Ammon News - By Hassan A. Barari

Spending the three-month summer holiday outside Jordan enables me to see what is going on in my country from afar. As a result, I would like to share two points.

First, there is a media campaign against the current government. Reading the daily online news without having inside knowledge of the country one may get the impression that it is on the brink of collapse. Recently, one of my acquaintances sent me a Facebook message asking my opinion regarding what is going on in Jordan.

No sooner had I begun this discussion with him when he abruptly came to the wrong conclusion: “Jordan is doomed!” I wondered whether that was wishful thinking on his part, but I found some articles of his written in right-wing Israeli newspapers in which he failed to exhibit love for our country.

His attack against Jordan, and in this particular forum, is nothing but appalling! This is a classic example of how the enemies of the country try to exploit what is happening to propagate their own wishful thinking.

This government is being severely criticised by some pundits and political parties. I believe much of what it has been criticised for would not have come to the surface had it not been perceived as cracking down on electronic websites. Worse still for the government is that its perspective on the issue is not heard at all, so one might think that the government does not care. Here I wish to clarify that while I defend the press and media freedom, I do not defend bad journalism.

Second, reading articles in the Jordanian press gives me the impression that everyone knows how to fix the situation. Rarely do I find someone who, for instance, calls for a study, or deeper investigation, on this or that issue. I am not faulting these people, because rightly or wrongly, they believe that they should be in the driving seat in the government and nobody else. Perhaps this is due to the lack of criteria for hiring and firing governments.

Why is it so difficult to find anyone willing to defend what the government is doing? Why do pundits who initially praised the government now turn against it?

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that nothing short of a political overhaul can fix the increasingly deteriorating situation.

If anything, we need to point our fingers at the weakest link: the mechanism of forming the governments. I do not blame this government or the ones before simply because no one knows for sure what this mechanism is.

What we need in Jordan is, first and foremost, a strong functioning parliament that can hold governments accountable. In addition, the next government should reflect the political balance of power within the new parliament. It is only when we can form a representative and responsive government that anti-government campaigns like the one going on will be something of the past.

hassbarari@gmail.com

* The Jordan Times