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Seen by a Diplomat’s
Spouse
country in the world work for the Kingdom’s interest, this
being undoubtedly thanks to prince Faisal.
When prince Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became
Prime Minister in 1962, he announced in his program at
the session of the Council of Ministers, on November 6,
a specific plan for radical transformations under the title
of “The Ten Items”, the purport of which was the need
to modernize all aspects of the state activities and of the
community. The state assumed the task of drafting the
country’s basic law, which is based on the Holy Quran,
the Sacred Sunnah and the tolerant Shari’ah, and of the
development of the social sphere, culture and education.
It was felt that there was a need
for the establishment of a
ministry of justice, a legal council that comprises prominent
intellectuals and scholars, for improving the conditions
of the society that was in charge of preserving Islamic
tenets and morality. The document put at the head of the
agenda the improvement of the standard of living of the
ordinary people; it guaranteed for all citizens free medical
care, free teaching and state aid for lowering the prices of
food stuffs. The regulation governing social security for
the aged and the disabled was implemented. A legislation
was enacted providing for the protection of workers
against unemployment. The government’s objective was
to secure financial stability, economic development, the
studying of water resources, the building of infrastructures
and the establishment of a general agency for oil and
mineral resources. Two banks were to be established:
an agricultural bank and an industrial one. In addition to
budget allocations, sums received from the oil companies
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were also spent on various promising projects. Finally,
slavery, the import and sale of slaves were to be abolished
and compensation to their owners would be paid.
In his plan, King Faisal promised the following: We
shall attain a standard of living that will remain a mere
dream in the countries of the world and shall achieve
social justice without depriving people of their freedom,
rights and property.
It should be pointed out that the young King was able,
in any case, to realize a large part of his magnificent plan.
Had he not suffered a dramatic death, he would have also
achieved many other beneficial things for his people.
The present King, the fifth of the Saudi family, King
Fahd, who has been ruling the country since 1982, is a
skilful politician and wise man. He is also prime minister
as well as Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces.
King Fahd had received secular and religious education.
Before ascending to the throne he had filled, over a few
decades, critical official posts in the various fields of human
activity, in which he exhibited an excellent mind, lofty
spiritual qualities, an iron will and strong nerves, whether
in the economic field, or internal and foreign politics. But
despite the close relations with the United States over many
decades, the King was strong enough to make a stand on
firm principles as regard the question of the settlement of
the Middle East dispute. For many years, and even before
he ascended to the throne and up to the present, King Fahd
has been contributing most actively to the question of the
just settlement of this chromic problem, not to mention
the moral support and perpetual generosity in providing