The King of BahrainUPDATE 3 JUNE: Saqer al-Khalifa has followed up his original post:
"You may have seen lately a number of Websites siting my invitation to give my regards to His Majesty the King of Bahrain as a gesture for my support to the government. Let me be clear, neither me, nor anyone in Bahrain is pro-government. What we are instead are pro-fairness, pro-equality, pro-justice, pro-truth, and pro-enforcement....
"My dear King is pro-fairness, pro-equality, pro-civil rights, pro-justice, and pro-rule of law, and this is why I love him and I support him and I love whoever loves and supports him. Long live King Hamad, supporter of universal rights!"
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Dr Saqer al-Khalifa is one of the most prominent supporters of the Bahraini regime on Twitter --- his latest messages include, "Good Morning Everyone! Peaceful Bahrain 1-0 Pestful Protesters. Let's keep it up, they're in their last breaths!." A professor of International Relations and triathlete, al-Khalifa also has a blog, "My Emotional Rationale Meets Here".
As a reward for his efforts, al-Khalifa was invited this week to an audience with the King:
It was one of those calls, that makes you think about what would have happened if you did not picked up the phone! Shaikh Fawaz, a person whom I greatly admire and respect, made a special request to include me with a group of Bahraini Journalists and Writers to be honored with a handshake with His Majesty the King. Thank You Shaikh Fawaz.
I never asked for this, all I wanted was to spell out my emotions on Twitter, Facebook, and blog. However, being a trained scientist, I was never able to speak anything but the truth. Actually, it was a very easy task. I didn’t have to lie, cheat, nor hide any of the utmost facts about the situation here in Bahrain. What happened then, was that I found that almost all Bahrain shared my views, understood my story, and supported my cause. My aim was for foreigners to hear me loud, but I also found domestic audience as well. I’ll take it.
His Majesty spoke from the bottom of his heart. Me and the rest who sat around, felt his tone deep into our hearts. We are all loyal Bahrainis, but we will never find anyone as loyal to Bahrain as His Majesty the King. Between his speech, there was a pause, he looked up at us all and said: “Each one of you, each one of you Bahrainis, I will carry him on top of my head” while moving his had and touching the top of his head with it. That was a very touching moment. He said it, and he meant each and every word of it.
He spoke very honestly about the situation in Bahrain, sourcing many events in the past, where we have held strong and went through it united. From gaining independence to proving our right over Hawar islands, we as Bahrainis held strong and won. His speech was full of facts, those facts of which we may have overlooked. He said Bahrainis worldwide are known for their kindness. Wherever you go, Bahrainis will be greeted and told that they have heard of our great character and welcoming style. The whole world was shocked to hear something like this happening in a country like our dear Bahrain. Where did this come from, certainly not from Bahrainis.
Bahrain has its issues, so does every other country around the world. When comparing our issues with the rest, you’ll find that we are nowhere near as serious as theirs. Our unemployment is at 3.6%, so what rights were taken and what for are the protests? How would a father allow his children spend the night not at home?
All of those questions make the father of us all, his Majesty the King, think day and night about what went wrong in Bahrain. However, why are leaders and journalists around the world, ignoring such issues and questions on Bahrain? How can a judge decide a verdict, without researching the facts on the case? We are now left to look for ourselves on answers to such questions. I know the answers, but do you?
Today, countries around the world decided that a good strategy into hiding their problems is by pointing towards cases of others. This is childish and irresponsible. Spain has an issue with the Basque, Ireland has issues, America has issue with the black and illegal immigrants whom they call aliens, Europe has issues with unemployment and incoming financial crisis, Iran has issues with 49% of population who are not Persians, India and Pakistan has unaccountable issues of their own, Qatar has issues with Beduin tribes, and even FIFA has issues as well. Which country or entity is free of obstacles it wishes to resolve? Why not each country focus on their own issues and try to resolve it on their own?
As his Majesty announced today, the way Bahrain deals with the case in hand is through dialogue, and not time-wasting running around in the streets breaking private and public property. Spend the time wisely on dialogue, or in the library, not through terrorizing innocent citizens, targeting Asian expats, closing schools, and running over policemen.
When it was my turn to shake his Majesty’s hands, Shaikh Fawaz came forward and said: “This is Saqer Al-Khalifa, a patriotic Bahraini who defends his nation online.” Wow, I almost flew!