Revolution from the Throne

By Saudi Arabia's Islamic calendar, this year is 1386, and visitors to the-desert kingdom often feel that is about where Saudi Arabia stands on the Western calendar. Justice still decrees an eye for an eye. Marriages are arranged sight unseen. A few weeks ago the deputy rector of the Islamic University at Medina even came out in support of a 14th-century theory that the world is flat and mountains are only ballast to keep it from tipping over. But for all this, Saudi Arabia's old ideas and old ways are giving way to the 20th century. King Feisal ibn Abdul Aziz, 62, is not afraid to call it a revolution. "Revolutions," he says, "can come from a throne as well as from a conspirator's cellar."

Across the country, new hospitals, schools, housing projects and factories are sprouting up on the hot horizon. In the privacy of their homes, many Saudis no longer fear that drinking, dancing or a little poker will bring down the wrath of Allah--or the government. Out in the desert, the country's ever-wandering Bedouins, who comprise 80% of Saudi Arabia's 3,500,000 people, are swapping their camels for Land Rovers and pickup trucks, and--thanks to a government well-drilling program that guarantees them water--are abandoning their nomadic ways and settling into community life.

In the process, a true nation 'is emerging out of what once was four major tribal confederations and two or three urban centers. As its leader, Feisal himself was his own best proof of the change last week. In his flowing white robes and gold headband, he flew off to Spain for five days of trade and foreign-investment talks with Francisco Franco. From Madrid he goes on to Washington this week, where he will meet with President Johnson to discuss economic development and other problems of the Middle East. In the old days of Saudi extravagance, there would have been one plane for the King, another for his luggage and 100 to 150 traveling companions. This time there were only one black, green and white Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 720B and a mere nine assistants.

Riches to Work. Unlike his profligate half-brother--ex-King Saud, whom he nudged aside in 1964 after Saud had all but bankrupted the country--Feisal is an energetic, reform-minded ruler determined to put Saudi Arabia's oil riches to work for the people. No sooner was he in power than he ordered free education and medical service for all Saudis, stepped up oil production and trimmed the country's budget. Today Saud's lavish, pink-walled Nasiriyah Palace in Riyadh--with an air-conditioning system said to be second in size only to the Pentagon's--lies deserted.

Feisal lives instead in a smaller economy model. Saud's beloved fleet of Cadillacs has given way to a pair of Chrysler New Yorkers, and with a deftly democratic touch, Feisal always sits up front next to the driver. To get just as close to the people, Feisal holds a daily majlis (assembly) and invites everyone--from the richest merchant to the scruffiest Bedouin--to come and get his gripes off his chest. "We believe," says Feisal, "that we represent democracy in its highest form, though its structure may be alien to Western ways."

And to Saudi ways, as well. Feisal puts in a 20-hour day, personally studies every new government project, and deals harshly with loafers. For several days a few weeks ago, Information Minister Jamil Hujaylan stood pointedly at the door of his ministry building, clocking employees in and out. Even tougher is Feisal's able younger brother Prince Sultan, his 41-year-old Defense Minister, who recently demanded that Feisal fire fully 75% of the ministry workers for tardiness after the long hajj (pilgrimage) holiday this spring. As for anyone found taking a bribe, Sultan says he will personally demand the culprit's execution.

A Shot of Lemon Squash. Even more far-reaching--though more subtle--is the social revolution overtaking Saudi Arabia. Many Saudi women now sport lipstick, eye shadow and slacks under their shapeless black shrouds and dark veils. Their daughters are going to school for the first time. Any student --male or female--who can win admission to a foreign university receives full expenses and a generous living allowance. Of his own eight sons, Feisal has sent the youngest seven abroad for schooling, including his bright, second oldest son Prince Mohamed bin Feisal, 29, the country's first royal prince ever to graduate from a university anywhere.

In a crash road-building program, Feisal plans 6,000 miles of new roads by 1970. He is also rebuilding the Hejaz Railway--in ruins ever since Lawrence of Arabia blew it apart during World War I--from Medina through Jordan to Syria. In Jeddah, he is putting up a $14 million water-desalting plant that will daily convert Red Sea water into 5,000,000 gallons of potable water and produce 45,000 kw. of power.

A few years ago under Saud, radios were barely tolerated. Today almost every family has one, and last year Feisal even introduced television--though a heavily edited version in which Dodge City cowpokes swagger up to the bar and demand "a shot of lemon squash." Even the land's harsh justice is being relaxed--in a quiet Saudi way. Rather than being beheaded, murderers are simply shot nowadays. Thieves still may lose a hand; but it is first pumped with painkillers, the wrist is wrenched from the socket to avoid any broken bones, and the hand is amputated with sterilized instruments rather than with one grisly swipe of an ax.

A Nightly Raking. How far Feisal can go with his revolution will depend to some extent on the course that Gamal Abdel Nasser takes in the Middle East. For months the conflict in Yemen has kept Egypt and Saudi Arabia at loggerheads, and Cairo constantly mumbles threats of war. As a result, Feisal estimates that he must spend more than $1.5 billion for defense over the next five years. Money is no problem. This year Feisal expects to pump almost 1 billion bbl. of oil, worth $750 million to the government, which would put his country ahead of Kuwait as the world's biggest producer.

To help avert a war--or be ready when it comes--Feisal wants to call an Islamic summit conference in Mecca, and has won support from Iran, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and the Persian Gulf sheikdoms. "We are seeking only cooperation and solidarity," says Feisal. "All states are invited to heed the call, and President Nasser as a leader is, of course, invited."

Nasser and his Arab socialist allies, however, view his campaign as an anti-Nasser, anti-left alliance. Almost nightly, Cairo radio rakes Feisal as "the bearded bigot" and the "Pope of Islam." "We hear someone who says he is pursuing the way of unity," Nasser sneered of Feisal in a speech last week in Da-manhur. "But we find he is in effect unifying reactionary forces." Feisal replies calmly to such attacks. "My task," he once said, "is with my people and my country, not with others."

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