Kingdom Enters a New Era

Dr. Nahed Taher - Challenging the Status Quo

KINGDOM ORDERS PROBE INTO 9/11 MONEY LINK 
By Abdul Karim Al-Faleh & Abdul Rahman Almotawa

JEDDAH/WASHINGTON, 25 November 2002 - A US official has denied reports that the two Sept. 11 hijackers were allegedly funded by Saudi personalities vindicating the Kingdom's stand that it had no link with the funding.

A Justice Department official said it was unthinkable that Saudi officials supported a terrorist organization which is inimical to them also.

Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard on Saturday denied that the Saudi government had sent money to two of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks and said his country was pursuing Al-Qaeda mercilessly. He said investigations were continuing to determine whether the Saudi money reached the hijackers and how.

US senators, meanwhile, piled pressure yesterday on the Bush administration to pursue investigation into the alleged funding of 9/11 hijackers by Saudi charitable donations.

Al-Jubeir told CNN from Riyadh that Saudi officials had worked closely with the FBI in investigating the funding allegations when they first emerged "seven or eight months ago".

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into whether charitable funds from the Kingdom had been funneled to two suspected hijackers who took part in the Sept. 11 attacks.

According to US sources, a congressional inquiry into issues related to last year's Sept. 11 attacks was investigating a possible money trail from the Saudi government to two of the hijackers, Khalid Al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi. Asked if the Saudi government had sent money to the hijackers, Al-Jubeir replied: "There is no evidence to that effect whatsoever."

Newsweek magazine reported that payments of about $3,500 a month reached a Saudi student who knew the hijackers. The student received the money from an account in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Newsweek said the FBI had found a steady stream of payments to the family of one of the students, Omar Al-Bayoumi, beginning early in 2000. It said Bayoumi had befriended the hijackers in San Diego several months earlier.

Al-Jubeir said an investigation by Princess Haifa's office had shown that the money appeared to have reached the students via another person, a woman who was on a list of recipients of charitable and other donations regularly made by the princess. He said it was not clear who the woman was or how her name had come to be on the list of recipients. Investigations were continuing, he said.

"Princess Haifa is a very generous woman ... she donates large amounts of money to charities," Al-Jubeir said.

The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition that Saudi officials had acknowledged that Princess Haifa gave money to the family of Osama Basnan to help defray medical costs. Bayoumi was a friend of Basnan, the paper said. Basnan is back in the Kingdom after being cleared of visa violation charges. He is receiving medical treatment in Jeddah.

The newspaper cited a Saudi Embassy official as saying that Princess Haifa had provided $15,000 to Basnan in 1998 and followed up with $2,000 monthly checks to Basnan's wife. The paper said Saudi officials said there was no evidence any of the money made it into the hands of the hijackers and that embassy officials were still poring over bank records to see if any checks sent to the Basnan family were endorsed over to Bayoumi.

Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia was working closely with the United States in the broader hunt for members of Osama Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group, accused of carrying out the attacks. "I don't believe that there are any two governments that are cooperating more closely than your government and my government on this matter," Al-Jubeir said.

Al-Jubeir said the Saudis had thought the money trail issue was closed. "So we find it surprising that now out of the US Congress they repackage this and push it as new evidence, which leads me to believe that the people who are behind this are more interested in scoring political brownie points than they are in arriving at the truth," he said.   Source:  Arab News

FBI INVESTIGATING SAUDI MAN FOR LINKS WITH HIJACKERS 
By Staff Writer [Arab News]

WASHINGTON, 24 November 2002 - The FBI is investigating a Saudi man who provided assistance to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, the Los Angeles Times reported. Government sources said Friday there are some indications that high-level Saudi officials were providing money to at least one man, who in turn helped San Diego-based hijackers get established in the US by making rent payments and providing other assistance, the paper said.

But congressional and Justice Department sources said they disagree sharply over what to make of the apparent financial links. Sources said the issue of linkage remains a central and unresolved question before the joint congressional panel conducting an ongoing probe of intelligence failures surrounding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But FBI officials said they have investigated two Saudi men in connection with financial support provided to hijackers, and found no evidence of anything unusual. They determined that the men routinely helped newcomers from Arab countries with modest financial help.

"That is something we would be interested in," one congressional source said. Investigators "want to find out the complicity or knowledge of officials of a foreign government."

The matter has become a source of significant friction between congressional investigators and the Justice Department. Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has been pressuring the Justice Department for weeks to declassify new information and evidence surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks.

In recent interviews, Graham has refused to discuss the nature of that evidence, but sources have said that it relates to connections between the San Diego hijackers and a foreign government.

The San Diego hijackers, Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, were both Saudi citizens and were among those who commandeered a commercial jetliner that crashed into the Pentagon.

Congressional sources said lawmakers are frustrated that the FBI hasn't been more aggressive in pursuing the matter.

But a Justice Department official said the FBI has been aware of the evidence since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, and is convinced that it does not point to Saudi complicity in the attacks.

"It's a suspected linkage that isn't true," the official said, adding that the matter is so sensitive that many believe even airing the suggestions of Saudi links will significantly hamper the war on terrorism.

Officially, the FBI declined to comment Friday, citing its ongoing investigation into terrorism. Spokesman Steven Berry, reading from a prepared statement, said that the FBI continues to investigate a man who assisted the terrorists, Omar Al Bayoumi, and a second Saudi, Osama Bassnan.

Two high-ranking FBI officials said this week that there was no evidence that the hijackers received financial support from any foreign power while they lived in San Diego.

"There are absolutely no facts that would support that theory," said one official.

"We have people we know associated with the hijackers... but they didn't do things for the hijackers that they had not already done for 50 other Muslims" who came to San Diego from abroad, one of the FBI officials said.

Al Bayoumi first met Almihdhar and Alhazmi in late 1999 at a Los Angeles restaurant and later brought them to San Diego's large Muslim community, paying their first two months rent at an apartment in the neighborhood of Claremont.

Sources said FBI agents determined that the hijackers repaid Al Bayoumi and other individuals whatever money they had been provided during their time in San Diego. "The hijackers didn't need their money," said one source. "They had their other [financial] sources" for terrorism.

Records and interviews show that Al Bayoumi moved to San Diego in late 1995 or early 1996 and left for England in April 2001.  Source:  Arab News 

US 'INVESTIGATES SAUDI MONEY TRAIL' 
"The US authorities are investigating a possible financial link between the government of Saudi Arabia and some of the hijackers who carried out the 11 September attacks last year, according to American media reports. The investigation is focusing on money from a Saudi bank account to two of the hijackers - Khalid al-Mihdar and Nawaf al-Hazmi - who were living in California in the year before the attacks. American officials caution there is no proof of involvement by the Saudi government - which says it is co-operating fully with US investigators, the reports say..." Complete report... 

KINGDOM DENIES REPORTS OF MONEY LINKS TO SEPT 11 
The Riyadh Daily - November 25, 2002

An aide to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz denied on Saturday that the Saudi government had sent money to two of the hijackers in the Sept. 11 attacks and said his country was pursuing Al-Qaeda mercilessly. Adel Al-Jubeir, foreign policy adviser to the Crown Prince, told CNN from Riyadh that Saudi officials had worked closely with the FBI in investigating the funding allegations when they first emerged "seven or eight months ago". According to US sources, a congressional inquiry into issues related to last year's Sept. 11 attacks was investigating a possible money trail from the Kingdom to two of the hijackers, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf Al-Hazmi. Asked if the Saudi government had sent money to the hijackers, Al-Jubeir replied: "There is no evidence to that effect whatsoever." US National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack cautioned on Saturday that it was too early to jump to conclusions about a money trail. "While you have an ongoing investigation, it's important not to rush to judgment," he said during a visit by President George W. Bush to Romania.

Newsweek magazine reported that payments of about $3,500 a month reached the hijackers, possibly via two Saudi students living in the United States who had received it from an account in the name of Princess Haifa Al-Faisal, wife of the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Newsweek said the FBI had found a steady stream of payments to the family of one of the students, Omar Al-Bayoumi, beginning early in 2000. It said Bayoumi had befriended the hijackers in San Diego several months earlier. Al-Jubeir said an investigation by Princess Haifa's office had shown that the money appeared to have reached the students via another person, a woman who was on a list of recipients of charitable and other donations regularly made by the princess. He said it was not clear who the woman was or how her name had come to be on the list of recipients. Investigations were continuing, he said. "Princess Haifa is a very generous woman ... she donates large amounts of money to charities," Al-Jubeir said. The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition that Saudi officials had acknowledged that Princess Haifa gave money to the family of Osama Basnan to help defray medical costs. Bayoumi was a friend of Basnan, the paper said.

The newspaper cited a Saudi Embassy official as saying that Princess Haifa had provided $15,000 to Basnan in 1998 and followed up with $2,000 monthly checks to Basnan's wife. Saudi officials said there was no evidence any of the money made it into the hands of the hijackers and that embassy officials were still pouring over bank records to see if any checks sent to the Basnan family were endorsed over to Bayoumi, the paper reported. Al-Jubeir said Saudi Arabia was working closely with the United States in the broader hunt for members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda group, accused of carrying out the attacks. "I don't believe that there are any two governments that are cooperating more closely than your government and my government on this matter," Al-Jubeir said. "Ultimately it is your country and my country that are in the crosshairs of Al-Qaeda and we have been pursuing them for a number of years and we will continue to pursue them mercilessly because that is the only way we can rid this region of this scourge," the Saudi diplomat said.  Source:  The Riyadh Daily

NO 'SLEEPING CELLS' OF AL-QAEDA IN KINGDOM, SAYS PRINCE NAIF
"'There are no Al-Qaeda sleeping cells and no Saudi was arrested in recent days for links to the network,' Prince Naif told Al-Watan daily newspaper. He said a Saudi, Mohammed Al-Sahim, who was wounded and captured after a shootout with police on Nov. 16 was wanted for a 'security-related matter' and was not linked to Al-Qaeda, according to preliminary investigations…" [Expired Link]

SAUDIS BACK TIGHTER SCRUTINY OF CHARITIES, US SAYS 
"Saudi Arabia has backed increased regulation of charity fund-raising and informal banking networks that others have clamped down on since last year's September 11 attacks, U.S. officials said on [Nov. 23]. The Saudi assurance at the annual meeting of finance ministers and officials from the Group of 20 nations was a heartening move in the global battle to curb funds for terror groups, the officials added..." [Expired Link]

MOSQUES MUST NOT BE MISUSED, IMAMS TOLD 
RIYADH, 23 November 2002 - Mosques are meant only for prayers, guidance and other pious activities: they should not be misused as a political platform, imams and khatibs have been told. In an official order to imams and khatibs, Saleh Al-Sheikh, minister of Islamic affairs, endowment, call and guidance, strictly prohibited them from allowing any unauthorized persons to make speeches at the mosques, Al-Watan reported. He wrote the letter on the occasion of the launch of a scheme for the care of mosques and their workers. He warned them that speakers might misuse the mosque to make provocative speeches and incite people. There are also people who exploit the mosques to recite poems in praise of some misguided people, he added..." [Expired Link] 

ALWALEED TO BUILD 10,000 HOUSES FOR POOR SAUDIS 
"In a letter to Prince Abdullah, Prince Alwaleed announced his contribution and stressed his commitment that he would be the first to respond to the leadership's call and strive for the amelioration of the citizens' living conditions by building homes for the poor as soon as possible… …Prince Alwaleed said that even though 'our country is faring well and the standard of living for many is reasonable we nevertheless recognize, as you have, that there are a number of unfortunate individuals who are living below the poverty line…'" [Expired Link]

CONGRESSMAN SUBPOENAS SAUDI DOCUMENTS 
"A House committee chairman is accusing the Saudi Arabian Embassy of using a diplomatic smoke screen to protect its Washington lawyers, lobbyists and public relations agents from supplying information about international child custody disputes... ...'We directed our representatives not to produce the contents of any files relating to the work performed on behalf of the embassy," Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar said in an Oct. 22 letter that Burton released. "No nation, including the United States, can effectively pursue its diplomatic mission in foreign countries without freedom to communicate confidentially with lawyers and consultants,' the prince added..." [Expired Link]

SAUDIS ARREST KUWAIT 'ATTACKER' 
"The Kuwaiti policeman accused of shooting and seriously injuring two American soldiers on [Nov. 21] has been arrested in Saudi Arabia, a Kuwaiti official announced. The suspect, Khalid Messier al-Shimmari, fled Kuwait after the incident and was arrested on [Nov. 22]. The specific location of his arrest was not given." Complete report… 

SAUDIS SEND MIXED SIGNALS OF SUPPORT 
Saudi Arabia |By Peter Baker | 24-11-2002 Gulf News (UAE)

The F-15 fighter powered its engines to a thunderous roar and launched into the air, climbing at a steep angle and banking sharply to the right. Within seconds, it had shot so far up that it was reduced to a gray speck against the clouds as it soared off to Iraq.

A few hundred miles to the north, tanker planes lingered near the border, ready to refuel warplanes to give them more patrol time over southern Iraq.

They were coordinated by the clunky AWACS radar planes with the distinctive dishes on top. "It's a busy airspace here," said Maj. Gen. Saeed Al Haznawi, the Saudi commander at the air base.

Even as UN arms inspectors set up shop in Baghdad to head off a violent confrontation, the United States has already begun the war before the war in a deliberately noisy way: moving more equipment and troops into the region, staging exercises in Kuwait near the Iraqi border, dropping propaganda leaflets urging President Saddam Hussain's supporters to betray him and bombing targets within Iraq whenever given an excuse by Iraqi air defense units.

The activity serves not only to build allied forces and to soften up Iraq's defenses in case real war comes, but also to turn the screws on Hussain at this moment of decision.

The more the Iraqi president feels encircled and sees bombs falling on his territory, some officials and analysts in the region believe, the more likely he might be to comply with the UN inspections.

"It's part of the psychological game to put pressure on him, to keep everybody convinced that they mean business,'' said Prince Turki Faisal, a senior member of the Saudi royal family and the country's former intelligence chief. He noted that the strategy "has borne fruit in the sense that it convinced Saddam Hussain" to readmit the inspectors.

So far, most U.S. allies in the region have cooperated, permitting U.S. forces access to what they need, in part because they hope to persuade Hussain to back down and avoid war.

But countries around the region are beginning to prepare for the fallout in case the strategy does not work.

In Riyadh, the Saudi capital where three dozen Scud missiles fell during the 1991 Gulf War, air raid sirens have been put back up. In Kuwait, schools have been rehearsing evacuations and the government has ordered two million gas masks. "This region cannot take another war," lamented a Saudi official who asked not to be identified.

As the Bush administration canvasses 50 allies around the world to see how much support they would offer in case of war, few places are more critical, or sensitive, than Saudi Arabia.

From here at this expansive air base located in the flat, barren Arabian desert about 70 miles southeast of Riyadh, the U.S. military manages air operations in the southern "no-fly" zone - and could run the next war.

Every day, pilots return from Iraq, often with reports of being fired upon by antiaircraft guns, which prompts retaliation. U.S. warplanes patrolling the southern no-fly zone have been shot at during nine of the 12 days since the UN Security Council passed its resolution mandating new inspections, according to the Pentagon, usually resulting in retaliation. "

The pilots flying patrols in the no-fly zone are essentially flying combat missions, given the circumstances," Rear Adm. David A. Gove told reporters at the Pentagon.

U.S. commanders generally dispatch planes from Kuwait out of deference to Saudi sensibilities, allowing Riyadh to maintain that it has not allowed attacks on fellow Arabs from its territory.

For U.S. war planners, however, the attraction of Prince Sultan Air Base is not the line of F-15s parked here but the state-of-the-art Combined Air Operations Center.

Located in an anonymous, low-slung building in the middle of the base, the center can process extraordinary volumes of data, from satellite imagery to reconnaissance from surveillance planes to reports from the field, at the same time that it tracks hundreds of aircraft operating across the region.

Out of fear that they might not be allowed to use the center to direct a war against Iraq, U.S. military planners built an alternative center in Qatar, but still would much rather use this site. As one U.S. official put it, the Qatar center is a backup at best, akin to a thin spare tire that cannot travel as fast on the highway.

Saudi officials have sent mixed signals about whether they might allow the base to be used for a war against Iraq. "Saudi Arabia will do what's in its best interests and in the best interests of its friends and allies, including the United States," Prince Khalid bin Sultan, assistant defence minister, said in an interview.

"Let's not forget what it did in '91. ... We shared our blood together. We protected each other in the field and we saved American lives as America saved other countries, including Saudi Arabia."

Still, he noted, that was for the clear purpose of liberating Kuwait from an Iraqi invasion. "This situation is different," he said.

If the moment arrives, U.S. officials expect the Saudis to at least permit the use of the command center and grant overflight rights for attack planes flying from bases elsewhere. They also want the right to base AWACS planes here, along with tankers to refuel attack planes in Saudi airspace before they head into Iraq.

Prince Khalid allowed a reporter to visit the base on Tuesday, in a rare moment of access this year. However, U.S. military commanders, who have long cited Saudi sensitivities in barring journalists, declined to permit the correspondent to visit their portions of the base, including the command center, or to interview U.S. troops.

Maj. Gen. Al Haznawi, the base commander, showed no reluctance to put the Saudi partnership with the United States on display. "It's one team really," he said. "We have no problem with the way we work together."

Source:  Gulf News
11-24-02 

JEDDAH, 22 November 2002 - The people of Saudi Arabia woke up yesterday to find on the front pages of their newspapers an image, large and clear, which will come to define the moment when Saudi Arabia clearly entered a new era.

In it Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, is standing in a house in a slum of an old district of Riyadh. He is listening intently to an aging, impoverished Saudi, who is telling him about the problems faced by tens of thousands of other Saudis who, like him, live in abject poverty.

His arm is raised, and his finger is pointing straight at the face of the prince. The eyes of the two men are locked.

Afterward, Crown Prince Abdullah immediately ordered a plan to be drawn up to fight poverty in the Kingdom.

So what, you may justly ask. Plans for reform are always being drawn up, but are rarely implemented.

But the extraordinary thing is that this is exactly what Crown Prince Abdullah himself went on to acknowledge.

"The problem of poverty cannot be tackled with resolutions which are not supported by proper planning," he declared. "They cannot be solved by dreams or ambitions. What is required is a comprehensive national strategy, based on mutual support."

During the last year there have been clear, unmistakable signs that Saudi Arabia is changing. It is not the kind of change that may be measured as previous periods of dramatic change in the Kingdom have been - by counting the number of new skyscrapers on the Riyadh skyline, for example, or seeing the steam rise from towers in newly built desalination plants.

It is a change in the Saudi psyche, and a new social contract.

In March after a fire in a girls' school in Makkah in which 15 girls died, the head of the Presidency for Girls' Education was sacked and the institution itself was abolished, marking in the words of Prince Turki Al-Faisal "a clear shift away from the religious establishment".

The press has opened up and now provides a forum for diverse and critical debate previously unimaginable, with even Prince Turki himself castigating editors in chief for self-censorship and gross selectivity in covering his own comments.

A new comprehensive car insurance policy has been introduced. The privatization of 20 of the Kingdom's biggest sectors has been announced. The government has admitted that things may be done differently, with Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday saying that it would have been better if the arrest of Saudi terrorist suspect Mohammed Al-Sahim had been announced earlier.

The pattern is obvious: A move toward civic accountability and a system of checks and balances.

Source:  Arab News 

DR. NAHED TAHER - CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

JEDDAH, 25 November 2002 - "We cannot allow half of Saudi society to remain idle if we wish to compete in a global economy." The impact of women on Saudi society cannot be overemphasized. This was precisely the position taken by Dr. Nahed Taher, who spoke to Arab News about women's issues, including work, education and family that are relevant to the design and execution of policies for the improvement of conditions for women. Dr. Taher stressed women's education and cultural acceptance as paramount to increased female integration into the work force.

Dr. Taher, a senior economist at the National Commercial Bank, was formerly the Head of the Department of Economics at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah where she still lectures. She was awarded a Ph.D in economics from Lancaster University in 2001. Her thesis was concerned with the behavior of the monetary sector and its implications for monetary policy in Saudi Arabia. She is a high-positioned professional, an academic, a wife and a mother. Dr. Taher is a perfect example that elegance and femininity are not forsaken if a woman is to succeed in a male-dominated field. As the second in an Arab News series about Saudi Female Role Models, she defines the prospects and difficulties women face.

She emphasizes the social and economic well-being of women - who as mothers, professionals, teachers and students make up slightly more than half of the nation's population and cannot be taken for granted. "There are many opportunities for Saudi women in such sectors as banking, health and e-commerce. The economy would benefit greatly from their intergration," Dr. Taher insists. She has shattered both existing stereotypes and carefully-nurtured barriers by becoming the first senior Saudi female economist in the Kingdom.

Dr. Taher confirmed that in the Saudi banking system SR15 billion worth of deposits are held by women. At the same time, the greatest deterrents to Saudi women in business are restrictive regulations but Dr. Taher sees change being piloted by government agencies, such as SAGIA. One of the most discouraging and daunting aspects for women going into business is having to give a power of attorney to a man to register for a license in one of the few areas allowed to women. "It would really be encouraging if the woman could register herself and be able to invest in a greater number of other sectors," said Dr. Taher. Factories are just one of the off-limits domains for female investors but there are numerous others which could help advance the Saudi economy if they were open to women and women's resources.

"What is needed is a network between the universities and the work force," clarifies Dr. Taher. At university level, she recommends that the senior year be spent in internships which would give girls fundamental training rather than repetitive research. Education should cater to the needs of the private sector and instruction given in areas with the highest demands. "The government should give corporate incentives for hiring more women just as is done with Saudization. Steps should also be taken to reduce the problems and difficulties women encounter." She added that a higher level of English, which should be taught from an early age, and computer training courses would be a great assistance in preparing young women for their careers. "Two major problems facing women are culture and speech. English is needed in the fields of math, science and technology; we must have it if we are to be competitive." Dr. Taher opposes the current methods of teaching in many Saudi schools. "Education is too involved with memorization and there is no real learning and no problem-solving."

As an economist, Dr. Taher is interested in contributing to people's general well-being and finding ways to improve people's living standards. This includes studying how financial, labor and trade markets are organized and how they interact with, and depend upon, each other. For example, she says "Equal pay has been and remains an issue that needs to be addressed by our society." The greatest misconception is how Islam is misunderstood. She was emphatic, "Islam does not promote the oppression of women."

Dr. Taher is a good illustration of the egalitarianism advocated in the Holy Qur'an. Changing misconceptions will require the culture to look within Islam itself, rather than through a lens, not their own, as foreign critics might desire. In doing so, they will find that promoting women's rights does not mean compromising and surrendering to the "West." Dr. Taher advocates promoting women's rights is consistent with the commitment to the message of Islam which Muslims, male and female, support.

Any society that professes to enforce Shariah (Islamic law) must be aware that the essential purpose of Shariah is to guarantee to every citizen all his rights extending to all aspects of human life. These include the rights to life, learning, family and property. These mirror the fundamental freedoms as they have been articulated in the major human rights documents of the 20th century. The right and obligation of every Muslim to education is spelled out by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in his insistence that Muslims must seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave and in his emphasis of divine rewards specifically for those who educate their daughters.

At the same time, Dr. Taher also shows how the transition into the modern world has been slow for Saudi women. On one hand, the high rate of female fertility shows that women's primary role continues to be childbearing rather than income-generating. "Resistance to female education stems from the conviction that women should be supported by their husbands, but times have changed. Not all women are well-provided for; work has become a necessity for some in order to guarantee dignity, independence and respectability," she observes. "The role of Saudi women is very important to the economy. My students constantly ask me, 'Do you think I will find a job? Will society accept me acting as a contributor?'"

Dr. Taher treasures teaching her students and puts her efforts in "enhancing their way of thinking and receiving information." "I enjoy lecturing, I feel I can help students onto the right track. The problem is time; there isn't enough of it. I do not want my students to feel that they are less important to me than my work at the bank."

Dr. Taher is following in more than one way in the footsteps of her father, also a chief economist. "Raise your children, educate them, share your life and work with them. Let them know what is going on in the world. This is what my father did with me; he would put me on his lap and allow me to share his world." Dr. Taher credits her success and her position at the bank to the manner in which she was brought up. "It did not happen overnight." Essential to her upbringing was the encouragement her parents gave and the way they built her self-confidence. "My father discussed economic issues with me from a very young age and asked for my opinions. This enabled me to analyze and assess situations." This is perhaps why Dr. Taher feels that inductive reasoning is far more crucial and vital to education than mere memorization. As a mother of three, she does not feel that a career precludes motherhood. "A woman who works is likely to be more organized, better able to prioritize, more sophisticated and better informed. My career has enabled me to enrich the lives of my children, and helped me to educate them." Dr. Taher firmly believes that children of two-income households are healthier, more well-rounded and better connected to society so they can therefore give more back to their country.

Words of wisdom for young Saudis: "Work hard, put goals for yourself, don't wait - you can make things happen." The perfect example of generation passing on to generation is Dr. Taher's 16-year-old daughter who dreams of "making a difference." As an information systems student at Dar Al-Hekma College, Rawan believes there is more for women than the latest fashions and coffee shops. She feels that in the field of Internet technology women can really make their mark in Saudi Arabia and she hopes to lead the way.

The challenges facing Dr. Taher are many but she says, "I try to overcome difficulties and not let them get me down." She feels fortunate for the role her husband played in her life, it was he who encouraged her and stood by her through it all. "I married him after I finished high school, and since then he has supported me in every possible way to finish my studies." And she points out, "When things are at their worst, I do not despair; I pray and God opens doors for me."

Source:  Arab News