Someone calling for "identity" :p

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html?r=1&scp=1&sq=Emirates&st=cse&oref=slogin


This article is indeed very interesting, yet provocative. It adds to some of the points made in the post before this one regarding the economy.

What really pulls the nerve out of me is how one the persons quoted says he is worried about the future of the country and it also says how they like the wealth and fancy cars but not the social change….!! Well excuse me…but if it wasn’t for this massive inflow of expatriate workforce in the country, working day and night…this country would not even have a future…and the statistics presented regarding how little Emiratis work and just “own” is very indicative of this. In addition, they make it sound like they are victims in this whole game…it is by their consent that the economy is operating the way it is, they never cared, they are the king of the castles, however, now that things are getting tough and this castle is on brink, they are complaining about “social change” instead of looking inward and improving themselves. This btw sheds strong light on the article “cursed by oil” even though Friedman puts Dubai as an exception to his theory, I am sure he is not aware that the actual people of the country are indeed cursed and just residing on oil.

And then again we hear “tax free income” yes it is, for the Emiratis it is, not expatriates, for the government does a good job in getting that tax elsewhere, through toll roads, rent, fees etc. so stop displaying this “tax free” as a good characteristic of the country, I can count many other brilliant things this country does indeed have other than that.

Regarding the working hours, I was tempted to post the link for this article which I read last month, http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/08/10/05/10249843.html it makes me laugh that they have the audacity to even say anything.

However, the first article could have been written in a better way and from a different perspective. Yes it is only natural and true that social change does happen with this great influx of people in the country, and this is not a problem only the Emiratis are facing, but rather everyone here that comes from elsewhere. For this diversity to sustain and benefit, a melting pot is bound to happen, and it is this tolerance and diversity that I admire about U.A.E. It is also important to remember that this identity problem is not only happening in the U.A.E. but rather in many countries, even with majority of the population as nationals, and this is due to globalization. So this calls for finding measures to preserve and flourish one’s culture and identity instead of approaching it with an attack on expatriates, blaming them for this “social change” and finding measures to get rid of them.