I have taken up the task of penning a eulogy for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who has passed away at the age of 90. One may have to pardon my insufficient zeal, which is somewhat blunted by the King’s performance in the last 14 years of his reign.

Ascending to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah was hailed as a “reformer”. Some steps were taken to help the Kingdom reach up to the social standard expected of an economically stable country in the 21st century.

Women were allowed to vote – 2015 may be the first time Saudi women get to exercise this right, if all goes as planned. It might not seem like a great deal in the given time period where suffrage is considered rather pedestrian, but for the ultraconservative Saudi system, it finally means that the Kingdom will no longer be a total masculocracy.

Explore: Looking back: The political life of late King Abdullah

Also, disregarding the ire of more conservative sheikhs, King Abdullah took the unprecedented step of inaugurating a ‘co-educational’ university at the staggering cost of $12 billion. This, in addition to him spending lavishly on scholarships programs for young Saudis to study in Western universities, may well be his greatest legacy.

His government also spent $130 billion to provide accommodation to poorer citizens, and increased wages to lower level government officials. He even rebuked senior clergymen for failing to speak out against ISIS with deserved ferocity.

Then there were the darker aspects of the Saudi rule, which I hesitate to discuss in a world where posthumous extolment is the norm.

As a long-time critic of Saudi Arabia’s domestic and foreign policies, it would be disingenuous of me to roll out a sappy ode to the deceased monarch, to whom I’ve dedicated much blog space for negative evaluation.

Also read: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia obituary

The punishments handed out by Saudi Arabia have recently been compared with those awarded by ISIS, by an infographic circulating on Twitter. These including lashing, stoning, amputations and beheadings for 'crimes' such as blasphemy, homosexual acts, slander, adultery and witchcraft.