'We Will Pay A Heavy Price for Problems We Are Facing Now'
IRD Introduction: on Monday February 13th, the Reformist newspaper Shargh held a lengthy interview with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's two-term president during the 1990s and one of the country’s most influential post-Revolution figures. The first part of the interview focused on the years of Hashemi Rafsanjani’s presidency and his plans to embark on an industrial and economic transformation plan. The following is the second part of Shargh’s interview with Hashemi Rafsanjani:
Mohammad Khatami, the president who took office after you, mainly focused on political reform. Do you agree that your administration paid less attention to this issue?
HR: No, the political reform that later became the slogan of Khatami’s administration actually initiated in my administration. I give you a proof. Would you agree that one of the most important elements of political development is election?
Of course.
HR: My administration laid the foundation for healthy elections in the country, which were evident in the presidential and parliamentary elections of those years. The election turnouts signified the healthy competitive atmosphere that was created during my time in the office. There were no complaints of a rigged election from either party. Both the Conservative and Reformist parties had equal opportunities to compete on fair basis. During Khatami’s time in office, we never reached the same turnout in elections. Do you not call this political reform? Furthermore, reporters were free to write any criticism during my time in the office. In Salam newspaper for instance [the left wing’s primary newspaper], they had dedicated a column to write pretty much anything they saw fit to criticize me. We encouraged criticism and sought to answer them accordingly.
Most of the criticisms your administration received were regarding your lack of attention to political reform compared to your economic development policy. For instance, there was an absence of the liberal media during your time in the office.
Were any of the press or newspapers shut down during my time?
No.
Well, during Khatami’s time a number of newspapers were shut down.
Could that be because there wasn’t a big ideological gap between your administration and the Supreme Leader’s while during Khatami’s presidency, the common belief was that there was a vast gap between the president and the Supreme Leader’s principles.
HR: Khatami’s cabinet was largely comprised of my cabinet members, half of which were right-wing and the other half left-wing. There are records of this that you could confirm.
How do you feel about the Salam newspaper? Were you ever unhappy about their style of work?
HR: I was the one who appointed the executive editor of Salam [Hojjat-ol-Eslam Mousavi Khouyiniha] as the head of the Center for Strategic Research. If I were against his work I would have removed him. I installed figures who later became the part of Khatami’s administration. During my administration, Khatami could not cope with the pressure that was on him and decided to resign. I offered him any position he wished for and he chose to run the National Library-- and I obliged.
My previous question regarding your political reform policy was based on your own words: “my administration is the administration of development, and in terms of politics, well, I am political enough” [hence, no need for the ministers to be political]. Perhaps it is because of this statement that you are mostly associated with economic reform rather than political reform.
HR: Perhaps. My administration was known for economic reform, but the same key cabinet members were reassigned in the next [Reformist] administration. Weren’t Khatami’s administration’s key political figures the same as mine? [Minister of Interior] Abdullah Nouri, [Minister of Culture, Ataollah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture, Mostafa] Moin and Khatami himself. My cabinet was comprised of left, right and centrist political figures. Many of them had served in Mir-Hossein Mousavi’s cabinet [in the 1980s.]
In your statements you mentioned that Amir Kabir had to transform the structures at first and that made his endeavor taxing, while the reform route was much easier for you because unlike Amir Kabir, you came from within the political system. You have also compared Iran to Japan and how both countries began redevelopment around the same time [in the late 19th century], yet currently we are lagging behind Japan. What factors led Iran to diverge from its path of industrial and economic progress path, which was devotedly followed during your time in office, to political reform during Khatami’s and then to Ahmadinejad’s administration, who openly expressed his opposition to the policies of your era?
HR: Priorities slightly changed during Khatami’s time; nonetheless, the ministers and their staff were retained and therefore my administration’s projects were mostly continued. The emphasis that I put on economic development, however, was not as strong during Khatami’s time as he openly stated that he would slow economic reform to attend to other matters. With the current administration, however, I am very worried about the future of our country.
If there were to be reforms in Iran, how would you prefer it to be: top-down or bottom-up?
HR: I won’t put it that way. The private sector must be empowered and the government must set policies that support the private sector. We have already prepared and developed these policies in the Council [of Expediency Discernment] and they have also been approved by the Supreme Leader’s office. The parliament has also made contribution. The Fourth [Development] Plan was a truly progressive one.
Yes, but it has not been implemented.
HR: I believe that we will pay a heavy price for the problems that the country is facing now. You are more aware of the conditions of the different strata of our society than I am, and therefore you would know about all the problems that Iranian households are currently facing. What happened to the accountability of this administration? How much of the country’s oil revenue is actually trickling down to the society? What has become of abidance by law in the country, or of our international relations?