Domestic affairs
King Khalid's reign was of massive development in Saudi Arabia and therefore, the country became one of the richest countries in that the oil revenues became $40 billion in 1977 and $90 billion in 1980.
King Khalid primarily dealt with domestic affairs with special focus on agricultural development. The industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu were created during the early days of his reign. In 1975 the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu was founded to run the cities, and its first secretary general was Abdullah bin Faisal bin Turki. Jeddah Port Authority was established in September 1976 to expand the capacity of the existing port. The number of schools increased during his reign. In 1975, there were 3,028 elementary schools, 649 secondary schools and 182 high schools. In 1980, there were 5,373 elementary, 1,377 secondary and 456 high schools. The other significant development in the field of education during his reign was the establishment of King Faisal University. The others were the Higher Education Center for Women which was opened in 1976 as well as colleges of medicine and pharmacology established specifically for female students.
Immediately following his ascension to the throne King Khalid issued a general amnesty which allowed the release of political prisoners who had been members of the left wing movements and the return of those who had been in exile to Saudi Arabia. Most of them were arrested during the reign of King Faisal.
In terms of administrative functions King Khalid followed the structure established by King Faisal in which both royals and non-royals occupied significant positions. The political power consolidation of the ruling family was intensified during his reign. However, King Khalid expanded the role of nonroyals in bureaucracy without diminishing the roles of royal family members. These non-royals were mostly graduates of foreign universities, and by 1977 ten of the thirty-six members in the council of ministers were those who received a master's or doctorate degree from Western universities.
The strict financial policies of King Faisal, coupled with the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis, created a financial windfall that fueled development and led to a commercial and economic boom in the country. Notable achievements in his reign included the institution of the second Five-Year Plan in 1975, which aimed to build up Saudi infrastructure and health care. The planned budget for the development plan was $142 billion. Although not all goals were achieved, the second development plan was much more successful than the first one. King Khalid also launched the Kingdom's third development plan with the budget of $250 billion in May 1980.
In a reorganization of the council of ministers on 30 March 1975, King Khalid named Crown Prince Fahd deputy prime minister and Prince Abdullah second deputy prime minister. Appointment of Prince Fahd as both crown prince and first deputy prime minister made him much powerful figure in contrast to the status of King Khaled when he was crown prince under King Faisal reign. Prince Nayef was named minister of interior succeeding Prince Fahd on 30 March 1975. King Khalid also appointed Prince Saud as the foreign affairs minister in March 1975.
In addition to the existing ministerial bodies six new ones were established by King Khalid in October 1975. One of them was the ministry of municipal and rural affairs established, and Prince Majid was appointed minister. Additionally, Prince Mutaib was appointed minister of public works and housing that was also established by King Khalid in October 1975. These two appointments were a move to reduce the power of Sudairi Seven in the cabinet. Besides, the ministry of industry and electricity, the ministry of higher education, the ministry of post, telegraph, and telephone and the ministry of planning were all founded by King Khalid. In the same government reshuffle he removed Prince Musaid, his uncle, from the post of finance minister which he had been held since 16 March 1962, and Mohammed bin Ali Aba Al Khail was made new finance minister. The number of non-royal members of the cabinet was decreased, and only eight royal family members were given ministerial posts in this reshuffle. King Khalid also expanded the internal structure of some ministries. For instance, the Public Security Administration was created in 1976 to preserve the public order and tranquility, to promote of the public health, safety, and morals, and to detect and punish the crimes, and attached it to the ministry of interior.
The members of the inner family council headed by King Khalid included his brothers, namely Prince Mohammad, Crown Prince Fahd, Prince Abdullah, Prince Sultan, and Prince Abdul Muhsin and two of his uncles, Prince Ahmed and Prince Musaid. Prince Mohammad was one of King Khalid's key advisors. In fact, they acted together on almost all political issues. Another of his advisors was Maarouf al-Dawalibi, former Prime Minister of Syria and founder of the Islamic Socialist Front.
Kamal Adham served as the president of Al Mukhabarat Al A'amah or the general intelligence directorate until 19 January 1979 which he had held since 1965. Adham's successor in the post was Turki bin Faisal.
In 1977 a coup attempt by Saudi Air Force personnel, backed by the Libyan Intelligence Service, was discovered and quickly defeated.
Saudi Arabia acquired full control of Aramco in 1980 during his reign and the company was renamed as Saudi Aramco. In March 1980 King Khalid established a constitutional committee with eight members under the presidency of Prince Nayef. However, the committee could not manage to produce the basic law that had been promised. King Khalid implemented a significant policy towards bedouins through a decree dated 15 March 1981 which required them to settle in a fixed place.
In November 1979, Khalid's reign saw two major local incidents which have had significant effects on the politics of Saudi Arabia: the Grand Mosque seizure and the Qatif Uprising.
Some foreign observers thought traditionalism was no longer a strong force in Saudi Arabia. This idea was disproved when at least 500 dissidents invaded and seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca on 20 November 1979. The same day two other raids were made by the groups related to these dissidents in Medina and Taif. The dissidents in Medina were immediately defeated by the Saudi troops. The goal of the dissidents in Taif was to abduct King Khalid who escaped the attack due to the changes in his plans.
When the first news of the attack in Mecca reached Riyadh, the initial reaction of King Khalid was to consult the ulama, to get permission to use military force to eject the attackers. The ulama hesitated and refrained from a definite answer. Only after the assault had been underway for 36 hours did some ulama allow the use of force. At the time of the event, Crown Prince Fahd was in Tunisia for a meeting of the Arab Summit and the commander of the National Guard Prince Abdullah was in Morocco for an official visit. Therefore, King Khalid assigned the responsibility to Prince Sultan, the minister of defense, and Prince Nayef, the minister of interior, to deal with the incident.
The Grand Mosque was regained by Saudi forces on 4 December 1979 and 63 rebels were executed on 9 January 1980 in eight different cities. The executions were decreed by King Khalid after the edict issued by ulemas. Although the Saudi government under King Khalid executed the rebels, the religious establishment that inspired them were given greater powers. And ulema successfully pressed King Khalid to realize their intentions.
In November 1979, Shiites in the Eastern Province, particularly in Qatif and in nearby villages, organized protests. Several demonstrators were arrested. The major reason for the uprising was negative conditions in villages. In the spring of 1979, King Khalid announced an annual budget of 160 billion riyals, indicating that this budget would be employed to improve the living conditions of all Saudi citizens. However, the budget did not make any significant contribution to the services. Instead, the royal family benefitted from the budget. Following the release of the demonstrators in February 1980, King Khalid and Crown Prince Fahd visited the Eastern region from town to town. Due to King Khalid's policy change towards the Shiite population in the region, they positively modified their approach towards the Saudi government and abandoned their oppositional ideas and actions.
