Sultan Qaboos and Oman
DURING my week-long visit to Sultanate of Oman, I witnessed height of development, supremacy of constitution, enforcement of law and peace across the country in worth visiting cities from Sallala to Sur. Muscat is a dream land with Matrah and Quram beaches.
Sultan Qaboos University, Sultan Qaboos grand Mosque, Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex and high standard Al Sultani hospital, clean and properly well maintained cities surprise the tourists. Leave the car in any part of the country with belongings none even will notice it.
Crime rate in the entire country is almost zero because His Majesty Sultan Qaboos (late) has made Oman a welfare State.
H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said ruled the great Sultanate of Oman for nearly fifty years, making him the longest-serving leader in the Arab world at the time of his death.
During his rule, he transformed his country to a high-income economy with very good infrastructure aided with dedicated development programmes that changed and improved the quality of life of the Omanis beyond recognition.
Sultan’s policy of modernisation involved massive spending on education, health and welfare increasing life expectancy from 50 to 77 years.
In 1970, when Sultan Qaboos took over at the age of 29, Oman was dreadfully poor with almost no contemporary amenities.
There were no higher education institutions, hardly any formal healthcare facilities and just three public schools that had fewer than 1000 students. Besides, the whole country could boast only six kilometres of paved roads.
His vision transformed the country into a model of development with top quality education and healthcare facilities and an impressive network of roads that connects the deserts to the pristine coastline.
Despite having access to fewer resources than most of its neighbours, Oman’s development trajectory ranked it as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years.
It is a befitting testimony to Sultan Qaboos’ progressive foresight and dedication for his people that at time of his departure over 95 per cent of the adult population of Oman is now educated.
The Omani society has grown to value formal education as there is now increasing expectation of higher education as both a right and a status symbol.
As a result, there are always demands to establish more higher education institutions.
Although he was an absolute monarch, H M Sultan Qaboos introduced robust political structure that created a vibrant political climate in support of the citizenry.
He gave them a national constitution and a two-tier Parliament consisting of an appointed upper house and a lower house where representatives were elected.
Besides, the Sultan took an extraordinary interest in public affairs and remained connected with his people through frequent tours to meet with the public and respond to their needs and demands.
He also advocated gender equality and appointed many women to powerful positions while supporting their greater role in the nation-building and share in the employment.
H M Sultan Qaboos’ political leadership and acumen came to the fore during the Arab Spring when mass demonstrations hit several Arab countries including Oman.
He responded to the public protests with sympathy despite some violence by the public.
By year’s end, Oman’s ability to get top-level Iranian backing for the negotiations had smoothened the way for an interim agreement between Iran and America and its allies.
The 2015 nuclear agreement has been formally abandoned by both the United States and Iran, and an assertive new generation of autocrats is taking over the Arabian Peninsula, it is far from clear whether the Omani Sultan’s singular brand of cosmopolitan despotism can survive him.
For Qaboos, there was no contradiction in finding common ground with both the leaders of Israel and their sworn enemies in Iran or Palestine, just as there was no contradiction between his unusually absolutist monarchy and the modern, liberal and highly diverse society he governed.
While diplomats and rebel groups negotiated behind the scenes, Muscat was known for its internationally acclaimed opera house, which was inaugurated by Plácido Domingo and Franco Zeffirelli in the fall of 2011 at a time when the surrounding region was convulsed in protests. Oman had its Arab Spring, too, but it was carefully swept under the rug.
A Marxist rebellion roiled the south, threatening to tear the country apart. With much help from Britain and the Shah of Iran, the young Sultan handily suppressed the uprising.
Then, exploiting the country’s oil reserves, he set out on a program of rapid development centred around schools, roads, hospitals and a strong assertion of Omani identity.
Because of its earlier history as an Indian Ocean Empire, Oman has an unusually diverse population, including large numbers of Balochis, South Asians and Swahili-speaking East Africans, and Arabs.
Although it has a large Sunni population and a small Shiite minority, its predominant form of Islam is the much smaller, austere Ibadi sect, which tends to be politically quietist and tolerant of other faiths.
By turning this distinct, mixed heritage into an overriding national value, Qaboos was able to unite a divided population now about 4.6 million strong under his modernizing regime.
It helped that he also kept the country tightly in his grip, personally holding the portfolios of Defence Minister, Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Prime Minister and Commander of the Armed Forces, and swiftly quelling any hint of religious extremism.
By the 1980s, Oman’s “al-nahda,” or the renaissance as the country’s transformation is officially known was well underway, and Qaboos could apply his skills as unifier to foreign policy.
During Iran-Iraq war, Oman maintained ties with both sides, and Sultan hosted secret peace talks.
In the 2000s, Oman became particularly adept at bridging the Shiite Sunni divide, despite active membership in the Gulf Cooperation Council, alliance of Sunni monarchies that includes Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The new Sultan of Sultanate of Oman His Majesty Haitham bin Tarik is following the golden footsteps of great H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said (late) to make the homeland more glorified.
—The writer, based in Islamabad, is book ambassador, columnist and author of several books.
