In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master, Muhammad, and upon his Pure Progeny, particularly the Vestige of God remaining on earth.
Welcome dear brothers, dear sisters, and the honorable representatives of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. This annual meeting is both an opportunity to honor the Islamic Consultative Assembly to draw attention to this great institution and make everyone pay attention to the greatness and importance of the status of the parliament, and also an opportunity to say “more power to you” to the honorable representatives. You worked hard for a year, or rather three years so far, and it is only fair that at the end of each year, a sincere and heartfelt “more power to you” be said to the honorable representatives. This is one of the goals of this meeting. Perhaps there are some pieces of advice and reminders that one might think to be useful, and maybe it is a requirement of Article 57 of the Constitution that we occasionally give you a reminder and a piece of advice.
I have prepared some things to say, but before beginning, I think it is necessary to mention the great epic of the Liberation of Khorramshahr — truly and honestly a great and rare job. That is, at the beginning of Farvardin, on the second day of Farvardin in the year 1361 (1982), the great operation of Fath ol-Mobin was carried out, leading to a huge victory where more than fifteen thousand enemy forces were captured. Well, it was not expected that our armed forces would think of another operation so soon, let alone think of an operation twice or multiple times bigger than [Operation] Fath ol-Mobin. But this happened. When we take a look at the Liberation of Khorramshahr, [we see] that it was a miraculous event. It was truly miraculous. After the Liberation of Khorramshahr, some mediators, some presidents and the like came [to Iran]. Mr. Sékou Touré, who was a senior, important personality in Africa, came and told me: “Today, your situation is different from yesterday, because of the Liberation of Khorramshahr,” meaning that the field of conversation is a different field.
The greatness of the victory of Khorramshahr captivates the eyes, but I want to say that more important than the victory of Khorramshahr, or at least just as important, are the events of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas — the operation that led to the victory of Khorramshahr, those sacrifices, those initiatives, those war preparations and plans which, in my opinion, should be taught in war universities.
Finding the middle way, paralyzing the enemy, encircling the enemy, resisting and standing up against shortages of forces and weapons, and the dignified martyrs that we had in this operation are very important. People should actually read [the relevant books]. I don’t know if you, dear brothers and sisters, have time to read the books about this operation. In my opinion, take the time to read — there is room for this. If you have the privilege to conduct election campaigns in your own city, and go talk to the people with peace of mind, and then people go to the polling booths with peace of mind and write your name down on the ballet, and then you come to the parliament for four years, if all these things happen, it is because of those sacrifices, those martyrdoms, and those self-devotions in the true sense of the word. When, for example, the battalion commander feels that his forces are worn out in the middle of the battle, that they don’t have facilities, that they don’t have equipment, and that the enemy is approaching their embankment with two hundred tanks, he comes and stands up on the embankment and speaks with his forces in order to raise their morale. These are at best easy to say. These great works, these moves that are honestly beyond the natural human endurance — that is, the natural human endurance is not as high — these are very great. Do not let them become obsolete. You are sitting on a high minbar [pulpit] — the minbar of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Your voice reaches the whole country, or even the world. Don’t let these great events and great glories get old, faded, and forgotten. Well, God willing, may the Khordad 3rd be a happy occasion to all Iranian people.
Anyway, I have written down a few things to say. The first one is about the issue of the law. There are two or three points that I will say on this. The second point is about the 11th Islamic Parliament, which is your parliament Majlis. The third one is some pieces of advice that I will offer. Of course, many of these things that I will be telling you today have been said many times. Last year, I said a lot of things here, and this was the case in the previous years as well. After all, it is necessary to listen and remind and repeat per se.
Regarding the law and the importance of legislation, I must say that although it is true that you believe the Islamic Parliament has two jobs — legislation and supervision, in the sense “supervision” is defined in the law — the status of legislation is much higher than supervision. The main job of the Islamic Parliament is legislation. What is the philosophy of law? Why do we need laws at all? Because stability in life is a vital necessity. If there is no stability and the society is unpredictable, no planning can be done. Planning is based on being able to be certain about the future, so that you can have mid-term or long-term plans. How do you become certain? Through law. The law lays down rules for all issues — economic issues, political issues, cultural issues, etc. This is the [definition of] law. If there is no law, life will be completely disrupted. It is known in the world that bad law is better than lawlessness. While bad law is a major plague, it is said to be better than lawlessness. So the issue of legislation is very important. Legislation allows the general public, various cultural and economic institutes and enterprises, and states and governments officials to plan their own lives. The law [is important]. This is the importance of legislation. Well, if there is no law, there would be banality and chaos obviously. It is well-known that legislation is rail laying; I have said this repeatedly as well. Mr. Qalibaf said this in his remarks as well. This is true nonetheless. However, laying rails means preparing the path for the executive forces of the country to tread this path. But there is a characteristic in laying rails, and that is that the person who moves on the rail no longer has the power to go left or right — the train moves on the rail — while our executive officials and governments throughout history violate some laws. So, in fact, let’s say [legislation] is road construction. Anyway, it is to specify the path.
Legislation has a relation with general policies, because there is something in the Constitution called general policies. This question sometimes arises that what do the general policies do? What does legislation do? The answer is what I’ll say now. The general policies determine the direction, legislation identifies the ways and roads to move in this direction. This is the difference. For example, the general policies say we should go toward the north. But there are many ways toward the north. This government says I choose this way, and that government says I choose this [other] way. No problem. That is why the general policies have the capacity for all managerial tastes and methods. This parliament says I choose this law for this [issue], and another parliament may choose another law. This is the difference. Well, it is very important that the direction should not be forgotten. The law should not deviate from that “direction.” This is the relationship between policymaking and legislation.
Well, drafting and passing legislation have certain principles, which of course are included in legislative policies. Of course, those policies should become law, which unfortunately has not happened and has been delayed for several years. One of the things that must be done is passing legislation for the process of legislation — passing legislation for the process of legislation, so that it is clear how legislation is done.
In the general policies [of legislation announced on Sep. 28, 2019], which were prepared in consultation with the Expediency Council and numerous experts, I mentioned some points about the characteristics of law, of which I will now present three or four here:
One is the issue of uninterpretability of law. That is, the law should be clear, not in such a way that the parliament would need to ask for its interpretation, which would raise an old discussion. It must have been examined thoroughly, rely on comprehensive expertise, be firm, and be enforceable. One of the characteristics of a good law is being enforceable. If there is a law that cannot be implemented in terms of the country’s financial resources and capacities, then it is not a good law. Well, humans have many wishes, but we must see if we can fulfill these wishes. That is, if, for example, instead of being a member of parliament, you were the minister of a certain government or the president of a certain government, were you able to implement this? This is important. This should be pondered. When we want to make a law, the enforceability of it should be determined. The stability of the law is one of its characteristics. Of course, the law must be updated and there’s no doubt about it. But updating the law is one thing, successive changes, adding notes to it and the like is another thing, which makes it fall out of legality. It must be revised. It must be without conflicts. Well, these are musts. From these musts the must-nots can be understood.
One of the things that must not be done is the accumulation of laws, which they now mentioned as well, and I had received a report that the laws are being revised by artificial intelligence to eliminate these conflicts, which are caused by the accumulation of laws. For example, a single issue comes in the budget law of the year, say, in the environmental law, and in some [other] laws. Well, these laws may not be compatible with each other. When remedying the contrasts between different laws is delayed, the person who wants to abuse it will do so. These law-breaking law experts, as I have repeated many times, are exploiting these loopholes.
Legislation aimed at securing personal interests is one of the plagues, meaning when the law is aimed at securing the interests of a certain class or a certain person or a certain group. These are the plagues of the law that must be taken care of.
I already gave a tiny reminder to friends — I don’t remember whether it was last year or the previous meeting — about the issue of accumulating plans. I said don’t let plans be more than bills. Well, when the bill comes, in fact, the government itself is saying “I can do this,” but it is not the case with plans. It is possible that you prepare a plan with a lot of effort, then pass that plan in the parliament with a lot of effort, and then when it reaches the government it says, well, for example, I can’t do this or it won’t be implemented. It means that the efforts came to nothing. The fact that I said it must be implementable partly means reducing the plans. Well, of course, there must be plans in some cases, which I will mention later. There are cases where if the parliament does not act quickly and refer the plan, the whole country will be in limbo. But the general policy should be that the parliament focuses more on the bills than on the plans.
One of the plagues of legislation, which is also quite clear to our friends, is legislators getting overwhelmed by the atmosphere. Getting overwhelmed by the atmosphere. Sometimes, the propaganda of the propagandists — whether they are enemies or those who are not enemies but are involved in propaganda and such things anyway — creates a particular atmosphere. This should not affect the morale of the legislator. That’s my argument. That “they will get upset,” “this will happen among people,” and “so-and-so will protest or object” should not affect the legislation whatsoever. [That is] getting overwhelmed by the atmosphere, or factional considerations, or various forms of tribalism.
Well, tribalism exists. It also exists in the Islamic Parliament. It has existed both in your parliament and in previous parliaments. There is no solution. After all, there are different tastes. One group thinks about issues in one way, and another group in another way. These tribal loyalties, which are inevitable to some extent, should not affect legislation. They repeat the word bipolarity — well that’s what bipolarity means. Bipolarity does not mean taste differences. Well, there are always taste differences, as has always been. Bipolarity means when these taste differences arise, and instead of thinking about what is right and expedient in making every decision, we think about the status of our group, as in “our group wants it like this, so it must be done like this.” And whether it is right or not and whether it is expedient or not [does not matter]. This is what bipolarity means. Well, these were about legal issues. The law should be drafted in a healthy way, in a pure way, in the name of God, and for God. It should be drafted in this way, and if this happens, then the law will be blessed. If the law is drafted and passed with these considerations and good intentions, it will be truly blessed. The governments will then be forced to implement it. This was one point.
The next point is about the current parliament. From the beginning of the formation of this parliament, I expressed my faith in and my fondness for this parliament, which was based on awareness. I said that the parliament is a revolutionary parliament. After three years, I am still repeating the same thing. Thank God, this parliament is a revolutionary, literate, young, energetic, and hard-working parliament. Of course, the judgments that humans make about an assembly are based on seeing the [entire] assembly. There may always be some exceptions. We don’t consider those exceptions. When you take a look at the assembly, in its entirety, you’d see that this parliament is truly a revolutionary parliament. Now, from all corners, left and right, a snide or sideline remark is made against the parliament. Let them say these. You can’t expect everyone to praise you. No. There will be opposition anyway, but the fact of the matter is what I said. That is, based on the information and awareness that I have, this parliament truly has these characteristics.
The 11th Parliament has recognized the country’s problems. That’s what’s important. The country’s problems have been recognized and the law has been established based on the recognition of problems. The description given by Mr. Qalibaf — who had already sent me a detailed report before; [of course] I do have reports from other places as well, it is not just from the parliament — of the things that have been done, of the laws that have been approved or are currently in the process of being approved, all of these indicate familiarity with the country’s problems. When one knows about the problems, they will establish the law based on the problem. The aim of these laws has been to fight corruption, to eliminate discrimination and monopolization, to improve the business environment and for other economic issues. Clear and decisive opinions have been given on these laws and they have been decreed and approved. This is also important. In other words, there are no considerations, cover ups and things like that in the legislation. Everything is clear and elucidated.
Some of these laws that you have approved are strategic laws. They are not temporary. They are strategic laws for the country that are truly worthy of respect and praise, both in the economic and non-economic fields. In all of them. The Strategic Action law to lift sanctions, which was approved right in the beginning [of the 11th Consultative Assembly’s term], is a fundamental and important resolution that saved the country from a state of quandary with regards to the nuclear issue. It abolished that state of quandary and perplexity. When there is perplexity and bewilderment, people make decisions for every single step, and sometimes the decisions are conflicting.
This law clearly defined what we need to do and we are still seeing signs of it around the world. Or the Family and Youth Protection law, which is one of the crucial laws in the true sense of the word. I have said this for many years but your legislation is different to the things I say. What I say is [understood] like a recommendation in some cases, [but] your legislation is enforceable and mandatory. It needs to be practiced. It is a very important law. Or the Knowledge-Based Production Leap law. These are strategic laws. There are other laws of this kind which are strategic.
One of the distinguishing features of the 11th Parliament that I insist on mentioning is that they lead simple lives. I mean as far as I have been informed, with respect to most of the members of this parliament, they exhibit little or no aristocratic behavior and they do not look down at people or ignore them. Now, like I said before, there are exceptions. I can see these exceptions before my eyes right now. But that is the general approach they have. This general approach is a very good thing. Maintain these features. What I would like to say is stay connected with the people, maintain this humility that you have toward the public, keep listening to what they have to say. Of course, listening to what people have to say is different to making promises to them, you know! In other words, it should not be such that when you are sitting in your own city in your own constituency, and they come complaining to you, you keep giving them promises. No, you won’t be able to keep this promise. Sometimes the Islamic Parliament won’t be able to keep it either, nor will the entire system. Don’t make promises. Listen to them, say you will do your best to solve their problems. Listen to what the people have to say with a smile on your face, without frowning or scowling.
Some frowned and scowled at people! [There is a poem by Saib Tabrizi] where he says:
If you cannot untie a knot, do not become another knot
If you do not have a giving hand, at least have a smiling fac
In other words, greeting people with kindness and a smile, these are very valuable and important. Maintain these things. These strengths — which I mentioned and you know better than I do — I said these things because I want you to continue like this in the final year [of your term in parliament].
The final year is a critical year. I might say a few words about this final year later on. One of the country’s problems is the final year of the parliament, which is about to have elections and the people’s opinions and things like that. Therefore, you should maintain the strengths you have in this final year. You entered [the parliament] in a decent manner, so leave in a decent manner. “And say, ‘My Lord! Admit me with a worthy entrance, and bring me out with a worthy departure’” (Quran 17:80). Let it be like that, God willing. What remains for a person from the job he/she does is this. Whether we get elected in the next round or not, these are worldly issues. It is of little significance. What matters is that the Almighty God is satisfied with what we have done so far regardless of whether or not we get elected into Islamic Parliament later on. That is what is important. So, that is the second issue. The third issue, there are some recommendations which I have already spoken about. There are a few more that I will share with you. Of course, like I said, I have already shared these recommendations with you before.
The first recommendation is about the type of relationship that the Parliament has with the other branches of government, especially with the executive branch. This is that fundamental matter. The type of relationship they have must be arranged. A dichotomy exists here: Rapprochement and destruction. One view is the rapprochement view, while the other view is the destructive view.
In the destructive view, the branches of government look at each other as rivals. Now, it is seen less in the judiciary. It is mainly between the executive and legislative branches where they perceive each other as rivals with the aim of uprooting each other. This view is dangerous. It might arise from either the government or the Islamic Parliament. So, in this incorrect view, both parties are able to create problems.
Administrations sometimes consider Islamic Parliament as a redundant, obtrusive entity and sometimes they act obstinately. Many years ago, one of the honorable speakers of the parliament complained to me that the administration of the time, would not give them any bills and that they were left with no work. It’s true! A parliament was formed whose composition was not what that administration desired. The administration would not cooperate. It wouldn’t propose any bills. This is why I said that parliament Majlis bills sometimes become obligatory.
When the administration doesn’t propose any bills, the solution to this is that you need to constantly prepare and approve one bill after another and announce it. One of the ways that an administration can annoy the parliament is to not propose any bills. Naturally, when there is no bill, the country will be left in suspense. This is a real example, it’s an example of what has happened. Or [sometimes] a law is devised, it is announced, [but then] they [administrations] put it away and lock it inside a drawer! They don’t implement it. Or there might be some laws that have been promulgated but it has been a while since its regulations have not been determined. A law cannot be enforced if there are no regulations. Regulations must be prepared and handed over for implementation but sometimes it does not happen. These are things that sometimes take place on the administration side.
As for the Islamic Parliament, sometimes there is excessive use of monitoring tools. Well, yes, you have monitoring tools, tools such as questionings, warnings, and impeachments. These need to be used at the right time, these are the parliament's tools. The parliament has no choice, it needs these in order to manage the country’s affairs, but it should not use them excessively. Ministers from different administrations have repeatedly come to me, complaining about the numerous questions that have been asked of them. They say that most of their time is spent on answering these questions either in the parliament commissions or in the full session.
Or suppose, for example, that a minister has received a vote of confidence from the Islamic Parliament and a few months later — three or four months later — the same minister is impeached! What is the reason for this impeachment? What can a ministry achieve in three months that the absence of it would warrant an impeachment? This is an example of the excessive use of monitoring tools and other such examples that is best not to repeat them. So, this is one way of looking at things. It is a destructive view; it is a view that perceives the other side as a rival. Another view is to see the entire system of governance as one body. [As Saadi says:]
If one member is inflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain (Golestan, Ch. 1)
Our governing system is like a body: One entity is its heart, the other is its brain, and one is its neural network. These all need to work together. If they fail to complement one another, the brain will not work without the help of the heart, and the heart and neural networks will not work without help from the brain. They need to complement each other. This is one way of looking at it. It is a correct view, the real view.
So, my first and foremost recommendation is that the parliament's view during this year — now you are in the fourth and final year of your term in parliament, [what I mean is] the parliament's view in general, whether it is you or anyone else — should be based on cooperation and synergy. Of course, I have given the same word of advice to the administration and the judiciary and now I am giving you this recommendation. The administration bears the burden of implementation, you are well aware of that. Some of you have worked in the executive branch, either as a minister or as a manager. You used to work in the executive branch, and you know that the executive branch is not the same as the legislative branch. You see hard work and efforts being made there, there is work pressure, there are expectations and demands that need to be met. You need to be mindful of the executive branch and refrain from certain disputes that are illogical.
Sometimes, we see that when the parliament cooperates with the administration, some spiteful individuals here and there immediately write in the newspapers and on social media that the parliament has lost its independence, the parliament is on the administration’s side! Do not pay any attention to these. These words are either said intentionally or because they are oblivious of what is best for our system of governance.
One of the things that I insist on is this issue of [unnecessary] strictness regarding the ministers that are presented to parliament. Sometimes there is an unnecessary strictness regarding the minister proposed by the administration, which causes the ministry to remain without a minister for a long time and to be managed by an interim minister instead. Well, this is harmful for the country. We need to be vigilant, we need to recognize people’s competencies, there is no doubt about that, but we also need to be meticulous within a reasonable limit. Now, we currently do not have ministers in some of our ministries and they will all [eventually] come to the parliament.
Another thing that I would like to mention is that this independence and straightforwardness that you have maintained is very good. The independence and straightforwardness of this parliament is good. Combine this independence and straightforwardness with piety and honesty. So, if you are going to say something, it is best to state it clearly and openly, but be honest and pious at the same time.
The Holy Quran states: “Indeed those who want indecency to spread among the faithful …” (24:19). If there is something that can be relayed to the organizations in charge, the intelligence agencies, and government agencies, if something can be prevented in this manner, then there is no need to make it public. It is, however, necessary in some places, but even then, piety and honesty need to be observed. Sometimes, we want to slap a certain official in the face for example, [and while doing so], we slap the parliament. In other words, harming an individual sometimes results in harming the parliament. Isn’t it a pity for a parliament that works this hard to be damaged? So, it is not right to damage a person’s reputation, nor is it permissible to attack a person’s religious and revolutionary identity. Of course, these words are not limited to you. It concerns the entire country — all people from all walks of life. However, people like you and I who sit on high minbars where everyone can hear us, we need to be more mindful of this.
My next recommendation is about the “final year” issue that I mentioned before. Do not allow reputation-seeking to affect your words and promises. [You might think] that now that I have said this or that, people will like me and there is a higher chance that they will vote for me. Remove this from your mind! This is one of the important and necessary jihads that you need to do. That is another recommendation.
My last word of advice to you is that this year until next year — now we have the elections at the end of the year, but the next few months are important — you have great tasks ahead of you. One [of these tasks] is the Seventh National Development Plan. The other, is this year’s slogan — the issue of inflation control and growth in production. These are very important tasks. There is also the matter of these unfinished bills. It was pointed out that some of these bills and proposals are in the process of being approved, but they have not been ratified yet. Well, these need to get somewhere.
This final year, is an opportunity for you to look back and see if there has been a gap that has been left in the last two-three years, see if any mistakes have been made. If so, try to make up for it during this final year that you have ahead of you. You entered the Majlis with honor, and God willing, you will leave the Majlis with honor as well.
God’s greetings, mercy, and blessings be upon you.
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