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Thursday, October 19, 2006

King Hamad



King Hamad is the head of state in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
His powers include , but not limited to the following.

HE

- Appoints and dismisses the Prime Minister and the cabinet.

- Has wide-ranging executive and legislative powers.

- Appoints the president and members of the Consultative Council.

- Is the commander in chief of the armed forces.

- Is chairman of the Higher Judicial Council and appoints judges.

- Has the right to call for a referendum on any issue he deems important.

- Can rule by decree and dissolve parliament.

- Has the right to veto laws passed by the National Assembly.

- Has the power to amend the constitution and propose, ratify, and promulgate laws.

.


AbuRasool in the royal shadow (almost).

3 comments:

Silveroo The Sailor said...

hehe.. such a cute photo!
we're all so tiny in comparison to the mighty Gods.

Haitham Salman said...

Can you list the powers of the most powerful leader in the world; that is George Bush. I think it will be very pertinant.

AbuRasool said...

Yes, Silver girl, we are 'made to look so tiny'. But this thankfully, is just an image!.
In your line of study you must have come across Réné Magritte and his image "This is not a Pipe" (Ceçi n'est pas une pipe). He gives some sociologists a good example while debating the power of representation and visual representation. (To beat flight boredom take an article by Stuart Hall to read on the plane on your way home. BTW congratulations! and good luck in the next phase of your life).

It is difficult dr to upstage our mighty king hafidhahulllah. For sake of personal sanity I try to console myself through noting the total lack of powers of king Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden. He, the Swedish monarch, cannot even select a prime miniserial candiadte. This very important function is delegated to the Speaker of the Parliament. He 'almost' lost his job after uttering some flattering remarks on Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah while visiting Brunei. The swedish monarch had to apologise for exceeding his authority which did not include stating opinions on public affairs or for that matter on other heads of states.

After writing the above I must qualify it and say that kingh Hamad has a some distance to go before he reaches the high standards set by the Sultan of Brunei: "His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam".