Bahrain’s King Speech

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It was long due and King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain on Sunday finally addressed the nation marred by almost year long protest.

The king announced constitutional amendments promising to give the elected Parliament greater powers of scrutiny over the government.

Appearing on the national television King Khalifa stressed that he would issue royal decrees to amend the constitution and grant a greater role to the 40-seat lower house of parliament in near future. He also spoke about the reforms that the regimen has planned like allowing lawmakers to approve governments proposed by the ruling dynasty and giving greater authority to question and remove Cabinet officials. Parliament would also play a larger role in setting the state budget and proposing laws, he said.

His speech generated quite some response. While most of them were negative comments, few positive also emerged.

It seems that the king were drunk enough when he decided to give up this speech cz he is missing up so bad #Bahrain #KingSpeech #DignityShoe

— Bahraini Doctor (@Voice_of_BH_Drs) January 15, 2012

Can’t believe how ignorant he’s. Sometimes I wonder, is he even living in #Bahrain? #kingspeech

— Mohamed Al #Mostal8y (@Araballla) January 15, 2012

A tweeple commented on state of confusion, and what powers is the king talking about.

King Hamad focused mostly on giving the parliament more powers. Not quite sure which kind though. #Bahrain #KingSpeech

— Ali Al Saeed (@alialsaeed) January 15, 2012

Few positive comments were also seen.

(Traslation via Google Translate – It is wise that the king’s speech is working to bridge the gap between the opposition and the system not to ignore them from the political scene)

#Bahrain #kingspeech كان من الحكمة أن يعمل خطاب الملك على تجسير الهوة بين المعارضة والنظام لا أن يتجاهلها ويستثنيهاويقصيها من المشهد السياسي

— Labeeb Shehabi (@Labeebshehabi) January 16, 2012