Saudi King Approves Billions In Handouts After Protests

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi King Abdullah announced on Friday billions of dollars in handouts for his people and boosted his security apparatus in a renewed effort to shield the world's top oil exporter from unrest rocking the Arab world.

In a rare televised address to the nation, the aging king made a brief statement congratulating Saudis for their loyalty and national unity before a battery of decrees were read out suggesting he was embracing increasingly conservative policies.

Amongst a wave of new spending, the decrees outlined a boost in welfare benefits, bonuses for public sector workers, including the army, and a massive drive to build new housing.
In addition, the king ordered the creation of 60,000 security jobs within the interior ministry, promised more money for the religious police and, in a sign Saudi's ruling Sunni elite will tolerate no dissent, said the media must respect clerics.

Saudi Arabia has mostly avoided the protests seen elsewhere in the region, but dissent has nonetheless built up and some demonstrations have taken place -- especially in the east where many Shi'ite Muslims live.

Riyadh sent 1,000 troops to neighboring Bahrain this week to help contain pro-democracy protests led by majority Shi'ites that the Sunni monarchy on the island broke up by force.
King Abdullah last month announced an economic package worth an estimated $37 billion in an initial move to ease social tensions. Friday's measures are significantly more costly, with plans for a building spree set to cost $66.7 billion alone.

With more than $400 billion in foreign reserves, Saudi Arabia is in a more comfortable position than many neighbors to alleviate social pressures such as high youth unemployment.

But it was not clear if financial measures and boosting the security apparatus will silence critics within the kingdom.

Reformers have been hoping for a move toward democracy such as new elections to municipal councils, or even elections to the Shura Council -- an advisory body of appointees.

The kingdom has been slow to carry out reform promises in the conservative state since Abdullah came to power in 2005. Diplomats say the king faces opposition to political openings from some senior princes and clerics.

(Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[amd098]

09:15 AM on 03/26/2011

Hello from Saudi Arabia! The handouts will give the citizens a happy paycheck so they turn a blind eye. But 80% of the work force is foreign and will not see this money. The citizens are already rich, and this money is not going to help the poor, as they are left to beg or turn to crime.

Yes, drugs, alcohol, prostitution is common here. Crime?, as Sarah Palin would say, "You betcha". Women vanish and are never heard from again, as do children. Foreign maids are raped, and murdered, the justice system says rules their deaths as 'suicide'.

But the rich here will get richer as they do not concern themselves with the issues of 'subhumans' such as foreign workers. All while the Saudi press riles people up against foreign workers. So we see day to day harassment, though it's much worse for someone from a third world country than for an American such as myself.

This handout is just a bribe to the rich, they won't stand up anyway. Sad to say it, but they are lazy. They won't be motivated or do anything to change their country, women are barred from the elections in April (but municipal elections, not national).

No changes to how the foreign workers are paid, some go for months without pay. If they complain, they are deported or beaten. Slavery exists in the form of the kafeel system here, a person can buy as many foreign slaves as he can import.

[spark340]

06:52 AM on 03/21/2011

A couple of weeks ago before a few hundred or thousand innocent freedom fighters were killed by Gaddafi , Obama warned Gaddafi that he must step down . Of course he didn't take the Vacillator-in-Chief seriously . I mean a UN coalition headed by France is so intimidating ! Ha Ha Ha ! Now every dictator on the planet knows he attack his own people , the American people or any other group of free people with impunity because there is nothing to fear from the paper tiger .

When Obama said that Gaddafi must step down he really meant go ahead kill a few thousand more , make belligerent statements and take a break at one of your out of town palaces .

[brainfire]

01:30 AM on 03/21/2011

Caged birds all over the world long to be free...Do you walk along side those you wish to change or do you shout from afar? Which is most effective? Is bloodshed the only way to foster change?
2011 Blue Planet you will see...

[LouiseM]

12:17 AM on 03/21/2011

Our government supports this House of Monsters 100%.

The US seems to almost be a force for evil in the world sometimes. It is sickening.

[Cougar31]

11:07 PM on 03/20/2011

And we give Likud $10 billion per year..

[The Rahnameh]

08:46 PM on 03/20/2011

Propaganda. I doubt the masses are so easily lulled. They have been handing out billions to our politicians for years!

[Amryxx]

04:57 PM on 03/20/2011

Breads and circuses.

[brainfire]

04:22 PM on 03/20/2011

Smart move.

[Billy Jack]

03:57 PM on 03/20/2011

I wonder if the Saudi people will be so easily bought off

[marignymitch]

03:07 PM on 03/20/2011

I prefer this strategy over the American strategy, which is soak the poor.

[brainfire]

04:23 PM on 03/20/2011

bravo

[barbra1971]

01:37 PM on 03/20/2011

"the king ordered the creation of 60,000 security jobs within the interior ministry, promised more money for the religious police.."

Spy on each other, what a reform! (reformatorS will feel safer) Religion, communist regime... no difference. (Stasi East Germany, KGB Soviet Union ...

------
The people of the former Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), the German Democratic Republic, as the state had called itself for forty years, were clamoring for instant revenge. Their wrath was directed primarily against the country's communist rulers—the upper echelon of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei (SED), the Socialist Unity Party. The tens of thousands of second-echelon party functionaries who had enriched themselves at the expense of their cocitizens were also prime targets for retribution.

Particularly singled out were the former members of the Stasi, the East German secret police, who previously had considered themselves the "shield and sword" of the party. When the regime collapsed, the Stasi had 102,000 full-time officers and noncommissioned personnel on its rolls, including 11,000 members of the ministry's own special guards regiment. Between 1950 and 1989, a total of 274,000 persons served in the Stasi.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/koehler-stasi.html
--------
DO YOU SEE THE the parallel?

[jstowe100]

09:05 AM on 03/24/2011

It is really Orwellian. A society that can't even supply its own citizens with basic necessities, but can create tens of thousands of paying jobs that contribute nothing to the quality of life of its people.

[Erewhon7]

01:01 PM on 03/20/2011

Can I get on it on it, somehow?
Hey sheik ,gimme 10 million euro and I'll kowtow 5 times a day like with the rest of the faithful.

[maxfax]

12:19 PM on 03/20/2011

Largest exporter gives out billions.  How much is a gallon of gas today?

[Erewhon7]

12:58 PM on 03/20/2011

This has nothing to do with Saudis.
Most economists agree the high gas prices are due to derivatives-based speculations by U.S. banks.. Ditto for high food prices.

Plus the fact that Obama is unwilling to enforce the regulations passed after the earlier derivatives= based crisis.

[FACTISFACT]

11:28 AM on 03/20/2011

It will be better to live the Saudi Arabia to manage as they are managing. Fingering the Beehive would not be work of the wise people. I suppose this much should be enough for all to understand. If not then scratch the head and find out the answer to WHY?

[marknez21]

03:47 AM on 03/20/2011

Saudi Arabia is exporter of OIL and Terrorists. Since last 10 years trained more than 1000 terrorists. 15 of hijackers (September 11) where saudis, and remaining where from Egypt and pakistan. We have to look at TERRORIST issue in Saudi Arabia, why they train many terrorist . At present time, we are fighting Saudis terrorists in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.