In 1933, English novelist James Hilton
published his classic story titled “The Lost Horizon”. It talks about a few
Europeans fleeing from South Asia on a plane who went missing in the Tibet. It
turned out that their plane had crashed in Shangri-La, a fictional utopian
lamasery, where they can live happily ever after. Those who later insist on
leaving that paradise are immediately doomed to old age.
اضافة اعلان
The novel caught the fancy of Hollywood,
and legendary three-time Oscar winning director Frank Capra turned it into a
classic movie in 1937. Yet, a lower quality reproduction was made in 1973. As a
result, the word Shangri-La became a more commonly used term.
The Lost Horizon, or Shangri-La, is an
embodiment of Plato’s Utopia, St. Augustine’s “City of God”, and Farabi’s “The Virtuous
City” or Al-madeena Al-fadhila.
His Majesty King Abdullah’s all-embracing
reform campaign is aimed at creating a Shangri-La of Jordan. A similar but more
mundane term was used in the 1970s, during the major planning era, and after
the testing period of 1967-1972.
… the new horizon is attainable, and a new era of success and competitiveness is retrievable.
Prince Hassan coined the phrase
“Singaporization of Jordan” in the late 1980s, early 1990s. In those years,
Jordan believed in the theory of competitiveness rather than comparative
advantage. In other words, countries without natural resources can prosper if
they utilize their edge in human capital.
After a long period of consequential
unlucky events, Jordan is mounting a big-push reform that entails political,
economic, social and human resources restructuring.
The abstract nature of this move has a
unanimous appeal. Yet, the devil is in the details. The debates over the
constitutional amendments, already passed, caused feuds, showed language
barriers and conceptual rifts among the stakeholders.
The Lower House has already approved the new
Political Parties Law and will embark on grappling with the Elections Law. The
Royal Palace is hosting economic workshops where private and public sector
representatives are battling it out.
The social media are busy creating their
share of disruption and chaos. If one is an avid reader of those snappy remarks
published on media outlets, one may conclude that the Shangri-La we are trying
to create is frustrated by those who stand to benefit from it. I often wonder
whether this promised Eden is nothing but a far and unreachable horizon.
Yet, I see a bright side in all this hoopla
is raised by objectionists.
Some of them are content with the current
status-quo, and they are right in defending it. There are more dynamic persons
who through their loud voices of protest are trying to position themselves in
the midst of what is to come, a place of privilege. Yet another group complains
about the fact that they are marginalized, kept out of this reform process at a
time when they are revealing utmost loyalty to King and country.
These are natural responses which are
prompted by fear, uncertainty and aspiration for a better position in the new
world.
The public and private debates over the
facets of reform will lead to pessimistic outlook that deems the process to be
futile.
In my own book, the new horizon is
attainable, and a new era of success and competitiveness is retrievable.
The writer is an economist and has held
several ministerial posts, including former deputy prime minister and former chief of the Royal Court.
Read more Opinion and Analysis
