Fadlallah: Sectarianism is a privilege, not a tool

Source: Daily Star, 07-06-2008

BEIRUT: Senior Muslim Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said on Friday the ongoing debate over the distribution of the different portfolios in the next cabinet shows that the formation of Lebanese governments is not based upon competence and expertise but rather on sectarian considerations.

In his weekly Friday sermon delivered from the Imamayn Hassanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik, Fadlallah said the problem in Lebanon lays in the fact that politicians are trying to reduce the country's size to that of individuals.

"Politicians are trimming down the size of the country instead of boosting its position by producing the necessary elements that bring it back to its great location when it used to settle Arabic problems and serve creative culture," he said.

According to Fadlallah, sectarianism remains the Lebanese people's problem. "Sectarianism constitutes a privilege to leaders and not a means to serve the people of this or that sect," he said.

"This is why those people add to their fortunes at the expense of their sects, while the deprived are getting poorer."

Criticizing the United States, the cleric said it went back to playing with our internal political situation.

"The US administration is trying one more time to interfere in the formation of the new cabinet and bringing to ministries whoever it wants as if the country is one of its districts or a plot of land belonging to one of its embassies," he said.