Ammon News - By by Hani Hazaimeh/ The Jordan Times

AMMAN — Amid fears of a showdown between the government and Islamists that might see a crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood following their fall in Egypt, both the government and the Islamic opposition are playing down such a possibility, while analysts urge a serious and constructive dialogue between the two sides.

The Islamists in Jordan have been spearheading a campaign, including regular demonstrations, calling for “real” reforms, which officials and observers see as an attempt by the Islamists to eliminate any constitutional constraints to having a free hand in governing in case they join the election race, win a House majority and form a government.

One of the demands, for example, is a change in a constitutional article that gives the King the right to dissolve the Parliament.

That was when their Egyptian comrades were elected to power, including the presidency. According to political analyst Mohammad Abu Rumman, it is natural that the demands of any group, and the restrictions set by the government, alter with the changing tides of the political landscape. The Brotherhood raised their “ceiling” of demands when Islamists swept parliaments and governments, or at least gained more ground, from Morocco to Egypt, with some analysts saying that Jordanian Islamists would take more hard-line stands if the Brotherhood’s Syria branch came out victorious in the conflict raging there.

Gov’t: Brotherhood not the enemy

The government insists that it has no intention to crack down on the Islamists, refuting local media reports that it is about to change its “soft approach” in handling with the Muslim Brotherhood’s file.

“The government does not deal with the Islamists as an adversary. We have no plans whatsoever to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood or take any measures against it,” Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani said Tuesday, adding that the government policy towards the Islamists has been and will always be the same “based on understanding, transparency and openness”.

Momani, who is also holding the Ministry of Political Development and Parliamentary Affairs portfolio, said the government respects and supports the right to freedom of expression, stressing that reform is an ongoing process and has no connection to what is happening in the region.

Brotherhood stands firm on demands

For its part, the Brotherhood said nothing has changed in terms of its reform demands.

Secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Brotherhood, Hamzah Mansour, told The Jordan Times that the relationship with the government is deteriorating after the latter has failed to meet their demands, which, he said, mainly focus on amending parliamentary elections to be more representative of society based on the demographic structure of the constituencies and call for an elected government.

“Our relationship with the government is not a positive one. The government’s insistence on ignoring the popular demands for reform is damaging its image not only in our eyes but also in the eyes of its people. It is clear that the government has been watching regional developments unfold and takes them as an excuse to keep stalling,” Mansour said.

He insisted on separating between the calls for reform in the Kingdom and the developments taking place in Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, saying that the Jordanian case is different from those in other Arab countries.

“Reform is a popular demand and it is a national interest. It is not just serving the interest of a certain political party or a religious sect. We hope that decision makers would realise this fact and respond positively.

His remarks came one day after the Brotherhood’s shura council, the top authority in the group, issued a statement detailing its stands on the various local and regional issues and renewing its demands.

National interests before everything

Abu Rumman urged the government and the opposition to separate their stands from Arab Spring developments.

“Local political actors, the government and opposition, are waiting to see the endgame in Egypt and Syria and both are counting on winning. There is no winning or losing when it comes to the interests of the country. We will all lose if security and stability are undermined,” Abu Rumman said.

“Soon after the Islamists in Egypt made political progress and some gains, we saw how the opposition in the Kingdom started to raise the ceiling of their demands, while now they seem to be quiet, considering the ousting of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and the military gains forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad have been making in the battles against the opposition,” said the analyst, who is an expert in Islamic movements.

He said all political players should understand that the Arab Spring is not just a transitional phase that will end soon; rather, it is a new phase that will continue to evolve in the coming years.

“The decision makers will have to respond sooner or later to the popular demands and engage the public in the decision-making process through a democratic transition, which is the actual safety valve,” he added.

Citing His Majesty King Abdullah’s meetings with politicians, opinion leaders and public figures over Ramadan banquets, Al Ghad writer and columnist Fahd Kheitan said the Egyptian crisis was present in the Monarch’s discussions during the meetings.

“It was clear during the meetings and from the King’s remarks that he is against any exclusion of the Islamists from the political process based on his conviction that a peaceful and gradual political reform requires the participation of all political and social groups,” Kheitan said.

“The crisis the country has been going through for more than two years, especially between the Islamists and the state, is, in essence, unique as it is influenced by external rather than internal factors,” he added, stressing that the biggest responsibility falls on the shoulders of the Muslim Brotherhood which “has taken an extremist attitude since the ousting of Morsi”.