Role in Post-unification Yemeni Government
After the 1990 unity, Bin Shamlan was a member of the Council of Representatives (the parliament of the Republic of Yemen, as the head of the independent block. As the multi-party system was adopted in the new Yemen after unity he founded along with Mr. Omar Tarmoom, Dr. Mohammad A.Q. Bafaqeeh, Dr. Kramah Salyan, and others a new moderate party called the Yemeni Free Forum, and issued a forum journal.
In the 1993 and 1997 parliamentary elections he ran again for parliament and kept his seat, with a 66% vote. During the 1994 crisis he was in the unity camp. On September 29, 1994, the parliament approved a series of amendments to the constitution which, among other things, abolished the presidential council and replaced it with a one-man presidency. Two days later, parliament elected Salih as president for a five-year term. Faisal Bin Shamlan, (independent) was a candidate along with three other candidates representing Islah, YSP and Ba'ath parties. He continued a Member of Parliament until 2003, when he resigned in protest to the amendment to the Constitution by which the parliament extended its tenure for a further 2 years, which Bin Shamlan deemed an unconstitutional move and resigned on the ground that his 4 year mandate by the people is over.
He was appointed as Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources from October 1994, which he accepted on the condition that he would have power to reorganize and reform the Ministry. In March 1995, he resigned. In June 1995, in a Cabinet reshuffle President Saleh replaced Faisal Bin Shamlan with Mohammed Said al-Attar, formerly Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry, as Minister of Oil and Mineral Resources, in a move to tie the oil ministry closer to the President's office.
In 1998-99, Bin Shamlan along with several Yemeni public figures including Dr. Faraj Bin Ghanim (ex Prime Minister, Dr. Abubakar Al-Qirby (Current Foreign Minister), Engineer Mohammed Al-Tayyeb (ex minister, GPC), Mr. Mohammed Abdo Saeed (business man), Dr. Mohammed Al-Afandi (economist, Islah Party), Ahmed Saleh Al-Salami (Yemeni Socialist Party activist), and Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf (journalist and human rights activist), were working to set up the first Yemeni think tank, under the name of Yemen 21 Forum (Y21F) to help the country's evolution towards democracy, development, harmony and prosperity. The Y21F tasks included providing logistics for non-governmental organizations; addressing national issues and concerns; to co-sponsor and promote the establishment of the Yemeni Transparency, an anti-corruption NGO; to help in the on-going correction and reform efforts; and to publish data and analysis on a periodic basis, and to issue an annual "State of the Nation" report.
Read more about this topic: Faisal Bin Shamlan
Famous quotes containing the words role and/or government:
“Friends serve central functions for children that parents do not, and they play a critical role in shaping children’s social skills and their sense of identity. . . . The difference between a child with close friendships and a child who wants to make friends but is unable to can be the difference between a child who is happy and a child who is distressed in one large area of life.”
—Zick Rubin (20th century)
“In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their political lives, always required to court their restless constituents.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)