STUDENT UNION DEFENDS MINISTER OF HEALTH GRILLING

UNCLAS KUWAIT 000277

SIPDIS

SIPDIS, SENSITIVE

FOR NEA/ARP, LONDON FOR TSOU, PARIS FOR WALLER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KISL KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: STUDENT UNION DEFENDS MINISTER OF HEALTH GRILLING

REF: KUWAIT 258
KUWAIT 195
KUWAIT 56

Sensitive But Unclassified; not for Internet distribution.


1. (SBU) In a February 17 statement, the President of the Kuwait
branch of the National Union of Kuwait Students (NUKS),Maath
Al-Duwaila, said that questioning Ministers, commonly referred to
here as "grillings," is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and a
means for reform. Al-Duwaila defended the grilling of the Health
Minister, which took place February 19 (ref A),arguing that it
would help prevent administrative corruption and medical malpractice
due to official negligence. He said grillings were designed to hold
the executive authority accountable for its performance.
"Therefore, the Government should cooperate with the National
Assembly and should not be frightened of grillings," he argued.
Al-Duwaila continued: "Grillings submitted by the people's
representatives should not be depicted as a tool used against the
interest of the country," apparently responding to criticism that
some MPs were using the grilling to elicit concessions from the
Government.


2. (SBU) NUKS leaders have taken a public position on both internal
and external political issues in the past. Their views generally
reflect those of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM),the
political arm of the Kuwaiti Muslim Brotherhood (KMB),which has
dominated the student organization since 1979. At times, NUKS
leaders have even organized seminars and rallies to promote their
stance on a particular political issue. The organization often
invites ICM representatives to deliver speeches on these occasions.
While NUKS officially represents the Kuwait University student body
to the faculty and administration, on political issues its leaders
do not speak for the student body. Indeed, many Kuwait University
students disagree with the political views of NUKS leaders. In a
February 24 editorial, Dr. Shamlan Al-Issa, the Director of the
Center for Strategic and Future Studies and a liberal Political
Science Professor at Kuwait University, argued that "it is
unacceptable that [NUKS], which is remotely controlled by the [ICM],
plays a role in politics outside the walls of the university
compound."

Background on NUKS
--------------


3. (SBU) The splits that emerged in the Arab nationalist movement
after the Six Days War in 1967 contributed to the rise of the
Islamist current in Kuwait. Since then, Islamists and liberals have
competed for influence on Kuwait's university campuses. In 1979,
the KMB gained control of the Kuwait University branch of NUKS, the
largest branch of the student organization in the world. The KMB
has dominated NUKS ever since due to its strong presence on campus,
effective organization, and the continuing rift between two
competing liberal and independent student parties. The KMB also
dominates the influential Kuwait Teachers Association and has
considerable influence in the Kuwait Trade Union Federation. At the
time, the Kuwaiti leadership welcomed the Arab nationalists'
relative loss of political power in the country and, after the 1976
dissolution of Parliament, found the religious current an effective
vehicle for countering the influence of nationalist and leftist
groups, which represented the primary opposition to the ruling
regime from the mid-1930s until the end of the 1970s.

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