Qaboos: The man who made Oman what it is

When people write about leadership, names like Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and Sheikh Mohamed of Dubai come up, but rarely do they realise that an even more remarkable leader, right next door was delivering a political, social and economic miracle without too much fanfare. That leader was Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Tariq Al Said who passed away last week.

Qaboos took over in 1970 after he overthrew his father. He faced a multitude of internal political problems. Oman was divided into two separate states, Muscat and Oman. In 1970, Muscat had a landing strip instead of an airport, only six kilometres of tarmacked roads, no running water, limited power supply and almost no hospitals. There were two private schools in Muscat. Hospitals were almost non-existent and diseases of all kinds were rampant. Within 20 years Qaboos delivered schools, roads, water, clinics to the remotest villages in his vast country. Oman became a modern state.

The authority of the Sultan was recognised in Muscat, but challenged in the interior. His first challenge was to unite the country. He faced a Communist rebellion in the North, which was being promoted by the Communists in South Yemen. Oman was becoming a pawn in the Cold War raging throughout the world. To make matters worse, Oman had border disputes with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

His neighbours

The Sultan immediately called for help and was supported by the Shah of Iran, the British and the Jordanians to defeat the communists. Immediately after winning the war, he won the peace by bringing many of the rebel leaders into the government. He compromised on the borders and built genuine and long-lasting relationships with his neighbours. In 1979, his friend and benefactor, the Shah of Iran was overthrown, but he made peace with the Islamic Republic.

The politics of Qaboos were the politics of accepting change, compromise, and friendship to all. In later years, he refused to break relationship with Egypt when The Arab League did so following Sadat’s visit to Israel. He refused to take sides in the Iran- Iraq war of 1980-1988 and remained neutral in the Gulf Wars of 1991 and 2003. Oman became the Switzerland of the Arab World.

When Qaboos took over, he had very limited resources. Oman’s oil production was a mere 700,000 barrels per day. He had very few educated people, no doctors, teachers, engineers or skilled manpower. Qaboos reached out to the Omani diaspora and invited all people of Omani origin abroad to come back and build the country. Thousands of Africans of Omani origin went back.

Zanzibari refugees who were scattered after the 1964 revolution went back. Overnight Oman acquired a large number of educated manpower and skilled people, the majority were from Africa. These are the people who helped build the modern state of Oman. Kiswahili is spoken in almost every office in Oman. This capacity to think outside the box was one of the main reasons Qaboos became so successful.

African origin

The new country has serious social frictions. There was no such thing as an ‘Omani’. There were Arabs from Muscat and the interior of Oman, Baluchi Omanis originally from Baluchistan, Omanis of Indian origin and the Omanis of African origin all collectively known as Zanzibaris. They spoke different languages, dressed differently and had different cultures. Qaboos standardised Arabic as the official language. He made the white dishdasha (male dress), turban and kofia as the national dress. National ethos were reinforced in schools.

He recognised the need to forge a common identity as a prerequisite to building a nation. Today, Omanis may have ‘tribal differences’ but they all identify themselves as Omani. Qaboos promoted a culture of religious tolerance and the Shia-Sunni friction - so prevalent in many Gulf states - is unheard of in Oman. Oman was also one of the first to have churches.

In 2011, the Arab Spring led to riots in Oman. Interestingly, the protesters were demonstrating against government ministers while pledging loyalty to the Sultan. Qaboos immediately made changes to meet the people's wishes. He was one of the few rulers who showed genuine sensitivity to his people.

Qaboos was an absolute monarch but he saw the changing of the times and introduced gradual democracy. He allowed partial elections for the Majlis Al Shura or Consultative Council.

 Even his succession was a smooth transition where he gave the royal family the choice to select his successor or accept his preferred candidate in case they could not reach consensus in three days. The family council respected his wishes and chose his preferred candidate. The country owes a huge debt of gratitude to this leader.

Visionary leadership requires flexibility and tolerance, ability to think outside the box, commitment to work and a true love for your people. The people of Oman were lucky to have had such a great leader.

 

Mr Shahbal is Chairman of Gulf Group of Companies. [email protected]