Peaceful demonstrations earn Jordan image - experts

By Omar Obeidat

AMMAN –– Analysts agreed that ongoing demonstrations in the Kingdom calling for political, social and economic reforms can be beneficial to the country in the short and long term as long as they maintain their peaceful nature.

Stating that over 100 demonstrations and sit-ins have swept the country in past few months, Zayyan Zawaneh described the way Jordanians expressed their demands and the way authorities reacted as civilized.

“Demonstrations are associated with positive and negative aspects and luckily what has been happening in Jordan is different from the situation in other neighboring and regional countries,” he said, adding that it is the responsibility of officials to highlight to investors that recent events in Jordan cannot be compared to what happened elsewhere in the region.

“No single activist was detained, no window was broken and no stones were thrown,” Zawaneh, a former adviser at the Central Bank of Jordan, the Ministry of Finance and the International Monetary Fund, remarked, stressing these facts should be used as a positive indicator of stability and safety to attract more investments.

Political analyst Hani Hourani agreed with Zawaneh that the current atmosphere in Jordan is relatively better than other countries.

Demands calling for reforms and eliminating corruption boost Jordan’s gains and enhance the competitiveness of the investment environment in the long term, he told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Asked whether the demonstrations are a copycat of what happened in other regional states or if such events are an attempt to blackmail the government, Hourani rejected the resemblance, explaining that regional events encouraged people not only in Jordan but across the region to call for better political and economic conditions, stressing that regional turmoil left a positive impact on Jordan.

“There are some demands that are legitimate while there are others that cannot be met due to difficult economic and financial conditions facing the Kingdom,” the analyst elaborated.

Mayank Malik, chief executive officer of Citibank Jordan, commented that so far, what has been taking place in Jordan, the peaceful and non-hostile demonstrations, “is a good thing when compared with neighbors”.

“Jordan can benefit from the unrest in the region if it can maintain stability and safety in terms of investment and in placing itself as a gateway for business,” Malik said, noting “what’s going on in the country is freedom of expression in a modern and peaceful manner”.

He pointed out to the letter His Majesty King Abdullah sent to Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit, urging speedy reforms and elimination of corruption, which he said has affected the Kingdom.

“I’m optimistic that Jordan will not be dragged into the same tragic events that happened in other countries,” the country chief of the biggest international bank said, mentioning that early next month a group of leading US investors is coming to explore business opportunities in Iraq and that he also encourage them to invest in Jordan because of the stability factor.

Mohammad Abu Rumman, a political analyst and a columnist at Al Ghad daily newspaper, said the ongoing demonstrations cannot be described as positive nor negative, although he referred to the events as a civilized phenomenon.

The analyst voiced concerns that things may deteriorate if authorities do not take serious steps towards meeting the demands, adding that some of them are justified while some are not.

“People do not trust good intentions and promises anymore. They want action,” Abu Rumman said in remarks to The Jordan Times, agreeing that the current scene in Jordan is completely different from other Arab countries, giving credit to the “wise” approach of authorities.

Asked whether demonstrations were encouraged by regional conditions and whether these marches will come to an end soon, Zawaneh replied people stage demonstrations not because they are “fond of demonstrations” but because they want to see reforms and the government has to get the message by telling people, particularly the poor and unemployed, that it will work on making real reform and changes.

“If the government reaches common ground with Islamists, I would not expect to see marches in the streets,” he said, warning that if demonstrations continue, this will have a negative pressure on the country’s economy, growth and productivity.

“People have had demands for many years but they used to complain to each other and the government tended to ignore their woes, but now due to Arab revolutions things have changed,” Zawaneh remarked.

24 March 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=35793.