Starting from Scratch

The twin-engined Caribou swoops down from a brilliant blue sky and lands squealing on a pocket airstrip scooped out of volcanic rock or sunbaked sand. Hardly has it braked to a stop when a tall, bearded figure hops out, one hand holding his bright ima-ma, or turban, against the airstream, the other fingering the silver kunjar, or dagger, at his waist. Brown-eyed, gentle Qabus bin Said, 30, absolute monarch of Oman, has arrived on another tour of his sultanate (see color pages). Through such visits the Sultan hopes to strengthen the loyalty of local sheiks and villagers who have never seen their ruler. Equally important, the trips are designed to help Qabus learn about the country he took over last July. At that time Qabus told his 750,000 subjects: "We are going to take you into the 20th century."

Under the despotic reign of his father, Sultan Said bin Taimur, Muscat and Oman* as the country was known before Qabus shortened the name--was not far removed from the 15th century. Fearful that social and economic development would corrupt traditional Islamic values, Said turned his land, perched on the southeastern hump of Arabia near the gates of the Persian Gulf, into a 112,000-sq.-mi. jail.

Muscat and Oman had only six miles of paved roadway, and the Sultan's red 1955 Chrysler Imperial rusted in the palace courtyard for lack of any place to go. Music and dancing were forbidden and women were compelled to wear mid-calf skirts despite summer temperatures of 130DEG F. Electricity and running water were unknown to most people. The xenophobic Said permitted few foreigners in and fewer Omanis out, but an estimated 200,000 subjects managed to flee during the past ten years. Cannons sounded curfew after sundown. With only three schools in the entire sultanate, the population was more than 90% illiterate. Malnutrition, malaria, tuberculosis, trachoma and leprosy were endemic, but there was only one hospital, staffed by American missionaries. Terrified of assassination, the Sultan abandoned his capital of Muscat and barricaded himself farther down the coast in a crumbling palace in the town of Salala. There he stacked machine guns in every room and ventured outside only for furtive walks along a superb white beach. Village girls were brought to the palace and, recalls a visitor, "there was usually a little love in the afternoon with one or another favorite." One room was stocked with hundreds of bottles of Chanel No. 5 along with toys, Swiss watches and a collection of mail order catalogues.

House Arrest. Perhaps the most pitiful prisoner in this royal prison was Qabus. Sent to England at 16, he attended Sandhurst and spent six months as a lieutenant with the British army on the Rhine. When Qabus returned home, he spent four years under virtual house arrest. He sometimes went a full year without seeing his father, yet had to obtain the Sultan's permission even to leave the palace.

Qabus might still be locked in the palace had not Omani rebels, trained in neighboring Southern Yemen by guerrilla warfare experts from Peking, begun fostering unrest. Eventually, operating out of bases in the Dhofar Mountains, the rebels mortared Salala.

"The people didn't know whether to stand by the government in hope or turn against it," Qabus told TIME Correspondent Gavin Scott. "If we had let things go as they were, they could have taken a disastrous turn." With the obvious connivance of the British, who have provided Oman with high-level advisers since 1898, the young prince plotted his father's overthrow. The coup was quick and occurred completely within the palace: a brief gun battle, a chase through the corridors and Said, 60, was off to exile in London.

Double Sessions. As the 14th Sultan in the Al Bu Said dynasty, Qabus is dedicated to a crash program in modernization, using $98 million in annual oil revenues from fields at Fahud to finance it. Qabus has approved contracts for 242 more miles of paved road, begun deepening Muscat harbor and building docks to handle large ships. An 18-room hotel is going up to house visiting businessmen in Muscat. Radio stations have been opened in Muscat and Salala. A weekly newspaper will soon be published, but it will be printed in Beirut for the time being because there has never been a printing press in Oman.

The nation's three schools are now on double sessions and new ones have been opened in mosques and private homes. Some 20,000 pupils are enrolled v. 700 under the old Sultan and 21 dispensaries are being established. Qabus intends to apply for membership in both the Arab League and the U.N. He also hopes to blunt the rebel movement by means of his improvements and by offering amnesty to the estimated 700 guerrillas. He has called his uncle, Tariq ben Taimur, home from voluntary exile to become Prime Minister.

Qabus, who occasionally answers the telephone himself at the palace (Muscat 220), is a curious blend of modernity and tradition. A bachelor, he disapproves of drinking and of modern dancing in public. He prefers robes and turbans to Western dress. Since becoming Sultan he has worn his uniform as commander of the 6,000-man Omani army only once --for a parade in December marking his 30th birthday.

Without destroying tradition, Qabus is determined to catch up to the 20th century. "We are starting from scratch, like a child growing up, and it is going to take a good deal of doing," he said. "Americans are using sophisticated equipment to explore the moon. We in Oman are building our first primary schools."

* Muscat for centuries designated the port and coastal areas of the country; Oman was the highlands. From the town of Muscat the Sultans ruled both, although Omani tribes seeking greater self-rule occasionally rebelled against them.

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