Jordan: the thin line between reform and deform

As public debate in Jordan centers on reforms, Jordanians are discovering that they cannot stand apathetic anymore, despite their disagreement on what they want and what they need. 


Since King Abdullah II took over charge little over a decade ago, billboards along the kingdom's highways and news headlines in newspapers have communicated many branded, reformist initiatives. Such initiatives like: "Jordan First," the "National Agenda," "Dream Big," mustered enough hope only to feed into public frustration over the unmeasurable failure of consequent reformist efforts.

For the non-ideological, well educated, networking Jordanians, the country needs immediate political reforms, for the vast majority, the priority should be set on achieving quick economic reforms that ensure equal opportunities and better, even barely decent, living standards.

The form of governance in the past years have focussed on minimizing the size of the public sector, while creating an "investment friendly" climate in the hope that the private sector would create enough jobs. Arguably, this model has not worked the way it was deemed to, as this so-called public-private partnership opened many back doors for shady deals and corruption, while the majority of mega projects in Jordan, employed a majority of non-Jordanians as the over-qualified locals refused low earning jobs.

Governments have continuously blamed grass-root hurdles such culture of shame: the fact that it is shameful for many young Jordanians, particularly women, to take low-wage, prestige-less cleaning or construction jobs. However, they never were self-critical in the sense that they'd admit they could have solved such problem by measures such as building fast track transportation to mobilize workers from outside the main cities into the car-congested, rapidly growing capital.

Jordanians remained as apathetic as ever. This did not reflect in better turn-outs at parliamentary elections, a less regressive parliament or an organised populous political movement. The reason is a general disbelief that things can become any better, as the contrast between rich and poor expand to unprecedented extremes.

Continuing on the same path of "reform" will only lead to deforming the country, forever. It is arguable that Jordan's understanding of a "liberal" economy is unfounded in any other international experience. The model of economy liberalization in Jordan is not balanced with fiscal measures to "redistribute" the wealth to its stakeholders, i.e. citizens, let alone a half-decent "welfare" system for the vast uninsured majority.

It is no wonder that this is coming even as the World Bank, announces that it would press countries in the Middle East and North Africa to apply economic reforms that ensure social prosperity - signalling that world powers at large, are now prone to think that the old forms of governance in the region are unsustainable, if not outright dangerous, as long as public dissent and opposition is suppressed to a ticking bomb.

Jordan's status quo is unsustainable. Jordanians are waking up to this realization, as public debate rages, rather subliminally, over the continuous failure of the country's system of governance - coupled with hooligan nationalism monopolizing the definition of citizenship - and an overwhelmingly illusionary government rhetoric that "Jordan is on the right track." The very euphemism that became a bit of an "inside joke" at certain western foreign aid departments dealing with the country, where the second part continues: "...but you know how it is."