Where Is Al-Sharaa (Farouk)?

Last Ramadan, I had a conversation with my colleague Abdullah Al-Bandar on his show, "Mekhyal." The discussion revolved around my professional journey and the political figures I met along the way. My young host asked about my friendship with the former Syrian Vice President Farouk Al-Sharaa at length. I told him that he was one of the most successful politicians I had ever seen and that Bashar lost out when he removed him from the scene after Hafez Al-Assad's death. I also said that the book Al-Sharaa wrote about his years in the upper echelons of the Syrian government met very high professional standards.
Abdullah asked me if I still see Al-Sharaa. No, I said. For his sake, not mine. Indeed, where and who could I ask about him? In Syria, as in Soviet Russia and other similar regimes, a brilliant man can cease to exist overnight and become a "non-person."
I talked about how I first met Farouk, in Jakarta during the 1994 Non-Aligned Movement conference, at his initiative, and about how I later visited him in Damascus. I also discussed the warm reception he gave me.
After years of complete erasure, no one had expected Farouk Al-Sharaa to reappear. He had faded from the scene like all of the others who had fallen out of favor. People forget that history never ceases to bring surprises, and that despots make the decisions, not destiny. Ahmed Al-Sharaa emerged out of Syria's box of great surprises. Then the forgotten began to return. Farouk Al-Sharaa reappeared, laughing from behind the fallen iron curtain.
I re-watched the "Mekhyal" interview yesterday to ensure that I had not disavowed Farouk Al-Sharaa, who had been erased in the primitive media that refuses to leave the Stone Age, for fear that doing so would leave it shivering and crumbled. And indeed, it shivered and crumbled.
Farouk Al-Sharaa is now eighty-six. The future is behind him, and wisdom is ahead of him. The wise can offer much to those in power. Responsibilities of such magnitude require the vitality of a forty-year-old and the experiences of an eighty-year-old.
The return of Farouk Al-Sharaa sends many signals. But the developments unfolding in this new Syria are truly astonishing. It is as though we are watching a film reel moving swiftly and smoothly, with precise presentation and perfect detail.