Syria : A serious need for reform

Syria : A serious need for reform

Syria is away from the siege it found itself in it during the last decade and especially after the invasion of Iraq. we can say that it is a victory for a brilliant syrian foreign policy and its effective tools . The pressures on syria are in its lowest grade maybe from 2003 and there is no real external threat for Syria except that traditional one which Syria has adapted to it during more than 50 years : Israel .
We all know that Israel is a real threat on syria .
It is clear and undoubtable and every one who knows a little about history knows that it is not only occupying Golan heights of syria , but also threatening the heart of Syria as the crusaders were doing during the middle ages.
we should now focus on our internal issues without ignoring the external . In Syria , there is a real and serious need for reform .
Reform is a must for syria and without it ,we will face a dark future and angradual increase in poverty in a country where 40 % of its population could be classified as poor. The dissolve of the middle class is something clear for witnesses. Increasing of slums at the edge of the big cities and the clear increasing in prostitution and begging in syrian big cities are indexes for the country economic situation.
Some statistics suggest that more than 5.3 millions of syrians are living below the poverty line . This number is forming about 25 % of total population which counts almost 21 millions . the numbers which are published by syrian government are tricky and based on its own view of poverty and the daily life needs.
The offical numbers of the Syrian centeral statistics office which is a government institiuation suggest that the number is far lower than 5.3 millions . It suggests that only around 11 % of syrians are living below the poverty line.
Without a real internal reform and fight against corruption , all the victories in the foreign policy will be abolished and will be as a desert mirage.
The classification of Syria as a resistant country is meaningless if this resistance has not been accompanied by a real reform and by real decrease in poverty and a fair distribution of the wealth. This wealth is monopolized by a minority (not exceed 10 % of the population). The transformation of the Syrian economy from the social economy to the market economy has lead to what we are seeing daily in Syria .

Mustafa Hamido