BEIRUT: On the first Saturday of December, when Beirut was gearing up for its sixth-annual marathon, traffic cloyed heavier than usual at the capital’s streets. Barriers erected by inept race organizers blocked some of downtown’s busiest thoroughfares and Internal Security Forces (ISF) squads sanctioned to ease congestion were notable by their absence. One passenger wedged in the jams – tired of vehicles clogging the route to an urgent meeting – took matters to hand and began directing traffic himself. The man was not one of Lebanon’s anonymous businessmen, who cruise Beirut in their 4x4s with casual contempt for the rules of the road. He was Ziad Baroud, Lebanon’s Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bikya Masr's Middle East Person of the Year. Unlike most Lebanese politicians, who honed their trade on the battlefield or at the feet of influential relatives, Baroud carved out his career from the classroom. A lawyer by profession, Baroud joined the Beirut BAR association in 1993. In a political system stifled by cronyism and tutelage, his rise to a cabinet post was meteoric, given that young Ziad lacked either military acumen or conveniently positioned parents, ordinarily prerequisites for Lebanese parliament members. Following the Doha Agreement of May 2008 – which helped put an end to hostilities between Hizbullah and pro-government gunmen on the streets of west Beirut – Baroud was thrust into the upper echelons of Lebanese politics to serve in the position he still occupies under former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. In 2009, Baroud was faced with a to-do list to cause even the hardiest public servant to stagger, including maintaining law and order, implementing electoral and legislative reform, tackling espionage networks and promoting human rights for historically poorly-treated members of society. His task was made more daunting by the clunking political elite Baroud sought to influence – autocrats averse to change with large grudges and long memories. Instead of being compromised by sectarian rifts or nepotism, Baroud used his relative youth and independence to appeal to warring parties to find common ground. Baroud is one of the youngest members of the newly ratified national unity cabinet – finally the recipient of a confidence vote in late November. But it was six months before parliament set to work that Baroud made the shift from mortal civil servant to political superstar. In Lebanon’s June elections, Baroud – charged with maintaining security in a highly-contested and hotly debated single-day poll – received national and international acclaim for the manner in which the vote was organized and policed. Whispers of attacks at polling stations and inter-sect fighting never materialized and, in the eyes of many Lebanese, the man primarily responsible for allowing them to exact their democratic right on June 7 was Baroud. He now receives rapturous receptions wherever he goes; auditoriums turning into theaters thronged with hollering fans when he approaches the lectern, the Lebanese obsession with deifying sectarian leaders seemingly spread to this universally respected politician. Crucially, Baroud has not allowed his popularity to interfere with his policies. The lawyer from Jeita is not afraid to ruffle feathers. In October, when five people were stabbed, one fatally, in the Beirut suburb of Ain Al-Remmaneh, the assailants fled on motorbikes. This prompted Baroud to issue an unprecedented crackdown on unregistered vehicles, leading to a near-unprecedented fall in assault and theft in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Baroud has, since the cabinet’s formation, set about seeking to improve the constitutional recognition of the rights of people marginalized by Lebanese society. Last week, a Lebanese woman succeeded in opening a bank account for her underage children without the father’s consent. A woman from Batroun was jailed for 15 days for beating her Filipino maid. These landmark incidents are partly a testament to Baroud’s incessant lobbying at a political level to amend judicial procedures and consider human rights in legalization. But as laudable as Lebanon’s progress is in this regard, it is difficult to shake the feeling that Baroud is fighting a one-man war on corruption and ineptitude. Baroud’s priority is to maintain Lebanese law and order. Although the people seem to respect this and are slowly coming into line, the political elite stand by impassively. From recent fall outs between majority and opposition heads of ISF, it seems Baroud has his hands full policing the police, let alone policing the public. As an independent part of the popular President Michel Sleiman’s bloc, Baroud has the advantage of not needing to be partisan in decision making. His now-infamous “security is a red line†speech demonstrated how the Minister continues to seek cross-party consensus on matters of internal security and administration. He is, registered as a Maronite, but the support Baroud enjoys from people of all sects demonstrates the all-too rarely seen phenomenon of a Lebanese politician being good enough for the public not to view them as a member of any sect. If the Taif agreement’s stipulation of Lebanon eventually moving into a post-sectarian political sphere, then figures such as Baroud – who let their adeptness speak louder than their religion – will take on further significance. The Minister, up against a near-immovable stubbornness emanating from parliament, is too often hamstrung in attempts to promote universal issues of human rights and legislative reform. Such reform has suffered as a result. Perhaps Baroud’s greatest achievement is preventing deteriorations in security – such as incidents in Aisha Bakkar and Tripoli – escalating into more violent clashes, akin to May 2008. Baroud has taken to his Sisyphean task of maintaining civil order while advancing civil liberties with aplomb in 2009. His efforts this year have borne as much fruit as Lebanese political stymieing has allowed. In 2010, the Interior Ministry will need to organize and police municipal elections, often better attended than parliamentary votes. It needs to tackle security incidents which arise from ever-worsening traffic and flooding, as well as continue to counteract espionage networks. On top of this, the fight for better human rights needs not just maintaining, but intensifying in order to better represent women and non-Lebanese citizens. It is a daunting task for one man, but Baroud’s performance in 2009 has shown us above all that he is not afraid of a fight. BM
