Arabic Press

Al-Rai's Issam Qadamani said that the administrative reform or the public sector reform is a necessity not only to remove all shortcomings and corruption, but also to identify the government priorities and its mechanism in a way that keeps pace with modernity.

There are several committees that almost finished preparing administrative reform visions with points including benefiting from technology, digital transformation and automation, which does not necessarily mean ending the age of paper transactions rather than using them in the minimum, said the writer.

Just like economic and political reforms, the administrative reform also has enemies who want to maintain the existing condition for certain benefits or out of fear of change, added the columnist.

The country does not only need a white revolution in the public sector, but also in all sectors, just like that Jordan witnessed in 2000 and changed the Kingdom into a beehive before that revolution faced a setback due to the global financial crisis and later the Arab spring, added the writer.

The administrative reform should entail a financial reform, especially that more than 80 per cent of current expenditure are salaries for the public sector, said the columnist. 

Addustour’s Muhannad Mubaideen referred to the lecture delivered by US Ambassador Henry Wooster at the University of Jordan through an invitation of the Centre for Strategic Studies.

During the lecture, Wooster presented his country's vision for the region and for the relationship with Jordan, a relationship that was characterised by President Trump's time with all forms of diplomatic apathy, Mubaideen said.

In his speech at the University of Jordan, Wooster said that the US alliance is with the deep state in Jordan,  the writer noted, describing Wooster’s words as “true”, which reflects the importance of the American view of Jordan as a necessity of its stability.

Wooster’s lecture is important, the columnist said, adding that  it may have annoyed some of those who attacked it and saw it as an interference in Jordan’s affairs. The writer concluded that universities were created for the purpose of dialogue, revealing intentions and ideas, educating students, and providing them with executive and decision-making expertise. 

Ad-Dustour's Daniela Quran said that one phrase can summarize the outcomes of the recent short visit of His Majesty King Abdullah and HRH Crown Prince Hussein to Ramallah, the political capital of the Palestinian National Authority, where His Majesty stressed that Jordan will always support Palestinians, saying: "We are closest to each other and we are in the same boat".

The visit was paid in conjunction with accelerating political developments, including several meetings in Sharm Al Sheikh, Aqaba and Naqab, the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and its impact on the international food security, indications to sign a new deal with Iran, and the Houthi escalations in the war against Saudi Arabia, said the writer.

Jordan sensed lukewarm stances of US efforts seeking the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, where the Israeli media took advantage of Washington's shifting of attention to the crisis with Russia and accelerating normalization ties Arab countries, added the columnist.

The timing of the visit aimed at delivering a message that Jordan will always have successful relations with Palestine and that the Kingdom will always look at the Palestinian issue as a permanent priority over other regional causes.

Ad-Dustour’s Hamadah Faraneh said that Jordan, thanks to its wise diplomacy and policy, managed to throw the ball to Israel’s field through refusing the occupation’s government invitation to attend a six-sided ministerial meeting on Monday in Naqab, and at the same time accepting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass’s invitation to visit Palestine.

His Majesty King Abdullah, HRH Crown Prince Hussein, the prime minister, foreign minister and director of the General Intelligence Directorate visited Ramallah on the same day, where the visit sent a Jordanian message and achieved its goal that is completely biased to Palestinians in the face of extremist policies of the Israeli government, said the writer.

Jordan benefited from two additional factors that provided extra momentum to achieve its demands, the first is being the US attention, which prioritized the Ukrainian crisis, especially that Washington pressures the Israeli government to ensure calmness prior to Ramadan, added the columnist.

The second is the qualitative operations against Israelis in Naqab and Khdira that raised Israel’s worries and made them look for help, which made the Israeli president and defence minister to visit Jordan. 

The Israeli defence minister listened clearly to the Jordanian stance that was delivered to him personally by His Majesty who reiterated that maintaining calm requires respecting the rights of Muslims to worship at Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, removing any impediments that prevent them from praying there, and stopping provocations that could lead to escalation,” added the writer.

Al-Rai's Mohammed Rasai said that education might be the biggest sector that witnessed clear changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which made educational systems prepare new plans and policies to respond to these changes.

The response plans focus on three aspects: training, school curricula, and physical infrastructure, to ensure having a comprehensive response that enables the educational system to keep pace with the developments and benefit from additional advantages resulting from utilising ICT in the sector, said the writer.

The response of several educational systems was limited to the physical infrastructure through providing devices and equipment, while others provided training for the teaching staff, added the columnist.

All institutions of school and university education focus their efforts to keep pace with the developments through updating their curricula, said the writer, adding that it is not acceptable for these curricula not to keep pace with the new discovery and update years ago.

In light of the digitalization process that reached all aspects of life, it is a must to make huge changes in the university plans and school curricula at all stages, to ensure that students can be effective in running their lives, added the columnist.

Ad-Dustour's Hashem Majali said that businesspeople and investors were fought in several countries for the sake of alleged groups that do not match their status as people with money who can implement investment and development projects with better characteristics.

Yet, that influential class controlled all investment and beneficiary points, which eventually led to the refrain of foreign investment from entering those countries, especially those investors who had modern technologies in various environmental, agricultural, industrial and logistics sectors, among others, said the writer.

Such facts led to an economic setback for that country that had to import more than it exports, and led the country to collapse and contributed to domestic individual and collective chaos due to the economic recession, said the columnist.

The entire universe with all its elements is a comprehensive system based on justice, especially that there is a Creator and creatures, where people reap what they sow, said the writer, adding that the learnt lesson should be to fortify societies with completely realistic thoughts away from the global capitalism and international blocs. 

Al Rai’s Issam Qadamani said that major powers have always been and still are the main cause of regional wars that resulted in big waves of refugees from conflict zones, in which case Jordan was the biggest affected.

The Ukrainian crisis and refugee influxes there showed dual criteria, where billions of dollars flock to Ukraine and borders and houses are open for Ukrainian refugees in the West, while refugee influxes from Arab countries were blocked and Arab refugees found themselves food for the fish after drowning in the sea, said the writer.

Major Powers blocked money to refugee host countries in the Middle East, while they offered limitless amounts to help Ukrainian refugees in Europe, said the columnist, adding that these dual criteria have racist backgrounds. The Planning Ministry, as usual, has recently prepared the 2020-2022 Jordanian Response Plan for the Syrian crisis with a total volume of some $6.6 billion, which is supposed to be financed by the international community, said the writer, adding that the international community today is not concerned with funding this plan because it has another issue, which is the Ukrainian crisis. Jordan has always refused the blackmail method that other host countries adopted to make the international community respond to the needs of Syrian refugees, and instead, the Kingdom was generous towards refugees and decided to bear the biggest share of costs of hosting refugees.

Addustour’s Mohammad Salameh referred to Ukraine’s rejection of Russia’s conditions to stop the war, highlighting that it’s fighting alone against the most powerful arsenal on earth.

The second statement issued by the Russian Ministry of Defence, coinciding with the beginning of the second month of the bloody war, revealed the Russian strategy to deal with the war and the world, he said.

It is clear that the worst for Ukraine is yet to come, the writer noted. The Russian statement clarified that there was no decision to storm major cities at the beginning, in order to give Kyiv the opportunity to accept the conditions of the Russian “tsar” represented in recognising the Crimea as Russian and acknowledging the independence of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics as well as their neutrality and disarmament.

Mariupol has been destroyed and will soon be stormed as it belongs to the Donbass region, not Ukraine, according to the Russian strategy, the writer noted.

Russia Decided to put all of Ukraine under its control by isolating and besieging major cities, concentrating operations on the administrative borders of the Donbas region, and launching negotiations under Russian conditions.

President Zelensky is awaiting the worst, the writer commented, adding that Ukrainian hopes as well as Western promises will not get Ukraine out of the predicament in which it has fallen into.

Ad-Dustour’s Nassim Oneizat said that Jordanian markets are witnessing a new wave of unprecedented hikes that affected everything: foodstuff, fruits, vegetables and even construction materials.

These hikes are justified with pretexts that all are aware they cannot cause prices to reach such levels in light of the difficult economic and living conditions, said the writer.

Some people link these hikes with the Russian-Ukrainian war whose impacts have not yet affected markets, especially that merchants have stocks, except for oil, which the government incurred the cost of its process, added the columnist, wondering about the impact and level of greed by some traders.

If the public approved hikes on imported items, then what would the justification be for the prices of local fruits and vegetables in light of exchanging accusation between farmers and traders, where each side is blaming the other, until the government intervened and pledge to compensate farmers after the frost wave that recently affected their produce, said the writer.

Some believe that the greed of merchants and their plans to use circumstances is the main cause for such hikes, especially that the same scenario repeats itself with Ramadan is approaching, but this time hikes are greater. 

Al-Rai’s Issam Qadamani said that the phrase “crisis of confidence” is attached to all governments upon their formation for several reasons and implies a pre-judgment that a newly formed government will not do anything and will not succeed.

The current prime minister, Bisher Al Khasawneh, is not new to politics, economics and administration, especially that he assumed several posts in public service, including jobs close to His Majesty King Abdullah, and held several diplomatic posts before he was chosen to head the government to bear the responsibilities of the current phase, said the writer.

Khasawneh’s government won the confidence in the parliament and has been in office for almost 18 months and will continue as long as His Majesty and the Parliament still have confidence in this government, added the columnist.

Making the government to resign has become in the hands of social media that affect the public opinion and the plans of some lawmakers who are interested in becoming social media stars, added the writer.

King Abdullah tasked the government, and not any other side, with preparing economic plans, reaching solutions and taking decisions, so it is the government’s responsibility to do so and no other side has the right to assume such responsibilities in behalf of the government.