We really deserve to celebrate Bahrain’s National Day and the anniversary of the Accession of His Majesty King Hamad to the throne.
Difficult days are behind us and a prosperous future awaits us.
We celebrate both our National Day, and the democratic path that we are following, launched within the framework of the reform project of His Majesty. This is done despite all the challenges, which are constantly evolving.
The House of Representatives is active in fulfilling its role in the field of legislation and monitoring the work of the government, and the municipal councils that play their role in providing services. And if there are observations or shortcomings in performance occasionally, this is a natural result that accompanies any process of modernisation and development.
We celebrate our national day while security is stable, and we all enjoy security, we sleep soundly, and we go around alone every day without fear of kidnappings, looting or systematic assault. We do not fear a booby-trapped explosion or the fall of a mortar shell as is the case in many troubled countries of the region.
We celebrate our national day, and the economy is growing, albeit at a slow rate, major infrastructure projects are proceeding ahead with confidence. Among these we can consider the recent launch of Alba’s sixth line, and we look forward to the soon-to-be launched expansion of Bahrain International Airport. There is also an upcoming refining station in Bapco, and the Bahrain LNG port, and other projects that will contribute to the diversification of our economy and strengthening the foundation of its prosperity.
We celebrate our national day and we are still revelling in the euphoria of the great achievement with the victory of our football team in the Gulf Cup for the first time in its history, achieving a great dream that Bahrain has awaited for almost 50 years. It must be noted here that the great national joy that prevailed in all of Bahrain, every city, village, freej and Da’us, reflected national unity in its best form.
We celebrate our national day, relishing our accomplishments and gains, and yet looking beyond the borders we see hungry Iranians filling their streets, demanding that they are provided a livelihood; that their hunger, and the hunger of their children is addressed, they ask why their economy collapsed and today their currency is not worth the value of the paper it is printed on. They are calling for their mullahs to stop wasting money on Hizbollah and the Syrian regime, and Iraqi sectarian parties and militias, they are crying out on behalf of their destitute Iranian people, demanding to claim their money’s worth.
We celebrate our national day and the Iraqis are filling their streets, revolting against their lives and living conditions, subjected to repression and even bullets from fleeing groups and militias with external sectarian agendas. They are the ones who face the excessive violence shown against them on the subject of these high issues, after that, their bitter lives are equal with death.
We celebrate our national day, and the Lebanese people are also in the streets desperate and frustrated with their political system based on religious and sectarian quotas, this has flooded the country with corruption, cronyism and rubbish, and transformed Lebanon from a country of wealth, culture, art and creativity to a country that has ordered its residents to reduce their livelihood.
Is there a reason to remember, in the midst of our celebrations of our National Day, the millions of Syrians who lost their lives, their homes and the future of their children? Or the Libyans? Or the Yemenis, on whom Houthis wreaked havoc in their country? And so many others.
We celebrate our national day and I see the morale of the Bahraini people with all its components is very high. Without a doubt, Bahrainis realised during the past few years that the rapid global transformations made it impossible to continue relying on the form of rentier economy that prevailed during the past decades depending on huge oil revenues.
Our leadership understands this. And that’s why His Majesty has asked the esteemed government to develop a national plan for a transition towards a digital economy, depending on what Bahrain already possesses – several qualified national cadres and an advanced infrastructure in the field of communications and information technology.
We celebrate our national day and still face great challenges. These are very real as we have challenges in terms of raising levels of growth, providing more jobs for our children, pumping more liquidity into the markets, attracting more investments, increasing the number of hospitals and health facilities, and moving forward with efforts to improve education, as well as providing more housing units to reduce the waiting lists.
We have challenges in terms of protecting the land and sea environment from pollution, making use of more renewable energy sources, developing our media discourse, revitalising the tourism sector, spreading culture, enhancing family stability, and further developing our legislation and laws.
These are all challenges that require us to get out of the circle of our comfort zones into a circle of more perseverance and action. When we overcome these challenges we will reach new challenges that will prepare us for the next stage of development and so it will carry on. This is normal in the process of human history.
They are all great challenges, but they are nothing compared to the size of our ambition, our determination, the strength of our perseverance and our passion to face the challenge and ultimately our ability to achieve our goals.
akram@fp7.com