Opinion

The new Ministry of Culture

June 25, 2018
The new Ministry of Culture

Abdullah Al-Olaibit

Al-Watan newspaper

MOST people interested in culture were happy over the establishment of an independent Ministry for Culture, which has been separated from information and youth welfare. We are now looking forward to the new ministry’s tasks and activities.

Culture means three things: Firstly, it deals with popular cultural activities such as ancient arts, customs, clothing, proverbs, instruments, folklore and painting. Secondly, it denotes literary works and thirdly it covers intellectual culture or enlightenment.

We hope that the ministry’s activities would encompass all these three. Culture in its popular sense has an overwhelming influence on other stakeholders. It has been adequately covered by the annual festivals organized the General Authority for Culture, with the exception of tourism and I hope the new ministry would take care of that part.

The ministry’s most important mission would be to highlight the Kingdom’s rich and noble culture. We know that the most significant aspect of culture is thought. It’s a product of the country’s intellectuals, academics and scholars. The manifestation of this intellectual aspect is more important than the manifestation of any other aspect.

The popular culture on the other hand shows images of creativity of previous generations. The literary culture is a reflection of the intellectual culture where thoughts and ideas appear in the form of literary works. Literature that does not carry thought would not be considered an outstanding work. Intellectual works raise a country’s global reputation.

Books authored by Saudi scholars are displayed at Riyadh International Book Fair and we have noticed countries competing with one another to attend such exhibitions in order to showcase their intellectual achievements. Thoughts are the basis of books displayed in these exhibitions.

The government’s support is required in several areas:

First, to restrict quasi-books that do not carry any intellectual thought and keep such books away from book fairs.

Second: Protect the rights of the author and strengthen his or her position while dealing with publishing houses. This task should be separated from the Ministry of Information and make it one of the duties of the new Ministry of Culture.

Third: Establish more cultural salons and distribute them all over the country with necessary support, organize cultural forums at district levels, and pay greater attention to public libraries to encourage people to read and enhance their knowledge.

Fourth: Separate cultural clubs from literary clubs because they have to focus on different areas. As I said before literature is different from culture.

Fifth: Establish an intellectual satellite channel to support thought and innovation.

These are ideas that came to my mind when the government decided to establish the new Ministry of Culture, separating it from the Ministry of Information.

As for the promotion of domestic tourism, the government must identify the requirements of tourists and plan how to highlight the Kingdom’s heritage. We must understand that all that is considered to be national heritage or popular culture may not attract tourists. We should have a balanced approach in this regard and respect the culture and traditions of others.


June 25, 2018
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