We need a monarchy

By Frrok Çupi

We don’t need to bring back monarchy to be called “kings”. We could behave with the pride of kings, without the need to go back to a constitutional order of the past…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shocked the entire world with the arrest of the crown prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, another 11 princes, four ministers and several former cabinet ministers. All of them were accused of corruption.

Why should we commend the Saudis in this case?

It doesn’t have to do with a “Palace” or a “Crown”, a king or a king’s decree, which led to these arrests. But, it’s human nature that one envies the other about the things that one doesn’t have.

Or is it because we are not a monarchy?

No, of course not. It’s because we lack a true order of punishment against crime and corruption. Corruption among state officials is suffocating us. Perhaps, even if we were a monarchy, we would have the same level of corruption. But now that I see a kingdom do it, an Arab kingdom for that matter, I’m thinking “this is what we’re lacking”… If not, what else? Are we as ancient and civilized as a nation as the other nations around us?

Are we proud of our past history and not proud of our present?! Aren’t we the ones that when it comes to conferences with foreigners, we look forward to telling that that we are the most ancient nation?

It’s bizarre! We look for honesty and pride, but the behavior shown by our generation lets us down.

This is why we envy the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We want something that could rescue us from the corruption and the crime of our statesmen. Saudi Arabia arrested Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was getting ready to take the throne, 11 other candidates for the throne and several former ministers…

As of yesterday, the Arabs can feel proud, not only in the eyes of the world, but above all, in the eyes of the nation.

This is why I wonder “what is it that we’re lacking”. As a nation, we want to feel proud, but in the evening, we no longer have any money in the pocket, because this money was taken from the minister and the former minister. They need to be handcuffed by the king.

But the king is not the key to all this, because a king with a corrupt soul, can destroy many lives. But, we have come to a point where we would accept a king if this would help us punish thieving state officials and state crime. Have you noticed when a person is suffering and is in great agony, he begs the doctor to cut his limb? Have you noticed how people demand the reintroduction of the death penalty each time a monstrous crime happens in the country? A man has the right to be unfair with himself and drink the “poison” to save himself.

We’re the most corrupt country in our region and the most developed part of the world called Europe. Today, we see all sorts of persons become ministers. These sorts of people make us feel ashamed. Kingdom would have used the guillotine. “Poison” is our only way out of this.

But, does the kingdom save us? Does death penalty or the cutting of limbs save us? Of course not, but we wonder “what is it that cancer patients who defeat their disease have and we don’t?!” In our case, if we compare ourselves to Arabia, it’s the kingdom. Then, this is what we are looking for. We would settle for everything that saves us.

Kingdom would do injustices, it could violate many democratic rights, but it doesn’t allow for us to be humiliated and impoverished by a handful of rascals. And there is no doubt about this.

Although Saudi princes and ministers were arrested, many in the world are saying that this act was carried out to defend the king’s position. It may well be.

There may also be a reason why they don’t want a “kingdom”, that is, national pride and punishment of crime here among us. If a drug trafficking minister was caught in Saudi Arabia with 800 thousand euros in his car, he would have had both hands chopped!

The kingdom makes its people feel more royal and proud. This is why we’re looking for a kingdom, when we’re lacking what we’re looking for, in spite of everything bad about it. Nations are fully aware of the negative sides of death penalty and being a monarchy, but, then again, why have we all enjoyed Athens’ tragedies and Shakespeare’s dramas?

Note: The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Albanian Free Press’ editorial policy