The
widespread rejection and disdain of the recent amendments to the
Cyber Security Law are clearly justified. The writings and advice of the stoics warn of the
consequences of curtailing freedoms, and history, that scholar that teaches the
wise, tells many a story that should guide those in charge of Jordan's destiny
now.
اضافة اعلان
Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate and
world-renowned development economist, described development as freedom. Hence,
his magnum opus, "Development as Freedom," where he argued that
freedom is both the principal objective of development and the main means of
development.
There must be freedom of the press
in all its forms
Among Sen's primary assertions is
that political freedom and transparency are highly interlinked. To ensure
transparency, which is the best
cure for corruption and rent-seeking, there
must be freedom of the press in all its forms.
But enough of theory, let us take
a look at history
But enough talk of theory and
philosophy; let us visit a true historical story from the great book, "Why
Nations Fail," by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson.
The moral of recounting these stories, if it is not apparent by now, is that one of the laziest exercises in governance, one that relieves the bureaucrat and harms the nation and its development, is to ban an activity instead of properly regulating it.
In 1445, in Mainz, Germany,
Johannes Gutenberg presented to the world his book press. Before him, books
were written by hand, which made the books costly and only accessible to the
clergy and the rich.
The cost of printing thus fell by
90 percent and learning became more accessible and possible. Within 15 years,
in 1460, a press was established in Strasbourg, France, followed immediately
thereafter by presses in Rome and Venice. In 1476, a press was set up in
London, and another was set up in
Oxford in 1478. Within three decades, presses
were spread all over Europe, and Europe began to read and develop.
Three judges to rule
On the other hand, in 1485, the
Ottoman Sultan, Bayazid II, banned Muslims under his rule from printing in
Arabic, and Sultan Selim I enforced the ban in 1515.
In 1727, almost three centuries
after the invention of the press, Sultan Ahmed III granted one man, Ibrahim
Muterferrika, permission to print.
However, three judges had to read
the printed books to ensure that there were no mistakes in them. A fourth judge
supervised the whole process. As expected, few books were printed under this
stifling control process. Only 17 books were printed under Ottoman rule during
1729-1743. Consequently, Ibrahim and his offspring gave up the press in 1797.
As for the countries under Ottoman
rule, the press was only introduced in 1798 in Egypt when Napoleon’s army left
it behind. And no wonder why Egypt came to lead the region in terms of cultural
and scientific products. Meanwhile, the whole region was three and a half
centuries behind the rest of the world.
The fax became obsolete
Another story is the ban on the
fax machine in a neighboring country until 1999, by which time the use of the
fax was becoming obsolete as email replaced it. Another country banned its
citizens from having passports until the 1960s so they would not be exposed to
how people are governed in the outside world.
The moral of recounting these
stories, if it is not apparent by now, is that one of the laziest exercises in
governance, one that relieves the bureaucrat and
harms the nation and its development, is to ban an activity instead of properly regulating it.
Among Sen's primary assertions is that political freedom and transparency are highly interlinked. To ensure transparency, which is the best cure for corruption and rent-seeking, there must be freedom of the press in all its forms.
The many implied threats of severe
punishments, exaggerated fines, vague descriptions of would-be crimes, and the
obvious intent of curtailment of freedoms do not belong to a state that claims
to seek modernity and development.
Let us focus elsewhere
Let us just do away with this
miserable draft and focus on implementing the
Economic Modernization Vision (EMV) and achieving its benchmarks (among the 100,000 jobs created this year or
was it a year from its launch, I wonder!).
Yusuf Mansur is CEO of the Envision Consulting Group and former minister of state for economic affairs.
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