Why Bahrain not join to Union

The efforts of His Highness Prince Sheikh Isa Bin Salma, God rest his soul, and His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman, take the dimensions of fraternity with the brothers, the rulers of the Gulf states and Britain in order to solve the problems that would result from the British sudden exit and rapid discharge from the region.

These efforts have resulted in principle in the proposal put forward by the British Government in February 1968, which aimed at the establishment of some form of unity between the countries of the region like the Arab Southern Union, which has been unsuccessful at an earlier time.

Britain has also held talks with Iran aimed to solve the historical problem between them and Bahrain. Thus, the region has entered into a spiral of anxiety and threats and continuing series of consultations and talks and mutual visits, thus the Arabian Gulf region became a hotbed of tension and the object of attention from the entire world.

Since the British presence in the Gulf, Britain was keen to adopt delegates, or agents in the region representing the British Crown, and who combine administrative and executive authorities and influence, and despite the various names of these agents and delegates, they were more or less representing British interests in its different aspects and objectives. It is historically affirmed that Britain began contemplating raising their level of representation to the level from Political Agents" to the level of Political Resident, which is considered, according to the administrative classification, the highest British officer in the Gulf, and followed by political agents, who work under their supervision and management, in the Gulf emirates.

However, the idea of transferring the British Commission to Bahrain from the Iranian city of Bushehr has been a postponed desire because of the circumstances of the World War until 1946, when Bahrain became a residence for the British political in the Gulf, in addition to the adoption of a political agent representing the resident in Bahrain.

The influence of the political resident extended to the entire Arabian Gulf region, while the influence of the political agent was limited within the Emirate he has been assigned to and working in its internal and local affairs only. The political mandate is being held at the external and diplomatic level and for the political resident, who is responsible for the external relations of all the Gulf emirates, including Bahrain, the headquarters.

Until 1900, the agents, politicians or "British agents" were elected from traders and approved by the government of British India, but this arrangement has been changed. A British employee has been appointed and approved by the Ministry of Colonies as a political agent in Bahrain.

The first of these official agents was Mr. F.B.Bireedo, who chose Manama as his official residence, which was later adopted as the permanent headquarter of the British agents and then the British politicians, whom the government has supplied with Indians infantry of about 30 soldiers.

This number, of course, increased with the adoption of a political resident in Bahrain. This is in addition to the soldiers working in the British military bases, the administrative staff and the police.

The collaboration of several reasons have led to the selection of the Bahrain as a basis for the British Political Resident; the most important of these was the intensity of the military presence in Bahrain and Britains desire to control the internal and foreign affairs of Bahrain, its natural wealth and its strategic location. In addition, the political resident was in Bahrain - which has been the target of the Iranian allegations - and this was also a clear indication to Iran in this regard.

In general, the British influence in the Gulf was inclusive of the various aspects of life, that the various departments were headed by British officials, especially the security departments.

That was certainly behind the dissatisfaction of the governors of the Gulf States, the expedite exit of the British from the region, thus emptying them completely from the officials who are competent in managing the affairs of the citizens from one hand, and leaving it with no local military forces, which makes it vulnerable to the ambitions of the neighboring countries, especially Iran.

Upon the British proposal to form a kind of union among the Gulf States comprising the British protectorate, nine governors of related reference conducted a series of consultations and meetings in preparation for the meeting, which was held from the 25th until the 27th of February 1968. At the end of the meeting, the nine rulers announced their agreement to establish a "Federal Union for the Arab Emirates". Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan, ruler of Abu Dhabi Emirate, announced the establishment of a union of these nine countries: Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Aquin, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah and AlFujairah.

On this same day, "the Document of the union" was issued that was then considered an interim charter of the new State until the preparation of a final version of the Constitution of the Union. Consequently, the Union Charter was limited to identifying the purposes of the Union and the distribution of constitutional powers between the nine rulers of the Emirates, in addition to the reference to the rulers coordination, cooperation and support of each other and their respect for the states sovereignty, along with providing for the unification of foreign policy and diplomatic representation and the collective defense in addition to other general public issues that aim to fulfill the common interests of these countries.

On the other side of the political scene in the region, Iran was watching what was going between the nine emirates with extreme caution and issued hints and comments here and there in opposition to these meetings. These hints were issued on a weekly basis in the Iranian press and mass media in an informal way, while the rulers of the nine emirates were serious in the development of the Union, which agreed up.

It seems that the Iranian attempts were being behind the scenes to abort the Union. Therefore, when the Iranian government found that the nine rulers of the United Arab Emirates were continuing their efforts for accomplishing the Union, and that it will acquire official presentation, it initiated on the first of April 1968 a statement explaining its official position to the establishment of a union between the emirates in the Arab Gulf.

On the 7th of May in the same year, Iran has confirmed its previous position, adding that it considered the invitation for Bahrain to join the Union was directed against the sovereignty of Iran and Iran's interests in the region. But the rulers of the Gulf emirates ignored the objections of Iran and considered the Union a domestic affair and an act of sovereignty, and therefore have continued meetings and deliberations at various levels. These meetings began to arouse points of disagreement between the nine emirates, and when disagreement widened, the rulers agreed to have additional talks to settle the controversial issues in order to reach solutions that will satisfy all parties. Consequently, it was decided to charge the vice-governors to hold detailed meetings during the months of June and October of 1970 to explore these issues and prepare for the summit of leaders that is taking place in the month of October of the same year.

However, the differences between the emirates were apparently broader than that to be contained despite the serious attempts that were being made by some rulers to convince some rulers to give up their hard-line stances in favor of the Union edifice. In fact, the points of contention revolved around the following four main axes:

The Authorities of the Federal Government:
Some of the emirates thought that the federal government is for the Foreign Affairs and Defense exclusively, in addition to providing basic services such as health and education, and the emirates will maintain the independent sovereign powers on other matters. Other emirates have opposed this view, and the orientation of Bahrain was towards extending the executive and legislative authorities of the federal government, and that financial and economic matters be under the jurisdiction of the federal government, a position which was opposed by other emirates.

Representation in the National Council:
Almost all of the nine emirates wanted to have an equal representation in the National Council regardless of the number of the population. Bahrain felt that the Union will deprive it of some of its gaining, the population of Bahrain was equivalent to half the population of the Union as a whole, and therefore suggested that the level of representation in the National Council be according to a fixed proportion to the population of each emirate. Bahrain, on the other hand, did not stress the necessity of having half the members of the National Council. Bahrain has also suggested that the selection of the members of the National Council be through democratic direct election by the people in every emirate. The other emirates rejected this proposal and approved the appointment of the members of the National Council by the Governments.

The Union Capital:
The majority of the Union emirates were of the view of creating a new capital to the government of the Union; the proposed site for this city was on the border between the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The truth is that Bahrain believed that this course was unreasonable, depending on the financial costs and great efforts to constitute the new capital, and thought it would be more useful to accelerate the renaissance of the new State and the modernization of the institutional frameworks. After long debates, the rest of the emirates were convinced the Bahraini view and all agreed to the selection of Abu Dhabi as the temporary capital, which is the view put forward by Bahrain.

The Principle of the Vote in the Supreme Council of the Federation:
The Dubai Convention, signed on the 27th of February 1968, approved the principle of unanimity in voting on the decisions of the Supreme Council of the Federation, Bahrain and other emirates thought that this principle would jeopardize access to crucial, fateful decisions that require the principle of democracy in voting, and therefore proposed that the majority vote.

When Bahrain felt that the differences will steep and perhaps will lead to the disruption of the Union, it suggested, in order to emerge from the crisis, the approval of the principle of two-thirds of the votes in matters of substance and the principle of absolute majority in procedural matters. However, this proposal was met with some approval from the emirates, but the small emirates insisted on its position of rejecting the proposal and resorting to the aforementioned Dubai Convention. Later on, it was found that the draft constitution, prepared by the great jurist, Waheed Rafat, included the same views of Bahrain regarding the principle of voting.

However, the emirates opposition remained as is, and although Bahrain was convinced that its position stemmed from constitutional foundation and democratic orientation that aimed ultimately in the interest of the Union, it sacrificed many if its views and positions as a result of the Saudi and Kuwaiti intermediacy. Thus, Bahrain agreed in principle to include a statement in the interim constitution of the Union to reconsider the principle of equal proportions representation for the emirates in the National Council after holding a census of the emirates by the central government. Moreover, Bahrain has also approved on the subject of adoption of a temporary headquarters for the capital, but that was it originally proposed.

In the Supreme Councils last meeting, which was held in Abu Dhabi during the period from 21st to 25th of October 1969, rulers of the emirates returned and agreed to all the points that were the subject of differences among them, according to the vision proposed by Bahrain.

The result has produced a draft joint statement to be issued from the meeting, and it contained thirteen articles that include: agreeing on the selection of the President of the Federation, the Vice-President and the Prime Minister, the establishment of a permanent capital between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, setting the number of the National Council to thirty six members, with four members for each emirate, in addition to the adoption of a budget of the Union, the establishment of a committee of senior legal advisers to review the draft interim constitution of the Union, which was made by Dr. Wahid Raafat.

In the final moments, there have been new developments that deepened the differences once again; the small emirates insisted on the issuance of a list of the names of ministers, and that this list must include a share of the sovereign ministries in these emirates. Upon some emirates insistence on the non-inclusion of this request, the small emirates did not yield and in turn insisted on its views; the differences persisted again, which led to the failure of the Supreme Council Conference, and the non-issuance of the closing statement, and instead a short statement was issued. Thus the meeting ended with nothing, and the idea of the uniting nine emirates withered away despite the intervention of Arab mediation and Sir William Los, the Special Representative of the British Foreign Minister, who was assigned the task of formulating practical proposals to bring the different viewpoints closer, which also had its share of rejection.

They say History does not Have Mercy.

Indeed, the facts of history had no mercy to some, but it certainly clarifies the facts that some might ignore for a while or conceal deliberately. Going back to history is like referring to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman, who expresses his opinions on the issue frankly, and how the Union brought many unanticipated situations...

As it had been understood, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa at that stage was moving at all levels and directions, in addition to the local level, which was necessitated by the circumstances, to devote enormous institutional and administrative infrastructure of the State, in addition to dealing with the Iranian threats of Bahrain, which His Highness tried to deal with wisdom and restraint from one hand and seeking not to affect the process of public life in the country, on the other hand.

His Highness Sheikh Khalifa was working day and night to develop the idea of the Union and establish it on the solid constitutional grounds. He was doing his utmost efforts to heal the rift and reconcile conflicting views and positions and even forced himself to accept many Bahraini concessions, for the sake of the general interests of the people of the Union.

However, it was evident to all that the fear of Iranian threats and the fear of Bahrains development and modernity in educational and cultural levels, compared with the other conditions of the emirates, were the reason behind the opposing views and fluctuating attitudes that were aiming for the exclusion of Bahrain for the Union.