Egyptian Chronicles: When Haikel Speaks “2”

I am 86 years old , I do not look for any position but if I can serve my country though saying my opinion , I will say it

Mohamed Hassanein Haikel

21/10/2009

Al Masry Al Youm

You knew how it had been like before speaking to Al Masry Al Youm , Haikel was having the usual regime attack and the Presidential bid 2010 talk has already been started very early and very hot.
I just want to clarify two points.
1- Haikel knows exactly that this is Al Masry Al Youm , this is not part of the silly war between Al Masry and Al Shorouk which Haikel is well known to be behind it directly and indirectly. I think Haikel chose this newspaper in particular to speak in to avoid any accusation or criticism to Al Shorouk ; after all the owner of Al Masry Al Youm is a NDP member businessman.
2- The regime knew what the newspaper was going to publish and Haikel knew that very well. The regime had to agreed to publish the interview as it was I assume because they know Haikel can speak anywhere he likes , let’s be honest many newspapers “if we exclude the official press” will be more than happy to interview him whether local or regional press.Already the regime must respect the fact that Haikel did not reveal his shocking suggestions on Al Jazeera but rather in our local press.
Now on the 21st and 22nd of October Al Masry Al Youm published two- part interview , Magdy El-Gald, the chief in editor was the interviewer. The first part was more powerful than the second part ; it is the first part that is causing all buzz and controversy as Haikel spoke about internal affairs in Egypt in a way I have not seen in years. The second part was about regional issues ; the Goldstone’s report …etc there is nothing new in it , it was like his Al Jazeera interview.
Here is the interview's highlights in Video with English subtitles and seriously I respect this move from Al Masry ‘ Hats off to Nora Younis ’ . The most important and interesting part of the interview was not included in the video but you can find it below in the summary

المصري يحاور هيكل from AlMasry AlYoum on Vimeo.

Haikel spoke about the following : His expectations for the future , Political parties and trends in Egypt including the Muslim brotherhood, the current political situation and the future of presidency, the Egyptian identity problem in the first part and the Middle East issue in the second part.
Here is a summary for what he said :

Haikel started his interview criticizing the regime for the country’s status quo in the past 30 years and how it affected badly our political life and also our journalistic life. Whole generations were marginalized because of his status quo
There are no parties in Egypt , the new Wafd is still fighting the revolution and the Unionist leftist party has fall with the the fall of communism. “No wonder Al Wafd and the Unionist parties have been attacking since the interview”
People are scared to engage of politics because of the Karate squads as they have dignity.
The MB brotherhood group has an original ideology but unlike other political parties and trends it did not correct its mistakes and upgrade itself like for instance the AKP in Turkey. Essam El-Arian and Abdel Manam Abdel Fatouh are from the promising figures in the group thought. “ I think he contradicts himself in this point, in previous point he said we do not have real parties where as here he said that political parties corrected their mistakes !!?? What political parties he meant in this point !!?? I believe he is biased against the MB as a Nasserite with my all respect to him”
Violence exists in every person who has a need and can’t get it.
There is a need to rebuild the state again and to have a new constitution , those two can be achieved through having a council of experts aka council state and constitution which will work on having a new constitution , the people will vote on it through public poll. The council will consist of 12 experts in different fields in Egypt like General Omar Soliman, Amr Moussa, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Dr.Magdy Yacoub , Dr. Ahmed Zoweil , Dr.Mohamed Ghoniam and Dr. Hazem El-Babalawy.The role of the committee will be a transitional one for 3 years where new generations can take over from there. Mubarak and the army should stay to back and support the council in those 3 years and that will the last and greatest service will do to this country. “ I believe I should dedicate a whole post to this point because this is the one that created all the buzz and controversy”
We can have a cabinet headed by Rashid Mohamed Rashid and his vice could be Youssef Ghali !!!???
This is only way according to him as the current constitution and its longest infamous article no.76 are standing the progress of this country and having a real political life.
We can’t have independent universities as long as we do not have independent judiciary.
We will have chaos if we do not find a solution , we will start from the beginning whether we want it or not sooner or later.
The regime will not accept this suggestion , still it has either to serve the country or itself. “The regime will not only accept this suggestion from him but from anyone else too”
It is injustice to Gamal Mubarak to push in the political arena , people dislike him and it is not from his right to run for elections because he is privileged than other citizen plus Mubarak made it clear “Egypt is not Syria” “It is true I agree with him”
Rashid Mohamed Rashid and the rest of the businessmen’s cabinet are not that bad , they are promising but businessmen should remain businessmen and do not get involved in Politics. “ This part can be misinterpreted as being bias to the ministers whose economic policies contributed successfully to his sons’ huge corporations , I think Haikel is not good in economics as he is good in politics as he does not understand the fact that we were already living in economic crisis before the international financial crisis.”
The Middle Class now is living in New Cairo and Sheikh Zaid behind the compounds’ walls !! The old Middle Class is currently the working class. “ I thought those who were living in those new compounds are the rich class !!”
We lost our national identity since the 1970s “Camp David” .
The demands of Egyptians are the same since I do not know when : Justice , freedom and equality.
He respects Mubarak who offered to treat him from Cancer on the expense of the state and he refused because he has got money and other people need it. He respects Mubarak but disagrees with him. What is written in the official press does not represent Mubarak’s views sometimes.
The American administration will treat the Egyptian regime in the same way the Egyptian regime treats its citizens.
Goldstone report ‘s effective and powerful parts were not included in the final published report.
He disagreed wit Lord Owen on what he said about the 1973 , it was a military victory that was lost by politics ; still it is a great military victory with no doubt.