to keep beyond the borders Efforts to discipline the casual Islanders have so far been unavailing...

...The dust-covered wooden fences that surround the capital's myriad building sites cannot conceal the workings of a still strong economy But the concrete walls around the royal villas and the ministries do hide the political decisions that have to be made to keep the economy that way in the face of declining oil prices In the Kingdom, (hat is to say, there are many degrees of insideness, and at the innermost circle of power, there are truly no visitors...

...Several of the Kingdom's underlying problems-the forces and realities it seeks to suppress that nonetheless cannot be kept from surfacing-are symbolized by its substantial and reportedly growing contingents of foreign workers On a purely demographic level they are a source of discomfort Riyadh releases no statistics on resident aliens, probably to avoid advertising the fact that they may outnumber the natives Thus it exhibited considerable annoyance recently when Cairo estimated that approximately 1 million Egyptian citizens were employed in Saudi Arabia, a figure equal to between 15-25 per cent of the indigenous population...

...Terry P Caesar a new contributor to the NL is an Associate Professor of English at Clarion University...

...But there is a new focus in the Kingdom that has received scant attention in the West, partly because so much of our discourse about Saudi Arabia confines itself to the economic entity "All the gossip is political now," an American teacher friend averred As an example of the developments stirring the rumor mill, he told me that requests by his Saudi colleagues to attend conferences abroad currently require the approval of King Fahd himself Nobody is sure why The U S diplomat who later confirmed for me that such a policy was in force thought it was an instance of the Saudis "taking a small thing and giving it a wider context " I wondered if it were not, rather, troubles in the wider context that made any small thing seem large at this point to the Saud clan...

...Saudi Arabia is not a totalitarian state Much of the vast desert, where Bedouins retain their traditional ways, is in fact the domain of local emirs beyond the control of the central government When Khaled died in June 1982, these leaders had to be called together so that their allegiance could be sought by Fahd...

...Such purity drives come and go in cycles, as the Royal family's desire for "Westernization" battles its profoundly conservative instincts But a new rigor has been introduced at the Women's Center of King Saud University-one of the few places in the country where a sizeable number of professional women, both Saudi and foreign, work largely free of men The male Vice Dean of the Center recently distributed the following notice...

...But the cities, wholly identified with the state , pose a different problem The rapid modernization process that has been set in motion, and the diverse influences that have been allowed to seep in, have created a society too complex for the House of Saud to govern in its harshly orthodox, secretive style The legitimacy of the line, therefore, will inevitably be questioned and ultimately is bound to be contested Outsiders who live or work inside the Kingdom sense that the past 12 months have brought a showdown closer For the time being there is enough oil money to permit members of the Royal family the luxury of a blood feud that can never be verified by the world at large But if the next time I touch down in one of the Kingdom's international airports the spotless corridors are not being swept by ubiquitous Korean janitors in orange jumpsuits, it may be a sign that change of a much larger kind is soon to follow...

...As for why the Filipinos consistently deviate from the prevailing pattern, two explanations have been advanced 1) They generally are given the lowest-paid positions 2) They are widely perceived as potential criminals One day last year, Saudi television repeatedly aired a garish re-enactment of two Filipinos murdering a prominent Lebanese businessman and violating his wife The drama was particularly startling because the performers were the apprehended criminals themselves (By the time the videotape reached Saudi living rooms, they had already been beheaded) If the Saudis are not about to close their gates to a stream of cheap labor, they do seem more determined this year to chasten nonconformist women Those not wearing ankle-length dresses or headscarves are being hassled again by the mutawas-whose functions include rapping on shop windows with sticks to make sure business stops during prayers-and asked to leave the big, Western-style supermarkets...

...King Khaled, precisely because of his reputation for personal laxity Fahd's gambling, drinking and womanizing were once notorious, and the last, it is supposed, persists (A foreigner in the Kingdom learns to beware of Saudis who claim to be privy to the exact number of the Monarch's wives) Many self-proclaimed knowledgeable observers swear that Abdullah is already the power behind the throne...

...Actually, it scarcely matters which brother has the upper hand, or even how true it is that a coup was attempted The real significance of the stones one hears is that they reflect a widespread disquiet This, in turn, raises the legitimate question of how long the regressive Saud dynasty will be able to continue ruling a land of great global importance...

...THE CLOSED KINGDOM Letter from Riyadh BY TERRY P CAESAR "Absolutely no visitors allowed any time," warns a sign outside a construction project adjoining King Faisal Specialist Hospital In a way, the words encapsulate Saudi Arabia's attitude toward the rest of the world Some foreigners are allowed to enter the country, for trade, industrial development and technological progress are eagerly pursued (Another notice on the same wall reads "Delivery trucks this way ") Tourists, however, remain unwelcome Even those outsiders who are permitted in-as I was during the 1981-82 academic year, and again this summer f or a brief stopover-may feel that their knowledge of the Kingdom dwindles rather than increases with the length of their stay...

...Worst of all, the Filipinos commit crimes in a society that prides itself on being one of the most orderly anywhere (Crime statistics, while not broken down by nationality, are published) The reasons for Saudi Arabia's low incidence of lawlessness are complex, involving far more than the celebrated severity of Islamic justice The strategy of housing foreigners in thoroughly insulated, easily policed compounds, for instance, may be a more effective deterrent...

...One notices no perceptible change in the languid atmosphere that normally envelops the streets of Riyadh either Sandals flap loosely The crowds in the souks move about with a somnolent air Clutches of veiled women often seem giddy with release as they climb onto their sections at the back of the busses .The gazes of the male passengers-mostly foreign workers-from across the partitions are disinterested Policemen loll at intersections A severe, ritualized quality marks the glances exchanged by strangers passing one another on the street, despite the absence of any threat of an untoward incident or unexpected outburst The public space exists without real public life to fill it...

...It has been observed that some of the staff members have been seen wearing medium length clothing This is against the customs, rules and regulations of the University Staff are asked not to wear this kind of clothing on campus, or official action will be taken We hope everyone will respect the traditions of this country ". The women did their best to shrug off the reproach as one more vagary on the part of the powers that be All the same, there is the feeling that, as one scholar remarked, "They do seem much more nervous than last year ". Perhaps this accounts for another phenomenon Among European and American professionals and diplomats in Riyadh, a certain amount of contempt for the Saudis was always discernible Today it is often openly and sometimes coarsely expressed Almost everyone I have met has offered me a few favorite Saudi jokes Some are crude "Do you know how to save a Saudi from drowning," the comedian asks Presumably one answers, "No,' to which the response is "Good " Others are genuinely funny "A Frenchman, a German and a Saudi are asked whether sex is a pleasure or a duty The Frenchman says pleasure, the German duty The Saudi hesitates "It's not a pleasure because it makes me sweat, but it can't be a duty because if it were the Yemenis (or the Filipinos, or the Egyptians) would do it for us ". The very first news one hears upon arriving in Saudi Arabia these days, though, is of the attempted coup This occurred, everyone seems certain, sometime toward the end of last January or the beginning of February After a few days, I grew so tired of the incredulity that greeted my expressions of ignorance about the unsuccessful grab for the throne that I began to enter friends' houses with the preemptive pronouncement, "Yes, I've heard " It is not surprising that no one had written me with the tale Although too much mail goes out of Saudi Arabia for total censorship to be possible, letters and packages are opened at random, and a foreign resident would be foolish to risk his well-paying, tax-free job to convey rumors of revolution But I was assured, depending on who I talked to, that either Time, the BBC or French radio had reported the failed event One man said part of a radio broadcast about it reached the Kingdom before the jammers were alerted (Time, I have subsequently learned, did not carry the story...

...According to the most specific account I heard, two generals under the influence of the Iranians engineered the coup while both King Fahd and his brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, were abroad The holy city of Medina was said to have figured prominently in the maelstrom, as noting, or perhaps clashes between opposing military factions, filled entire hospitals with wounded Then the Crown Prince rushed back to the country and managed to set everything to rights again...

...You can almost hear the belts tightening," a European businessman here is quoted as remarking in a recent London Sunday Times report I didn't Although the first government deficit in memory has been announced-forcing the House of Saud to dip into a reserve estimated at $170-5190 billion-the rhetoric of massive development goes on Western companies are more cautious with their investments now, oil production is down to between 3-5 million barrels a day, from an average of 7 5-8 million in the pre-glut era, and one hears of two-year plans being extended to four years Nevertheless, local stomachs appear pretty ample...