Government | Friday 19 June, 2015 5:04 am |

The Shoura Council’s decision not to discuss proposals to set up a national unity project has ignited a war of words on Twitter between supporters and opponents.

Hamdah Al-Enzi, a woman member of the Shoura, tweeted on her account that she supports the initiative. “The Shoura Council dropped the project. I hope the time will not come when those who opposed this will be very sorry.”

Nasser Daoud, her colleague on the council, tweeted back saying: “They dropped it as they did the project on tackling graft and corruption.”
Latifa Al-Shalaan, also a Shoura member, tweeted that there were those in the country making sectarian and racist comments under the guise of freedom of expression, but the state should “punish them.”
She said those opposed to the project are afraid that the current status quo would be undermined. “Thinking this way ignores the fact that our laws and regulations are in fact responses to current situations and realities.”
Shoura member, Saad Al-Bazie, tweeted: “When I heard the Shoura Council had dropped the project on national unity, I knew that dogmatism and extremism had appeared again.”
The opponents of the project also took to Twitter to express their views. Nasser Al-Shibani tweeted saying: “We have been united since the founding of this state by the late King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman. We do not need ink on a paper to assure us of our unity.”

The reactions on Twitter come in the wake of several Shoura members proposing the formation of a high-level committee to “promote understanding and coexistence between citizens and residents based on Islamic principles and values, seek equality and justice, and reject violence and abusive name-calling.”
The members proposed that the government punish those promoting hate speech with jail time of six months to five years and paying a fine of SR500,000. The fine should be increased to SR1 million if the violator is a legal entity.
Article 14 of the proposal states: “It is prohibited inside and outside the Kingdom to advocate or incite hatred or contempt, exclude any segment of society, or instigate action against people on the basis of ethnicity, tribe, race, color or beliefs.”

The proposal calls for a ban on any meeting or gathering set up solely to call for these actions and behavior. The members who submitted the proposal include Zuhair Al-Harthi, Nasser bin Daoud, Thoraya Obaid, Mohammad Redah Nasrallah, Abdullah Al-Fifi and Yahya Al-Samaan.
They argued that it was important for Saudi Arabia because of its current position in the Arab world to take actions that would protect the country for future generations.
“There are risks facing the county, threatening its security and stability through acts of sedition and sectarianism,” the proposal stated.
According to a report in a local publication, members of the public want to know why the council referred the proposal to its Islamic affairs committee, and not its human rights committee.