|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Presentation of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma bint Talal at the Conference on the Role of Cultural Diversity on the Threshold of the New Millennium Amman, October 10, 2000 "Culture and Politics Together for Peace and Development" Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Colleagues, I am very pleased to be with you today, and I feel honored by this invitation to share my thoughts with you on a few of the broad cultural and developmental challenges that we face at the beginning of the new millennium. I particularly cherish this opportunity to look with you at some of the key dimensions of the life and character of His Majesty King Hussein, my beloved brother, for his beliefs were very much defined by the values that frame this gathering. King Hussein would have been delighted with this meeting, which highlights a central pillar of his own life and legacy: the importance of cross-cultural interaction in the cause of human development and peace among nations. The life and, legacy of King Hussein tells of different aspects of leadership that are relevant to the challenges we face today, particularly the task of furthering national development based on justice and peace. The over-arching, the most fundamental and enduring lesson of his life is probably about the interaction between personal values and public policy. Such interaction can indeed promote peace and development, when it combines the intangibles of morality, values, and faith, with the practical realities of human needs, governance, and public policy. Perhaps the most useful contribution which I can make to this meeting, is to offer you a perspective of King Hussein that gives a picture of the public man and his policies, from the private perspective of the family man and his personal values. It is hard to speak of King Hussein without repeatedly using the word `values´ - for I believe that his life´s achievements were firmly anchored in values that inspired him to work for the overall benefit of his community, and what he always called the larger Jordanian family. He also expressed these values most clearly and directly in his personal life, with members of his immediate family. Among the values which he stressed was the importance-of education, listening and responding to those in need, and encouraging individuals to achieve their full potential in their professional interests, as well as their personal hobbies and leisure activities. He was always teaching by example that life is a combination of give-and-take: that one should benefit from society´s opportunities, but in return, give back to those in society who lacked opportunities themselves. In fact, he was able to promote sustainable and humane state-building, in a turbulent region, primarily because his public policy decisions and governance style instinctively reflected his personal human values. He saw his immediate biological family and his wider Jordanian family as two dimensions of a single phenomenon - a context of community in which all human beings should exercise compassion, warmth, humility, a sense of service and solidarity with others, along with a capacity to enjoy life to the fullest. It is almost impossible to separate the personal from the political, in the life of King Hussein. For this reason, as we try to describe his legacy and the model of his life and reign, we should focus primarily on that vector of humanity and ideology that was perhaps his defining characteristic: how to govern and lead in a manner that inspires others to do good, while advancing the material well-being and preserving the sense of dignity of all Jordanians. King Hussein consistently emphasized, both in public and private, the importance of promoting the process of social and economic development in order to benefit our children and the generations to come. Today, we can share in pursuing this goal by recognizing and practicing the lessons we draw from his life, as they relate to us now and to future generations. In the face of the challenges and opportunities which await us on the threshold of this new millennium, you who have brought about this meeting, have rightly identified culture and politics as essential partners in the quest for peace and development. From my own privileged life perspective as the sister of King Hussein, allow me to put forward some of the distinct human values, personal attributes, and political phenomena that we can define as specific factors for the success of his reign, so that we may continue to apply and adapt such experiences to our developmental journey. I would also like to suggest certain areas where he did not necessarily fulfill his goals, and hence some of the lessons we might learn from such circumstances as well. There is no doubt that King Hussein´s personal humility was a significant reason for his popularity and political success. His great achievement was to translate a personal characteristic into an ethic of governance that touched the lives of all Jordanians. Being a humble man was a moral and religious dictate for shim, a Godly command that probably provided the single most important foundation for all his beliefs and actions. Historians will long debate the reasons for his humility and courteous manner. His motivation may have included the Muslim faith, his upbringing in a home of modest means, the realization from an early age of a duty to serve his people, and moreover, his personal witness of the fragility of life of leaders and common citizens alike, among other considerations. The result was that he identified powerfully and very personally with the deep need for dignity that every human being felt, whether in this country or elsewhere. His leadership style, the broad political decisions which he made, and the particulars of his governments´ policies all flowed into a single stream that sought to nourish the Jordanian citizen´s sense of personal dignity and security. King Hussein understood dignity in several dimensions - this included raising tangible standards of living such as access to basic education, health care, and other social services; providing opportunities for individuals to achieve their full potential; the safety and warmth of family life within a secure community and country; and, perhaps most important of all, the average Jordanian´s sense of being treated fairly and equitably by society and by the state. His particular skill as a leader, was his capacity to translate his own personal humility into his people´s consciousness that they could always turn to him as a last resort for a redress of grievance, in situations where people may have suffered injustices or simply fallen on difficult times. This important personal and political attribute gave Jordanians from all walks of life a constant sense of hope during moments of near hopelessness. They felt that they could always have access to the highest levels of government, whether through the formal institutions of the state administration or more informally through personal and family contacts. Consequently, for the community of Jordan in general, this realization created a feeling that public and private sector institutions could ultimately be held accountable by turning to the monarchy, if attempts to ammend an injustice through normal bureaucratic channels did not succeed. The philosophy perpetuated by King Hussein reflected another key dimension of his leadership style: maintaining a balance between tradition and modernity, specifically between indigenous and western forms of governance. He was a patient, persistent modernizer. He appreciated the benefits of modern systems of business and governance, yet he also valued traditional ways of doing things. Thus, he worked closely with individuals who reflected traditional styles - of decisionmaking in society, while also promoting institutions that pointed the way to modern forms of governance and corporate decision-making. Another aspect which portrays the nature of King Hussein, was his blindness to race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, and other dimensions of human identity: He understood instinctively that Jordan as a modern state with a pluralistic citizenry, would be defined by the MAY quality and values of its people, rather than by other more basic appeal to geographic, religious, or ethnic identities. Inclusion was the guiding principle of his political and economic appointments. When he recognized a capable man or woman, he quickly sought to bring them into public service for the overall benefit of society. He also tried to ensure that no segment of Jordanian society felt left out of the fruits of development and progress, in terms of basic services, job opportunities, leadership posts, private initiatives, or cultural and social aspects of life. In his vision, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was to be the state of all and for all its citizens, drawing on their collective strengths while also responding to their individual needs. The handmaidens to inclusion in King Hussein´s leadership values were pluralism and tolerance. Perhaps because of his early years as an adolescent abroad, he valued the personal benefits that came from interaction with people from other countries. His intuition recognized that the people living in this land in the present time or throughout history, benefited from peaceful trade and cultural contacts with neighbours and powers further afield. Cross-cultural interaction was a means of mutual enrichment, in his eyes, and a means of promoting peace and stability. Thus Jordanians gained from having widespread contacts with countries around the world, just as countries everywhere were enriched by knowing Jordan and its people. He was a quiet pioneer in the global dialogue of civilizations and cultures, constantly promoting this process within the country, or by sending Jordanians abroad for education, diplomacy, travel, or work. Finally, he combined a sense of responsibility with a capacity for action. He genuinely shared other people´s joys and sadnesses, yet also always tried to do something practical to promote hope and well-being, and to counter fear and distress. It was not enough for him only to care, or to express his feelings verbally; he felt that a person should act on such sentiments, and make the effort in order that people´s lives could, if possible, become a little better. These were the pillars of the style of governance of King Hussein: a commitment to serve, born of a genuine sense of humility; working for the human dignity of his fellow citizens and human beings, especially by ensuring that they felt they were treated equitably by their state and society; promoting modernization while respecting traditional values; making certain that all citizens felt they played a role and shared in the development of the country; and, fostering contacts with people of other countries, faiths, and cultures. Throughout his 47-year reign, he tried relentlessly to put his personal values into practice, whether by his own actions or through the institutions of state and society. His greatest legacy will probably be that he provided the leadership which built a Jordanian state in such a manner that saw his own strong moral and human values deeply permeate and define national policies and institutions. These were King Hussein´s ideals; however global, regional, and domestic circumstances did not always allow him to achieve the ideal. Sometimes his tolerance for other views allowed disruptive elements to work within society. Perhaps in some cases his determination to serve created too much dependency. He constantly grappled with finding the right balance between leading by example, and taking on the direct responsibility for service provision through the institutions of the monarchy - sometimes perhaps slowing the development of government´s administration. Until his last days, he was seeking the most effective and appropriate balance between the palace and the government bureaucracy. Similarly, he struggled regularly with striking the right balance between political freedom and political stability. Jordan´s enduring national principles today, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah, very closely reflect the human values of his father, His Majesty the late King Hussein - national values such as service for the common good; listening to the voices of the distressed or marginalized; tolerating differences among people; focusing on human development, especially education; promoting equity on the basis of gender, geography, income and other human differences; and reaching out to all people in society. One may indeed conclude by saying.that the rich life of King Hussein offers us a valuable model of successful leadership, within the context of perpetual challenges in the area of public policy in the contemporary Arab world. Perhaps his unique role in the quest for peace and development in a multicultural world, is the enduring relevance of his ability to blend personal human values with a system of public political governance. His memory continues to remind us that if we build society on a foundation of inclusion, tolerance, respect, service, equity, and above all human dignity, we will draw on a solid foundation from which to meet new challenges and to enjoy new opportunities. As we think of King Hussein, we are reminded of how singularly non-ideological he was in the classical sense of the word. He could not be easily categorized as belonging to one sole ideology; but rather his own ideology blended elements of socialism, capitalism, globalism, pan-Arabism, Islamism, Jordanian state nationalism, and other trends which have defined the modern Arab world. This ideology was a kind of pragmatic humanism that sought first and foremost to affirm the dignity of human life - a dignity which King Hussein saw manifested in the physical well-being, as well as the national and political self-respect that were the right of every Jordanian and every human being. I thank you for the opportunity which you have given me to share these personal views with you. I hope that my contribution will stimulate you to consider further, the guiding principles that we may take from the meaningful life of one of the most remarkable leaders of our times, and above all, a warm and caring human being. I wish you well in your deliberations. Thank you once again. Torna indietro |
||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
