King

News of King Fahd's death reached me a few days ago, and I realized, Gee...I lived there for years but I don't know much about the guy, nor about Saudi politics.

Here's what little I knew (up until yesterday) about the royal family: the prince and princesses number thousands, and each prince and princess has a mansion that rivals the size of Ateneo. (So much space in that desert, mind you.) The King didn't speak English, was a devout Muslim, and had 4 wives at any given time.

There is no such thing as democracy in the Kingdom. Talk about control freaks: there can only be one religion and if you're caught with anything that has to do with any religion other than Islam, you'll be thrown in jail and/or subjected to flogging. No alchol, no pork, and virtually no women's rights. Freedom of the press? The good writers are in exile in London. See? They're even more freakish than Singapore.

Thanks to Google, I found out more:

1. Despite the fact that alcohol is banned from the Kingdom, the King had a history of alchohol abuse.

2. Despite the fact that gambling is banned from the Kingdom, the King was a high roller in Monte Carlo.

3. The ruling family's power is legitimized only by an even more powerful (and conservative) religious sect, the Wahhabi, which they have to please. To give you an idea of how conservative (backward?) they are, they called the telephone "devil in a box" and moved heaven and earth to ban the technology from the kingdom. (This was in the 70s). The King's argument was that the telephone could be of use to Islam as well. Incidentally, Wahabbi=Al-Qaeda.

4. There's another religious sect that's more progressive and promotes "peaceful coexistence with nonbelievers" (Non-believers=non-Muslims) that both King Fahd and the crown prince secretly support, the Taqarub.

5. The Royal family itself is factioned. Read: conservatives vs. liberals.

6. Saudi is a poor country, actually. Despite being a top oil producer, its debt is unmanageable. And if you're the top oil producer with the US as your biggest consumer...well...Porter's five forces will show us why.

7. King Fahd was America's boy.

But one good thing I can say about the king: He was no sellout, he had the kingdom's interests always in check. GMA can learn a thing or two from him.