[by SD] Our role in the upcoming presidential elections, a topic I wonder about often as a student living abroad. I do not reside in Iran and have been out of the country for almost ten years. It is difficult to know what’s most important to the lives of Iranians from outside. But I am still and will forever be an Iranian and can still vote here in Berkeley; I would like to hope that my vote matters.
There currently seems to be two main choices in Iran’s upcoming presidential elections: Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Khatami, both with previous experience as president!
I think about which one of these candidates is more likely to make life better in my country, in a general sense. Well, it seems that “the quality of life” is highly subjective. To narrow it down: which one is more likely to improve the economy, quality of education (I mean real education), freedom of thought and expression, international relations, and finally the state of our infrastructure and environment? Who is more likely to advocate for ethical practice in various fields? How would either of these candidates advocate for ethics when cheating and bribery are a part of everyone’s daily life from an early age?
I wish we had more choices and more fresh faces among the possible candidates. But we have to choose one president among the choices that we have got. As an earthquake engineer, I naturally care a great deal about the policies that will be adopted under the next administration influencing the budget spent on improving and retrofitting schools, hospitals, and homes before the next earthquake strikes. There are also other urgent issues that I care about deeply related to education and the economy. So, I write this letter to the next president, whoever it may be, and hope that he will read it carefully and forgive my lack of awareness of other potentially critical problems on his agenda. If he happens to read this, I would like to invite him to join this dialogue and share his ideas with us on TehranShake, of course if he has the time!
A letter to my future president:
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Dear Mr. President to be,
Congratulations on your decision to run in the upcoming elections. I admire you for your brave decision and for accepting a heavy load of responsibility on behalf of our nation.
I wish you success in your campaign and more importantly in your term serving as president of an important nation. Of course, Iran has a rich history of feeding other cultures with its knowledge, philosophy, and arts, is in a critical geographic location, enjoys a large reservoir of natural wealth and human talents. Iran has a large population of talented youth and excellent institutions committed to their training and future growth. Yet, as you are definitely well aware, many things can be improved. The existing issues facing our nation make your job a most critical one for the future of the region and of the world. I am sure that you have your own agenda and priorities, but as an Iranian student living abroad I, along with many others, have the following requests for your office to consider in the coming years. If you or people who control your decisions disagree with any of these requests, I would be happy to discuss them further:
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