Enlarge imageBy Ulf Laessing
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait’s new female education minister refused to wear a veil as she took an oath when the OPEC oil producer’s new government was sworn in on Monday, leading to protests by several Islamist parliamentarians.
Nouriya al-Subaih defied calls by some deputies to cover her hair when taking the oath with the rest of the Gulf Arab country’s cabinet.
"The minister must comply with the provisions of sharia (Islamic law) approved by parliament. The government must uphold the law," said deputy Dhaifallah Buramia, who stood up in parliament until Speaker Jassem al-Kharafi told him to sit down.
Another Islamist deputy, Nasser al-Sanae, disagreed and played down the importance of the incident.
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"This issue is no problem for the government. These are individual opinions. It is her own decision," he told reporters after the assembly was dissolved.
Women won the right to run for office and vote in Kuwait in 2005 in the face of resistance from some deputies who managed to add a clause stipulating that women must abide by Islamic law.
Subaih, a liberal who does not belong to any political bloc, is one of two women in the new cabinet. The other woman, Health Minister Massouma al-Mubarak, always wears a veil in public.
Kuwait’s ruler, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who has the last word in all government affairs, formed a new cabinet on March 25 following the resignation of the previous government.
In a speech after taking the oath, Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah said the government and parliament had to cooperate "based on a democratic dialogue and constructive criticism" to move Kuwait forward.
Kuwait’s parliament has a history of challenging the cabinet in a region where the public usually has little say in politics.
Oil Minister Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah was among those retained in the new 16-member cabinet which has six newcomers including two Islamists. They join two other Islamist ministers.
The government also includes two members of the Shi’ite Muslim minority and five members of the ruling Sabah family, who hold the key posts of foreign affairs, defence and interior, labour and social affairs, and oil. The previous cabinet included six members of the Sabah family.
Kuwait, a staunch U.S. ally, sits on nearly 10 percent of global oil reserves. Cabinet changes tend not to affect directly its oil policy, which is formulated by a supreme council.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Harbi and H. Hashem Ahmed)
