Khaled Almaeena For quite some time, there was not much news emanating out of the holy city of Madinah – the final resting place of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Over the past few months we have noticed a flurry of activity both on the public and private front. From seminars on education, technology and health services to improvement of services, more acceptance of public views and critique and an enhancement in all fields, the change is noticeable. This has created a buzz that did not exist before. While there have been criticism of services and which can be expected of any city receiving millions of visitors throughout the year, the outstanding feature of the authorities is that there is a positive reaction to any public outcry of any deficiency. And there have been some unfortunate incidents in Madinah, including the crash landing of a plane a few weeks ago and the tragic death of at least 13 pilgrims and injury to about 150 in a hotel fire. This was an unfortunate incident which attracted worldwide attention and was hardly a couple of hours old when I started getting calls from the BBC and other news sources while the injured were being transferred. The handling of the incident and the subsequent visit of the Emir of Madinah Prince Faisal Bin Salman to the hospital to visit the injured, done more out of concern as a human being rather than a formal public act, created a very positive impact. And here is the true test of leadership. That of leading from the front. Prince Faisal is a Renaissance man combining skills and experience gained from the private sector as head of a large media house and a long stay in the West where he observed public dealings and governance. And this experience has helped him in dealing with the people of Madinah. No week passes without some public related event that includes cultural ones. Madinah was the cultural capital of the Islamic world last year, but the vision of the Emir Prince Faisal Bin Salman is for Madinah to regain its stature as a cultural capital for all times. Someone told me that government officials are on their toes there and the public is satisfied by the improvement in services. As they say, the road to excellence has no finishing line and a lot more needs to be done. With an emir like Prince Faisal, who has his eyes and ears on the ground and his finger on the pulse of the inhabitants, expect more in the near future. – The writer can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter: @KhaledAlmaeena
