In the Paper Today--Man speaks out at conference...

Emir, Sheikha Mozah walk into debate
This article (the title is a hyperlink to the full article) talks about how the Emir and his wife, Sheikha Mozah, walked into the Forbes CEO Middle East Forum held here yesterday. They were in the middle of a panel discussion of media in the Middle East.

Here is the part I thought was interesting:

A highlight was that during the question and answer session, a Qatari national, Hassan Al Jefairi, raised his hand, stood up and raised a question to Waddah Khanfar, Al Jazeera Networks’ Director General, criticising the media organisation for being a burden on the national economy.

“Why can’t you become self-sufficient by generating revenue from advertising,” he asked. Privatize the Channel if you can’t make it break-even, Al Jefairi said. Khanfar in his response tried to convince him that being a news channel, it was difficult to solicit commercials.

At the end of the panel discussion, the Emir and his wife shook hands with the delegates as they queued up on both sides of the foyer. Both of them talked freely to people who approached them.

The dignitaries spent no less than 15 to 20 minutes before leaving the venue. Al Jefairi later told this newspaper that this was the first time that at a conference he had stood up and spoken, that too critically, when the Emir was sitting.

“This is a sure enough sign that Qatar is opening up. It is getting democratic. In no other GCC state a common citizen can dare stand up to speak publicly when the ruler is sitting. He would be whisked away and arrested,” said Al Jefairi.

He said that he was immersed in reading a newspaper when he suddenly raised his head and was struck by awe and surprise as he saw the Emir talking to someone in the lobby of the hotel. He said he stood up and embraced him.

Al Jefairi said that the fact that the Emir and his family had walked into the venue of the Forbes Forum with no security, made him very happy. “There were just two men with the royals,” he said. “The change is in the air,” he added.