Hassan Jawhar
Encyclopedia
Hassan Jawhar is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly
National Assembly of Kuwait
The National Assembly of Kuwait, known as the Majlis Al-Umma , is the legislature of Kuwait. The current speaker of the Assembly is Jassem Al-Kharafi. The Emir unconstitutionally dissolved the National Assembly in 1986 and restored it after the Gulf War in 1992...

, representing the first district
Kuwait's First District
Kuwait's first district comprises nineteen residential areas starting from Sharq and Dasma, passing through Salmiya and Rumeithiya and including Bayan, Meshrif and Hawally among others. It has a total of 66,641 voters of whom 36,571 are women and 30,070 are male...

.

Dr. Jawar obtained at PhD in political science from Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...

 and worked as a professor at Kuwait University
Kuwait University
Kuwait University was established in October 1966, five years after Kuwait's independence from British Colonization. KU started with only two faculties, namely the Faculty of Science, Arts and Education; and a Women's College. The university had 418 students enrolled and 31 faculty members. By ,...

 before being elected to the National Assembly in 1996. While political parties are technically illegal in Kuwait, Jawar affiliates with the Shia deputies.

Supports Citizenship for Bidun

On December 4, 2008, Jawhar, Musallam Al-Barrak
Musallam Al-Barrak
Musallam AlـBarrak is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the fourth district. Born in 1956, Al-Barrak studied Arab literature and worked in the Municipal Council before being elected to the National Assembly in 1996. While political parties are technically illegal in Kuwait,...

, Marzouq AlـHubaini, Ali AlـDeqbasi, and Abdullah AlـBarghash submitted a draft law calling for the granting of Kuwaiti citizenship to all bidun (stateless) residents in the country. The bill proposes that citizenship be granted to all bidun who were included in the 1965 census and who have no criminal record. The new draft law differs from previous bills as it does not impose any restrictions on the naturalization of bidun and does not set a ceiling for the number of bidun that can be granted citizenship. They also suggested that the families of individuals who have died in service to the country be naturalized.
In addition, the lawmakers affirmed their belief that the families of POWs and the children of those who were martyred during the invasion be granted citizenship. The latest statistics reveal that more than 80,000 bidun currently reside in Kuwait.

Opposes "Americanizing" Textbooks

Amid rumors that the Kuwaiti government was going to change its textbooks to remove possible references to extremism, Jawhar said, “I hope the government will not bow to external blackmail and threats... and be forced to delete important sections of Islamic education." According to Jawhar, the decision to rewrite textbooks came despite findings by specialist committees that current editions contain no references calling for violence and fanaticism or encouraging struggle against other religions. The committees found that those books contained sizable portions focusing on tolerance, brotherhood, equality, passion, cooperation and respect for the rights of non-Muslims.

Support for Women's Suffrage

Jawhar supported Kuwaiti women's right to vote, saying "By relating to Islam I can see -- and I also consulted a lot of experts in this regard -- that there is no contradiction between the women's vote and our Islamic values."

Grilling of Education Minister Nouriya Al-Sabeeh

Jawhar has an ongoing feud with Education Minister Nouriya Al-Sabeeh. In May 2008, Jawhar joined with Mohammed Hayef AlـMutairi and Hussein Quwaian Al-Mutairi
Hussein Quwaian Al-Mutairi
Hussein Quwaian Al-Mutairi is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the fourth district. Born in 1968, Al-Mutairi worked as a doctor before being elected to the National Assembly in 2008. While political parties are technically illegal in Kuwait, Al-Mutairi affiliates with the...

 to accuse Al-Sabeeh of not cooperating with the Kuwaiti University teachers' union and to urge Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah not to retain her in the upcoming cabinet formation. In October 2008, Jawhar submitted a parliamentary request to publicly question Al-Sabeeh about her plans to introduce electronic learning into the school curriculums.

Mandatory Retirement Age for Teachers

On November 28, 2008, Jawhar joined MPs Abdullah Al-Roumi
Abdullah Al-Roumi
Abdullah Al-Roumi is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly from the first district. Born in 1949, Al-Roumi worked as a lawyer before being elected to the National Assembly in 1985. Al-Roumi is considered an independent, liberal-leaning member...

, Khaled AlـSultan Bin Essa, Musallam Al-Barrak
Musallam Al-Barrak
Musallam AlـBarrak is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the fourth district. Born in 1956, Al-Barrak studied Arab literature and worked in the Municipal Council before being elected to the National Assembly in 1996. While political parties are technically illegal in Kuwait,...

, and Marzouq AlـHubaini Al-Azmi in formulating a bill to extend the mandatory retirement age for Kuwaiti teaching staff at Kuwait University from 65 to 70 years. They argued that Item 32 of Law no. 15/1979 has denied the country services of able and intelligent academicians by restricting retirement age of Kuwaitis to 65 years. They recommended that a clause be added to the law such that the retirement age can become 70 years and can further be extended to 75 years.
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