Female Arab Minister Survives No-Confidence Vote

(Kuwait) Minister of Education Nouriya Al-Subaih, the only woman in Kuwaiti politics, survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote yesterday by a count of 27 to 19. Al-Subaih had been accused of mismanagement and endangering conservative religious values.

On Jan 8 the minister had to defend herself before Parliament against the allegations that she had attempted to deceive the nation when she denied a press report that three schoolboys had been sexually assaulted by an Asian worker at a state school. She explained she had been misinformed and subsequently issued an apology.

Al-Subaih was also accused of disrespecting Islam because she didn't punish a girl who scribbled a cross on a textbook and then said she hated Islam. The charge was found to be baseless.

The no-confidence measure is indicative of the divide in the Kuwait Parliament between strict Islamist lawmakers and liberal supporters of Al-Subaih.

Al-Subaih is the first minister in the Cabinet of HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah to triumph over a no-confidence motion. Prior to the voting, MP Jaber Al-Muhailbi, who supported the grilling, said those who oppose the no-confidence motion are defying the Islamic Sharia.

"According to Islam, a woman should not hold any leadership post," Al-Muhailbi pointed out.

The Islamists apparently don't really care what Al-Subaih did and coupled with the fact that she refuses to wear a headscarf, they are simply enraged that she is in Parliament and any reason to get her out would likely be fine.

Continued contentiousness in Kuwait's Parliament regarding Al-Subaih's presence should be expected.