Coll 6/33 'Hejaz-Nejd: Internal Administration and Constitution; Various Laws.' [‎12r] (25/392)

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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
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April 25, 1938.
CONFIDENTIAL.
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Section 3.
[E 2340/1698/25] Copy No. 118
Sir R. Bullard to Viscount Halifaw.—{Received April 25.)
(No. 59.)
My Lord, Jedda, March
I HAVE the honour to inform you that the regulation on the residence of
foreigners in Saudi Arabia, of which I transmitted a translation in my despatch
No. 21 dated the 7th March, has aroused great indignation among the communities
of foreign Moslems resident in this country. As Ibn Saud frequently asks the
advice of His Majesty’s Government and begs for frankness in our dealings with
him, I felt it right to mention this subject to Sheikh Yusuf Yasin, in the course of
a recent interview.
2 . I began by repudiating any desire to interfere in the internal affairs of
Saudi Arabia, and explaining that I was speaking personally. The Legation, I
said, had invited British subjects to comply with the provisions of the regulations,
and whenever any objection had been raised, as by certain British Moslems in
Mecca, we had explained that the registration of aliens was compulsory in most
countries, and that it was not out of the way to charge a fee for the work involved.
Nevertheless, it could not be denied that many foreign Moslems objected to the
regulations on religious grounds, as drawing a distinction between one Moslem
and another, and implying that certain Moslems described as aliens had not the
right to be in their Holy Land. It was not for me to comment on such claims, but
only to inform the Saudi Government, as a friend and a well-wisher, that the
regulation had aroused great hostility, and that it was to be expected that persons
hostile to the Saudi Government might profit by the occasion for propaganda
purposes abroad.
3. Sheikh Yusuf Yasin thanked me for these remarks. The Government
were aware of the hostility which the regulation had aroused. The object of the
regulation was merely to enable some check to be placed upon the residence of
foreigners who continued to reside in Saudi Arabia with no ostensible purpose
and whose activities might be undesirable. Instructions were being issued to the
police to be very lenient in the matter of fees and to exempt any persons who were
really poor, and it might be that after the experience of a year or two the fee
could be reduced. I reminded Sheikh Yusuf that he had told me not long before
that if the oil wells in Hasa yielded a good revenue the King’s first object would
be to reduce the charges levied on pilgrims, and I suggested that the Saudi
Government might wish to examine the charge for residence permits from the
same point of view. The proposed charge of 10 riyals (about 165 . 8 d.) for a
residence permit had, I admitted, aroused criticism, but the Legation had met
such criticisms, as it met those frequently levied against the Saudi charges levied
on pilgrims, by the explanation that Saudi Arabia had little agriculture and no
industries, that the Saudi Government had to perform many services for pilgrims,
and, in particular, to maintain law and order (which it did admirably), and that
it was natural that charges should be levied in return for these services.
4. It is possible, then, that the Saudi Government will endeavour, by leniency
in the levy of fees, to make the regulation less unpalatable to the many thousands
of foreign Moslems who live in the Hejaz, principally in Mecca. In my earlier
despatch I said it was difficult to believe that any serious attempt would be made
to apply the regulation to the penniless African pilgrims who remain on from
year to year, and there are other communities whose members could not pay so
heavy a fee as 10 riyals without great hardship. My Netherlands colleague tells
me that there are hundreds of Javanese students in Mecca who live thirty or forty
in one house and cannot afford to spend more than 3 or 4 riyals (from 55 to 65 . 8 d.)
a month on food.
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