Review: Jordanian Parliament
A regular Jordanian would describe the Jordanian parliament as a “bad playâ€, and the current parliament actions, which days are numbered, will make sure this feeling won’t get better anytime soon. The performance of this parliament kept going from bad to worse, and to make things even worse, they closed the chapter with a scandal!
Recently, the government of Jordan pushed a new legislation to the parliament vote; the new legislation enables the government to force certain punishments on journalists convicted with “press crimes†that could reach jailing and high fines, the questionable new law is considered a high threat on the already-threatened freedoms of press in Jordan, and is being widely rejected by almost every Jordanian, well, excluding the parliament members of course who recently voted in favor of the new law which is now only waiting the senates approval to be placed in action.
Prior to this move, Abdulhadi Al Majali, a famous billionaire and the head of the Jordanian parliament, threatened journalists openly of “legislating new laws to minimize their freedoms in case they kept criticizing the parliament!†Abdulhadi, who once ordered policemen to shoot at students protesting at Yarmouk University when he headed the security forces, participated in a physical attack on journalists recently right inside the house of representatives during a session; some journalists tried to record a physical fight taking place between two representatives which led other representatives to beat up those journalists and then thieve their cameras!
During the short period of parliamentary life in Jordan, which was reinitiated in 1989 after more than a 30-year period of halt, this one seems to be the worse; the current MP’s broke the record of unexplained absence to the sessions, they were the first to demand personal cars (BMW 530i to be specific!) for their Excellencies’ personal use, they were the first also to break the record of traveling expenses after traveling to almost every spot in the universe, and the list just keep going. The most optimistic (paid!) observer would describe their performance as humble.
It is worth noting that one of the causes of this lame performance is the process by which those representatives get their way to the house of the people in the first place; in Jordan, and in an exposed behavior from the regime, the voting process can be described as a single-vote process, where each citizen above 18 can only vote once for one single person, this way the regime guarantees that the winning representatives are nothing but a bunch of tribe and family leaders, stripping out any ideological background from the parliament, and minimizing the threat Islamists and Leftists might oppose on the regime, the results until now seem pretty satisfying to the regime as one can conclude.
The next election is supposed to take place in the near future, Jordanians in general don’t expect much to change, how could anyone expect any change if all the causes of lameness are still there anyway?
p.s. some of the links lead to Arabic scripts for lack of English resources, if you can’t read Arabic, you’ll have to unfortunately rely on my words!
Join the Conversation
Omar-
In your opinion…how strong is the Left in Jordan and what is its ideaology? Also…what is the potential of the Islamists…how strong of a following do they have? Would you anticipate, that with power, they would tend towards an Iranian style revolution and government?
Howie,
The left in Jordan is weak and pretty much lack organization, its ideology might be summarized in; opposing foreign interferences, social reformations, and boosting democracy and public freedoms.
Islamists, if we’re talking about the Muslim Brotherhood and the IAF, are much organized and definitely enjoy bigger numbers of followers than any other party in Jordan for numerous reasons and causes, nevertheless, I believe they’re loosing a considerable number of followers by time. Organized Islamist parties, say like the MB and the IAF (Islamic Action Front), play on two axes; the first is stirring public emotions with flashy statements and thrilling slogans, and the other is charity work, while other Islamists movements with radical revolutionary ideas don’t exactly participate in public life, they reject and refuse the whole parliamentary process in the first place along side with lots of aspects of Jordanian regular life.
The Iranian model is far from being applied or inspired in Jordan, the organized Islamist parties work along side with the monarchy, they enjoy open and secret good ties and relations with the regime, hence, it’s pretty much unlikely that they go for a sort of Islamic coupe, other radical movements might wish for such a coupe to take place, while on the other hand, they lack the required public support, big time.
Now, I want to hear your ideas and impressions on the left- and right-wing movements inside Israel, for an outside observer, I can’t highlight significant differences, not like any other spot in the world?
Omar-
It is much harder because Israel splits SO many ways….There is not just Left and Right…but WAY left…like Meretz and WAY right…like folks along the Meir Kahane line…
The religious groups tend to the Right…non-religious groups lean towards the left.
In Israel…you vote for a party not a person…so you have a zillion parties and each tends to represent and vie for certian things.
For example…in the government…around 6 seats were taken by a group representing primarily the agenda of old farts…”Pension People”…they are primary worried about health care, social security etc. You have parties that divide along ethnic lines…with a party the caters to Russians…and even the relgious parties split between the Arab Jews and the European Jews.
Even the Right, Kadima, is a hybred now of Likud and Labor…kind of a barely right of center…but pretty center.
Just about every major group in Israel is interested in some type of peace agreement with the Palestinians and Arabs at large…even Likud…the major “rejectionists” are probably like, I don’t know…100,000-200,000 people???
But within mainstream…you will get everything from we can go back to 48 borders to boarden 67 borders. Many Israeli’s are not really hot about the Golan going back and Jerusalem…even for many Leftists is something held quite dear.
You might be surprised at how little hatred there is among Israelis towards Arabs/Palestinians. I have even personally met with several terror victims…many of them…people with sharpnel still in their faces…honestly…not one spoke of hatred…mostly they said “this should not happen to anybody”…even the lady whose baby was found under a pile of corpses…
So Israel is anything but a monolith…my own family has a everything from a reactionary settler person to my brother-in-law that would probably agree to right of return. Politics are nasty…like anywhere…and it is a very old joke that Jews argue over anything and everything…and this is true.
I would also say…that not only are most Israeli’s not hateful (I did not say not distrustful) towards Arabs, but they are enormously curious…as long as they feel pretty confident you are not filled with violence and hate…they would want to sit and talk and eat humos with you. Here in the States…I have Muslim friends and Arab Christian friends…and we sometimes talk about these things though we do have a saying in the USA…”avoid discussing politics and religion”…and we kind of obey that.
But again….there are probably a dozen parties represented in any Parliment, including 3-5 Arabs, and the fight day and night over everything.
Omar,
Thats a great article, i guess it says it all ….
Howie,
Thanks for the valuable information,
As for the islamic moevement in Jordan, it represents almost 14% of the population.
that was good informations of both of you, Omar & Howie – someone of other mideast-authors listening? – wouldn’t it be a good idea to post here from insiders in the same pattern about your countries, be it Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Maroc – come on bloggers & authors – introduce your country’s political system – I’m very curious!
Hello,
I just came back from visiting Jordan and oh my was i shocked!!!! The people in which God has gave wealth to, think they are made of gold..some people i used to know 15 years ago had no money but today they have plenty of it and they became so so snoby and full of hate ….and with no doubt they sold palestinian and om palestine. When they were poor they praised God but as soon as they saw $$$ they cant say Allah anymore. Even giving to the poor on the street is considered to be stuiped cause those little poor people on the streets are “Millionairs” but they act poor. Islam in Jordan is 80% fake..let me tell you why….> A muslim prays 5 times a day, fasts ramamdan, and takes “extra care” of their women. On the other hand, they swear left and right, they beleive poor people are really rich people in disguise, the word salam or a simple greeting will never come out of them not even a smile, and they have no problem with turning a faithfull girl into a sharmoo6ah in a matter of seconds maybe just cause she drives a truck. Driving in Jordan says alot about how islamic they are. I went to attend a meeting for some islamic/ revolutionary group 2 summers ago. The meeting was with some old egyptian general, i swear that the islamic group did not stop from yelling and swearing at the general everytime he says his opinion. Even praying in the mousqe some dude came up to me and says this : ” Just to let you know, your prayer will not be accepted because a part of your boxer was showing, so ur prayer will not be accepted” they even want to play the role of God. Jordan ????? hahahahahah they need to learn more about islam and they need to know that islam is not just for a person when he is in need but it should be carried in the hearts tounge mind at all times and through the worst conditions.