2015

An article by HRH Princess Fahda Bint Saud in 2012

As a daughter of King Saud I found the media coverage of the reign of king Saud, such as there was of it, very poor and misguiding.Documents, rumors and strong beliefs which depended on false documents has been circulating for the last five decades or so , and that is since the removal of King Saud from the throne by King Faisal 1964 and until very recently during the reign of King Abdullah , who facilitated the opening of the old files to start a new era of unleashing the true history and achievements of King Saud to the Saudi public .king Saud ‘s history was tampered with and all his achievements were attributed to king Faisal . this injustice has been officially stopped and King Abdul Aziz Foundation For Research and Archives (www.darah.org.sa headed by HRH Prince Salman Bin AbdulAziz , the Governor of Riyadh, and a very powerful and a senior member of the Royal Family ) , who created this foundation in order to document the history of Saudi Arabia , and played a major role in organising two symposiums about the history of both King Saud and King Faisal in Riyadh in the last few years which clarified the role of each monarch in the development of his country . King Saud participated in the creation and cohesion of what was come to be known as the (kingdom of Saudi Arabia) since the tender age of thirteen with his father

King Abdul-Aziz, a renown judge of character and mettle ,treating him as his trusted right arm in crissess ,time and again and with success. Indeed, with the large range of choices before him ,had he detected in Saud a lack of what it takes ,he would hardly have appointed him as his heir in early years and then continued to abdicate function after function in his favour throughout his reign.
Upon his succession, which was without challenge, Saud had adopted as the mission of his reign (the eradication of poverty, disease and illiteracy), always preferring to lead by example the foundations of a modern state and its organizational and administrative structures were laid during his reign, by always adhering to and inculcating the values held dear by his father. It can well be imagined that, this transformation of a country from a tribal society to one of a developing state and within a rapid time which could not be achieved without the facing of risks and the payment under the circumstances- of a higher cost. King Saud tried to realize this in keeping with the advice of modern advisors some loaned to him by international bodies, whilst striving to abide by the advice of his father and by attempting to emulate him as his and the family s ideal, realizing as well as the rulers of oil rich states do today that to possess large reserves of oil underground which was almost the same as gold in the vaults.

These are some of the major achievements of King Saud s reign (1953 – 1964) that were deliberately erased from Saudi history which defames Saudi history in general and King Saud‘s in particular :

1- Education :
He personally stablished :The First two female schools in Nejd in (1951 &1956) followed by a royal decree in 1960 to establish for the first time in Saudi history : “The presidency of Girls Education” which started formal female education in the kingdom, as a result of which he had to face the wrath of many who opposed this courageous step. But during King Faisal’s reign it was changed that it was King Faisal’s initiative and not King Saud’s (Another fallacy of the old history). He established the first university in the kingdom (King Saud’s university) .Besides all the schools which he has built around the kingdom .

2- The abolishing of slavery in 1962 by King Saud :
This decision was also attributed to King Faisal. A question to be asked why all important achievements of King Saud were attributed to King Faisal ?

3- Infrastructure :
It was during King Saud reign that the infrastructure of the country was built (roads all over the kingdom, hospitals, transfer all ministries from Jeddah to Riyadh the capital (which commemorated the first town planning) in the kingdom.,

4- Creation of islamic league :
The call for an Islamic conference by King Saud in 1955 , and the creation of the Islamic league in 1962.

5- Ministries :

He established all ministries in the kingdom beside the already five existing ones at that time of his father. King Saud wanted to address his domestic issues, and strengthen his regime, administration, economy, society and build his nation, he wanted this to happen in a short period of time in order to promote his country and achieve his goals but also ,knew that this process required incessant patience ,efforts and an extensive budget. So, between (1954 -1958), the cost of building the new ministries in Riyadh coasted the government (20000000 $) two million dollars which was the main reason behind the financial difficulties, the country faced during that period of time. Meanwhile, we can see that during the crisis the budget of health & education were not affected, on the contrary they have increased eg : the budget of health was (440000000) forty four million SR in 1957 became (88000000) eighty eight million SR in 1962. Also, 2000 miles of fast roads were constructed to link the kingdom together, besides the construction of four major ports and, the military budget reached (28000000) two hundred million SR in1958.
Moreover ,the Saudi oil income have decreased between the years (1956 -1958) ,from 34000000 $ to 29000000 because of the oil embargo King Saud imposed on Britain & France by stopping transporting oil to these countries that joined Israel in its war on Egypt in 1957 which made Saudi debt reach $200000000 two hundred million dollars right after the war , out of which $ 50000000 fifty million dollars were from the oil income. Subsequently, IMF experts were called to Saudi Arabia to assist in this crisis , and they arrived to the kingdom on the 10th of November 1957. Their suggestions to improve the financial situation in the country were successful as they have largely reorganized the already existing funds previously allocated for developing government projects. So, the government money reserves increased from SR (272000000) two hundred & seventy million in 1960 to SR (844000000) eight hundred & forty four million.

As a conclusion , King Saud is the true architect of the Saudi State , after the unification of Saudi Arabia by his great father King Abdulaziz . His true achievements , both internally and externally are emerging in his country after King Faisal’s ban for fifty years.
History never dies, it only sleeps.