His Majesty King
Abdullah and HRH Crown Prince Hussein are engaged in a constructive effort to
bring about a vital change to society by ensuring the youths’ strong engagement
in the political scene, which is critical to the future of our country and
cannot be overlooked or delayed.
اضافة اعلان
About one month after His Majesty met with the
presidents of public universities, and “urged youth to undertake their key role
in the political modernization process and participate in platform-based
political parties”, the Crown Prince took a practical step, meeting last Monday
with the very people that deal with day-to-day student activities on campuses:
the deans of students’ affairs at public universities.
The King talked to the policy makers, while Crown
Prince Hussein met with the doers, to make sure that they are all on the same
page and that every move they make will positively impact the entire process.
The King set the basic rule, stressing “the
important role of universities in the successful implementation of the outcomes
of the state’s modernization efforts, especially the political one”.
Crown Prince Hussein echoed the statement,
reaffirming “the need to encourage university students’ political and partisan
engagement, highlighting the role of deanships of students’ affairs in this
regard”. He described universities as “pillars of political modernization, as
they are the incubators of young people with various political leanings”.
The endeavor is a milestone in a process that
started with the King’s forming of the Royal Committee to Modernize the
Political System, whose members represent the diverse political, ideological
and social spectra. The panel recommended changes to the election and political
parties’ laws and relevant constitutional amendments. All were endorsed by
lawmakers. At Monday’s meeting, the Crown Prince was heeding the King’s call to
institutionalize the efforts targeting the youth to engage them more
effectively in politics and equip them with the tools needed to decide their
future through platform-based political action. He called, for example, for
introducing the issue in public universities curricula, to ensure that the new
generations are aware of every step of the process.
… the opportunity is here, and we need to embrace it and build on the Royal efforts to achieve a better future for all of us.
More of these Royal endeavors may be expected. The
question is what do we, the people, need to do to help?
Foremost, we need to believe that political reform
and the change of the collective mindset to embrace the envisaged democratic
model is not a luxury, but a necessity; even more necessary is to ensure that
youths are fully and effectively engaged because all of this is about them and
for them at the end of the day.
However, it is fair to admit that this is not an
easy task after the decades of absence of genuine partisan action and with
economic and other formidable challenges facing the country, including economic
crises, regional turmoil and waves of refugee influxes, which consumed Jordan’s
energy and affected its ability to plan and act in line with a long-term
strategy to enhance the political culture.
Still, the opportunity is here, and we need to
embrace it and build on the Royal efforts to achieve a better future for all of
us.
Let us remember what former UN secretary-general
Kofi Annan said once: “No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a
democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime.
Young people must be included from birth”.
Khalid Dalal is a former advisor at the Royal Hashemite Court, former director of
media and communication at the Office of His Majesty King Abdullah, and works
currently as a senior advisor for media, strategic communication, PR,
international cooperation, and business development locally, regionally, and
globally. [email protected]
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