The rising star of Gamal Mubarak was uppermost on the pundits' minds, but other hot topics managed to find headline space, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed Political commentators were preoccupied with the ruling National Democratic Party's ninth congress and especially with who might be proclaimed successor to President Hosni Mubarak. While the official papers spotlighted the president, the opposition and independent papers focussed instead on his son. Diaa Rashwan writing in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm on the issue of succession, adopted a tongue-in-cheek approach. He noted the NDP Congress' change in the structure of the party that allowed a number of senior members, including President Mubarak's son Gamal, to run for presidential elections. Rashwan did not mince his words. "The question now is: after those who have planned for the bequeathing of the presidency completed the legal and constitutional steps stealthily, has it become a fact that Gamal Mubarak is on his way to the presidency?" Gamal Mubarak might be tipped for the top job, but there are others also waiting in the wings. The billionaire-turned-politician Ahmed Ezz and a close associate of Gamal Mubarak, for one, is destined for a glorious future, some papers such as the weekly Al-Osboa' suggested. Some 45 other leading political figures in the newly-formed Supreme Council also have a better chance than most to become the presidential candidates of the NDP in the future. But no specific names were identified by the press as possible future presidential candidates. The weekly opposition Nasserist Al-Arabi harshly criticised the congress, describing it as "the circus of the NDP" in its headlines. "The conference is an advertisement of a party whose expiry date has long passed," Akram El-Qassas summed up. Salama Ahmed Salama chose to focus on an entirely different topic: that of the state of the press in Egypt today. Writing in the daily Al-Ahram, Salama sounded pessimistic and despondent. "If the current conditions of the Egyptian press persist without [newspapers] transforming into media institutions that are financially and politically independent and do not adopt modern management, advertising and circulation methods," Salama warned, "they will not be able to compete with other media." Osama El-Ghazali Harb writing in Al-Masry Al-Youm warned about the consequences of the latest university student union elections and the violence and police intervention that marred it. "What happened in the university elections in the second half of October... should ring alarm bells and attract attention to the sabotage [going on in universities]. "[These elections] witnessed the emergence of thugs supported by security forces inside university campuses. They took the responsibility of frightening student candidates who continued their electoral procedures, let alone those who staged protests." Harb refuted the allegations that security procedures in student union elections were aimed at preventing members of the Muslim Brotherhood from controlling universities, and excessive involvement in politics. "Egypt has not seen a period when the Muslim Brotherhood activities inside and outside universities prospered like the current period. And this is because adopting an oppressive approach towards them actually further strengthens them... Solving Egypt's political and non-political problems is through politics and democracy, not by security [measures] and oppression." And, Harb ended on a sombre note, "It never happened before that Egyptian universities hit such a level academically, scientifically and culturally as now. We can see evidence in the disappearance of Egyptian universities from the list of best universities in the world which now include African universities, let alone Israeli ones." The weekly independent Sawt Al-Umma ran a news report about the university student union elections. The report quoted university professors as saying: "We will not stop protesting unless the security forces leave the universities, for their existence is a violation of all international conventions." The tragic death at sea of Egyptians desperate to seek greener pastures in Europe captured the imagination of commentators. Gamal Badawi writing in the daily opposition Al-Wafd about the illegal Egyptian immigrants who drowned while on their way to Italy: "The Egyptian has become like a caged bird waiting for the right moment to escape." In much the same vein, Magdi El-Gallad, editor-in-chief of Al-Masry Al-Youm wrote about Egyptian immigrants who drowned before reaching Italian shores. "What kind of reality prompts a young man to escape from his country on board a boat similar to the ones on which dozens have drowned and hundreds meet their destiny annually... is it unemployment after years of study and indulging in dreams of a good life? Is it the feeling of loss in a country where the individual is considered the cheapest [thing]? Is it corruption and billions of pounds that are smuggled outside the country? Or is it the government that creates [fake numbers of] job opportunities for young men only on the pages of newspapers? Or is it the NDP that ignores the issue of education in its conference? I really feel ashamed like most of you, for we have forsaken those [drowned] young men. It is a national disgrace, nothing less." One a slightly more upbeat note, the weekly independent business-oriented Al-Mal ran an editorial about the importance of the government's decision to start building a number of nuclear reactors. "The real challenge is putting an agenda to make the nuclear [stations] a reality. Nazif's government is required, more than anytime before, to intensify its efforts to make the Egyptian nuclear programme a reality -- apart from much hyped media propaganda -- if it really wants to maintain current growth rates," the paper concluded. The daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr ran a headline about the nuclear issue. "A clear timetable for the implementation of the Egyptian nuclear programme is needed", it said. On a lighter note, the gossip reporter of Sawt Al-Umma managed to get into an extravagant birthday party thrown by Samaher, the daughter of Saudi Prince Turk, held in one of Cairo's five-star hotels. "Pop stars who sang at the birthday party got 100 diamond necklaces as gifts", the headline of the report noted. "The family of this prince spend most of their time in Egyptian hotels, and hold extravagant parties."
