Letter to the Editor – The death of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

In 1976, King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the brother of Prince Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Saud, died from an assassin's bullet during a publicly-held audience with ordinary Saudis as is the custom of the kingdom to receive everybody. King Faisal's death shocked the entire nation and Prince Fahd succeeded to the throne. The former "playboy prince" was also highly endeared by his own people and quite popular.

King Fahd was a progressive king and a dynamic one. He has managed his kingdom by developing the country of then over six million people. Home to a third of the world's oil reserve, he made good use of the petrol reserves of the kingdom through projects that made the kingdom achieve progress without compare.

During the time that I was a consultant to the Defense Ministry on training matters, I found out that, while there was no official welfare program in the kingdom, every Saudi was doled out money from housing to education and more. I handled that part relating to educational opportunities the world over where the kingdom had students. Any Saudi sent to the US or anywhere else in the world was given a 100 percent education subsidy. These included tuition for the Saudi, allowance for the student's wife, children, books, hospital bills, transportation allowances, airplane tickets for the entire family, etc.

King Fahd was a close ally of the United States. In the first Gulf War against Iraq, he permitted US warplanes to base in Saudi Arabia for the duration of the conflict. Upon the defeat of Saddam Hussein, the US left its military bases except for a detachment to defend Saudi Arabia in case of attacks from the outside. Then came the invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein. This invasion threatened the security of Saudi Arabia and so the US came back to the kingdom and established their bases inland and in the Red Sea where the cruise missiles were based in American warships. Saddam Hussein was defeated and captured.

However, in Saudi Arabia, a "nationalistic" movement was born and cadres of "insurgents" began to sprout. Once the safest country on earth, I refused to believe when the Petromin area in Riyadh was bombed because that was the home of SANG, the Saudi Arabian National Guard, commanded by no less than then Crown Prince Abdullah, now king. It was the place where we gathered every Sunday to hear mass celebrated by an Italian missionary priest who said the mass in English. Then came more armed trouble and the involvement of Bin Laden's "Al Qaeda."

In 1995, King Fahd suffered a stroke that left him incapable of ruling the country. He reigned until his death but never ruled. It was Crown Prince Abdullah who handled the daily business of the kingdom. Like his brother, he's a progressive and has brought the kingdom to the 21st century. Any person who has been to the US can easily tell the "carbon copies" of American designs that are literally duplicated in the kingdom today. Look at their freeways, flyovers, malls, apartment complexes, universities, and management style. They are duplicates of US-earned education.

According to Article 5 of the Basic Law of the Saudi Kingdom, Prince Abdullah is now the new king of Saudi Arabia, and Defense Minister Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, my boss, is now the new Crown Prince of the kingdom. Any negatives on the new set of rulers? As far as I'm concerned, none. In fact, each prince knows where he stands. Both King and Crown Prince are respected allies of the United States and Great Britain. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest, if not the largest investor in the US market. Its bureaucrats and technocrats are mostly educated in the American universities; I personally know this because I was responsible at the time to process students from the Ministry of Defense.

What are the prospects of the kingdom with its new rulers? Petrol will continue to dominate its product and they'll use it to their own benefit including close ties to the West, especially the US. Terrorism will continue to be a problem. After all, Bin Laden is from Saudi Arabia. We would surmise that the late King Fahd would be buried in a golden coffin and a marble grave but we're mistaken. According to the Wahabi Sect's custom, he'll be buried without a coffin and his body will just be wrapped in white linen.

There are no tombstones over his grave but probably three pieces of rocks to mark his grave nameless.

Dr. Jose Lucero Bonpua Jr.
President, CEO
The Museum of Sacred Art, Inc.
888 Calle San Jose
Oslob, Cebu 6025