Saudi crown prince pledges return to moderate Islam, in powerful rebuke to strict clerics

Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pledged to make his country “moderate, open”, breaking with ultra-conservative clerics in favour of an image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth.

The Saudi strongman, 32, did not mince words on Tuesday in declaring a new reality for the kingdom, hours after announcing the launch of an independent $500 billion megacity – with “separate regulation” – along the Red Sea coastline.

“We want to live a normal life. A life in which our religion translates to tolerance, to our traditions of kindness,” he told international investors gathered at an economic forum in Riyadh.

“Seventy per cent of the Saudi population is under 30, and honestly we will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas. We will destroy them today and at once,” the crown prince said.

It’s the latest surprise move by Saudi Arabia, a country that for decades was characterised by slow, cautious reforms, bureaucratic red tape and promises that fell short of target. The kingdom was forced to spring into action nearly three years ago after global energy prices fell by more than half, threatening to deplete Saudi foreign reserves and spending power by 2020.

Now, the kingdom is on a mission to build the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund to invest in projects like the new megacity, dubbed Neom.