“Long live the king: for the flag and the homeland”. This is the last part of the current Saudi national anthem, it is unlike the previous national anthems clearly shows that although the life of the king course is important, but it must be devoted to serve the flag and the nation, and to offer the best for the people, their stability, for the homeland and its prosperity, and for humanity and its protection.
One cannot deny the great efforts made by the kings of Saudi Arabia in recent decades, their positive effects are tangible on the ground; they talked the talk and walked the walk, and the king’s life became a devoted for science, and the property of the nation.
Nevertheless, it seems that bin Salman wants to return to the principles and values of previous songs, ”glory to the king” and the king alone, the king’s life comes before the homeland. Long live the king: Long live the homeland.
With his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, assuming power, the king unofficially relinquished power to his spoiled son who took advantage of this power and misused it. His ruling became an ordeal for citizens and turned the science, homeland, the people and their resources to his service, his ambitions, dreams and his teenage experience with which he wants to lead the country.
As he assumed power, the spoiled boy traveled the countries, showing off with his new vision for the future, the 2030 vision, and came out to everyone with the idea of ”NEOM” claiming that with it he would liberate the kingdom from the shackles of the past, and make dreams of a prosperous future come true.
The boy was honest! He actually sought to fight the past, but he fought against history, his origins and roots. He decided to build the city of the future base on wiping off an entire tribe, with its memories, their roots and bury them alive so he could build his dream city.
The king lived for knowledge, and bin Salman understood it that science must serve his ambitions, so he used technological advances to spy on citizens and pursue them and if someone was against his policies and refused to carry out his orders, he’d wipe him off. Al-Huwaitat is the best example of this, as he is waging severe campaigns of arrests and kidnappings, even against women. He constantly threatened them with genocide and to disappear all of them if he liked.
Among the various scientific fields that attracted bin Salman was the field of arms and military equipment. Bin Salman did not spare any of nation’s money to supply his security forces with the latest weapons which he used at home against protestors like Al-Huwaitat tribe who lost one of their sons “Abdulrahim Al-Huwaiti” last April.
The king lived for the homeland, bin Salman understood that homeland and its wealth must be used to ensure his welfare and entertainment. He claims that he is spending on his well-being with his own money, and where did he get this money from? Bin Salman’s financial corruption has been investigated and reports have been published about it, all of which confirm that he has all the powers to use the kingdom’s financial resources to spend billions on his “bogus” projects, which cost millions, provoking the feelings of working citizens whose lives became harder with his ruling.
Bin Salman gives himself the right to use the kingdom’s lands as if it was his own, so he orders the displacement of Al-Huwait tribe to build his city and who refuses to obey the orders will be punished.
The city is wonderful, as a plan, vision, and goals written on papers, but is it really worth fighting his people for? Where is the people’s interest in this vision? Where is his responsibility as a ruler towards guaranteeing security of his people and ensuring their stability? Does his responsibility dictate that his teenage dreams must become nightmares for the citizens?
