US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT339

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 000339 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/REA, NEA/PI, H 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KWMN, ECON, KU 
SUBJECT: (C) FOREIGN MINISTER TELLS STAFFDEL ABRAMOWITZ 
 
REFORM MUST BE GRADUAL 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Frank C. Urbancic, reason 1.4(d) 
 
1.(C) A visiting staff delegation from the House 
International Relations Committee (HIRC), led by Democratic 
Chief Counsel David Abramowitz, met Foreign Minister Sheikh 
Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah January 10 to discuss 
political, economic, and educational reform efforts in 
Kuwait. Dr. Mohammed relayed warm greetings to "friends" HIRC 
Chairman Henry Hyde and HIRC Ranking Member Tom Lantos on 
behalf of the Kuwaiti people. He assured the delegation that 
the GOK remains committed to reform but stressed that reform 
must be gradual in order to build consensus and win 
parliamentary support. 
 
(C) Women's Suffrage 
-------------------- 
 
2.(C) Dr. Mohammed outlined a three-pronged GOK strategy to 
build domestic support, particularly within the National 
Assembly, for women's political rights. (Note: An Amiri 
decree granting women full political rights in 1999 was 
defeated in the National Assembly by just two votes. End 
Note). "We didn't do our homework" at that time, the FM 
admitted. This time, he said, the GOK is being more thorough 
to make reform "more palatable" to the National Assembly. 
 
(a) The GOK is working to amend the Municipality Law to allow 
women the right to vote and run for office at the municipal 
council level. By starting at the municipal level rather than 
a direct push for women's suffrage at the national level, the 
GOK hopes to "neutralize" parliamentary opposition to the 
idea from Islamist members, who occupy 15 out of 50 seats in 
the current National Assembly. (Note: Many Islamist members 
hold that Islam prohibits women from wielding political 
power; municipal affairs are viewed as local issues, however, 
so inclusion of women in governance at the municipal level 
would raise their profiles without rising to a level the 
Islamists might oppose. End Note). 
 
(b) The GOK has asked the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic 
Affairs regarding Islamic jurisprudence on women's suffrage. 
The GOK is confident, Dr. Mohammed said, that the Ministry's 
answer will be that Islamic law is inconclusive on the issue, 
and that it is therefore up to "the leadership" of the 
country to decide. 
 
(c) Meanwhile, the GOK has already decided to appoint and 
assign female Kuwaiti diplomats overseas to enhance the 
public position of women. (Note: Kuwait has only one female 
Ambassador at present. Out of 10 new senior GOK political 
appointments in 2003, none were women. End Note). Dr. 
Mohammed said the GOK is confident that this gradual, 
consensus-building approach to women's suffrage will 
encourage broader public support for the cause. He said it is 
"ironic" that Kuwaiti women continue to lack political rights 
yet play a pivotal role in business, civil society, and other 
areas. He did not specify, however, if or when the GOK plans 
to re-introduce a women's suffrage bill to the National 
Assembly. (Note: Women's rights activists remain skeptical of 
the GOK's intentions and depth of commitment to the women's 
suffrage issue. An outspoken activist who met with the 
delegation later in the day discounted the GOK's strategy as 
insincere. On the face of it, however, it appears to be a 
compromise way forward. End Note). 
 
(C) Privatization 
----------------- 
 
3.(C) On the economic front, Dr. Mohammed stressed that 
privatization of state-owned industries, including petroleum, 
is a key GOK long-term goal. However, he explained that many 
GOK officials, parliamentarians, and others remain skeptical 
of the benefits of privatization. The GOK will engage the 
National Assembly and others, he added, in broader dialogue 
on privatization in order to minimize fears of unemployment 
and other adverse effects on Kuwaiti society. The GOK is 
considering development of new laws, consistent with efforts 
towards privatization, against monopolies and excessive 
concentration of wealth, such as a progressive corporate tax 
structure and other safeguards to ensure that privatization 
benefits outweigh short-term losses. 
 
(C) GCC Summit Developments 
--------------------------- 
 
4.(C) Dr. Mohammed told the delegation that the GOK is 
serious about substantive educational curriculum reform and 
pointed out that an astonishing 50% of the leaders' 
discussion at the December GCC Summit focused on this 
sensitive issue. He did not, however, offer details on GOK 
efforts to date to reform Kuwait's educational curricula. 
Regarding the Summit, he outlined key developments including 
the approval of the Arab Anti-Terror Agreement, and progress 
in discussions on a common currency and trade area, rail 
links, and labor liberalization: GCC Customs Union was 
established in 2003; the GCC is on track to become a free 
trade area in 2007, and plans to introduce a common currency 
by 2010. 
 
(C) Saudi Reform 
---------------- 
 
5.(C) The delegation asked Dr. Mohammed for Kuwait's view on 
political reform efforts in Saudi Arabia. Dr. Mohammed said 
that the key to reform in Saudi Arabia is not to reduce or 
eliminate religious teaching and information but rather to 
ensure that the content of such teaching advocates progress, 
tolerance, freedom, and openness. He argued that Islam has 
been "hijacked by terrorists" and taken "out of context" to 
justify extremist views. He supports Saudi Crown Prince 
Abdullah's national dialogue efforts to "galvanize" the 
Kingdom's "silent majority" within the Islamist movement to 
"reclaim" the true religion. He cautioned, however, that 
reform in Saudi Arabia will be very slow and gradual because 
of the Kingdom's unique position as the custodian of Islam's 
two holiest sites, and because the Saudi people are much more 
conservative than the regime. 
 
6.(U) Staffdel Abramowitz did not clear this message. 
URBANCIC