Losing touch with the lower class — One of the anomalies of the ruler-ruled relationship in Egypt — What better could be achieved? — Mubarak insists that his name would overshadow his predecessors — The bleeding leader reveals his dying wishes — The missing word in Mubarak’s last speech to the nation — Divisions and cracks in official institutions.
At the favourite retreat of Sharm el-Sheikh
In the last 10 years of his regime, it was felt that Mubarak had lost touch with the sentiments of the lower classes, who make up 90 per cent of Egypt’s population. Mubarak, now 85, followed his doctors’ advice and disappeared in his favourite retreat in Sharm el-Sheikh, where his neighbours were members of Gulf royal families, his close friends, his peers and Egyptian investment superheavyweights.
Soaking up the sunny balm of Sharm and looking from behind the thick glass pane at the idyllic sunset at his retreat, Mubarak was cut off from the grumblings and gripes of the toiling classes many kilometres away. Yet he was content with assurances from his advisers that nothing could be better than keeping the grumblers and the gripers at bay for as long as possible.
One of the anomalies of the relationship between the ruler and the rule in Egypt is that the longer the leader stays in power, the stronger their sentimental bonds with him become albeit unintended. Mubarak was no exception. In his long absence at his favourite retreat, Egypt’s suffering classes grew more worried about his health than he would be about their miserable circumstances.
Mubarak erroneously believed that a powerful police apparatus and wealthy business people around him would maintain stability and social peace. However, his opponents saw the situation differently, accusing him of barricading himself in his presidency with such people, only to exult in power until he breathed his last. Mubarak’s severest critics alleged that powerful, hawkish officials in the police or parliament were propping him up in authority only to protect their gains and never mind the ever-suffering masses.
Back to Mubarak’s last speech to the nation: the finale was grand and dramatic. He implied that it was sentimentality and bias, which did him injustice, and that his name in history would overshadow his predecessors. The leader said: “Here I have lived and fought for the sake of the nation and I have defended its land, its sovereignty and interests and on this land I will die and history will judge me and others for our merits and shortcomings.”
Mubarak’s revelation of his dying wishes hit a raw nerve in society. The corner was turned in his favour, especially when he indicated that his funeral would be in Egypt and his tomb dug in Egyptian soil.
Since ancient times, the Egyptians have regarded death as honourable, sacred and worthy of special respect more than for birth. Rituals marking decease are holier than the family’s celebrations of a newborn. The family of the deceased is obliged to observe deathbed wishes.
Yet something was missing in Mubarak’s farewell speech that divided the nation and its institutions, drawing angry reaction from foreign and some Arab capitals. His opponents, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, realised that he did not say he was stepping down or resigning. Likewise, foreign leaders led by Barack Obama, the chief flag-waver for the Arab Spring, muttered and squirmed when Mubarak fell short of their expectations by not saying ‘resignation’. They were worried that Mubarak was planning to stay in office until the expiry of his madate a few months away.
Loud calls for Mubarak’s departure at Tahrir Square began to recede further and further into the distance. Many who followed his speech on large-size screens set up everywhere in the square, choked back the tears back at the thought that Mubarak, whom they had been together through ups and downs for three decades, would be cast aside like an old overcoat. The feelings of millions of television viewers were no less poignant. A formidable front to show repentance to Mubarak had been formed, with its members largely outnumbering his opponents.
The police establishment, labour unions, and the medical profession (controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood) were divided over Mubarak. Even in the judiciary, which has taken pride in its integrity and credibility for centuries, the cracks were beginning to show.
(To be continued)
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