The death of Oman's 50-year ruler Sultan Qaboos raises many questions, the most important of which is: "Will his successor, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, continue Sultan Qaboos' work?" This entails taking not only an impartial approach to politics but being a negotiator and mediator.
This balancing act is described well in the following article.
What's next for Oman following Sultan Qaboos' death? January 11, 2020
Article Summary
Oman's new ruler Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said will work to stamp his own imprint on a nation often synonymous with its longtime leader.
The death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said on Jan. 10, after nearly 50 years of rule over Oman, has removed one of the great "moderates" from the scene just as soaring tensions between the United States and Iran nearly escalated into another Persian Gulf conflict.
In power since he ousted his father in a nearly bloodless palace coup in July 1970, Sultan Qaboos steered Oman through a period of rapid socio-economic modernization even as he kept a tight grip over the levers of political control. The centralization of authority in Qaboos, coupled with his refusal to publicly name a successor, gave rise to persistent speculation over succession as the sultan aged. (He was 79 when he died.) In the event, the transition to the new sultan, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, a first cousin of Qaboos, proceeded rapidly and smoothly, just as Omani officials had quietly predicted it would.
One of three brothers long considered by Oman-watchers as the likeliest candidates for succession, Haitham was born in 1954 and represents a careful generational transition as he has accumulated more than 30 years of policymaking experience in senior government roles. Early in his career, Haitham served for 16 years in the Omani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including eight as its secretary-general, between 1994 and 2002, and since then served as minister of national heritage and culture. His profile rose further in 2013 when Qaboos appointed him chair of a committee entrusted with developing Oman Vision 2040, the successor economic plan to Vision 2020, which Qaboos had launched in 1995 as the first of the long-range "visions" that now dominate the economic landscape in all six of the Gulf states.
As a senior and experienced member of the Omani royal family and grandson of a former sultan, Taimur bin Faisal, who ruled what was then the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman from 1913 to 1932, Haitham will endeavor to stamp his own imprint on a country that has become synonymous with Qaboos and a society that mostly has known no other ruler. Having seized power at a dangerous time for Oman, then in the middle of a 10-year Marxist-backed rebellion in the southwestern province of Dhofar, Qaboos embarked on a highly personalistic program of nation-building after the rebellion was defeated in 1975. This included annual "Meet the People" tours where the sultan and his advisers would spend weeks traveling through Oman and sitting with Omanis of all backgrounds to hear and redress any grievances or issues they had, as well as rehabilitating and reintegrating former dissidents, including Yusuf bin Alawi, Oman's minister responsible for foreign affairs since 1997, but an active member of the Dhofar Liberation Front in the 1960s. The national narrative that emerged also contrasted the years of progress under Qaboos with the period of darkness that preceded it and cast the 1970 takeover as Oman's renaissance.
Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/01/oman-death-sultan-qaboos-economy-haitham-tariq.html#ixzz6AzLqeO97