Recently I read a very heated set of debates triggered by Sultan Sooud al Qassemi's article in the Independent Blog as well as repost of the same in UAE Community Blog.
The article and its follow-up comments are perhaps some of the never-ending Dubai-bashing exercise some of us have been mutely observing / reading for quite a few years now! Strangely, I find that whether it was the boom time or the current bust time that Dubai is experiencing, some of the commonly accepted ills are refused to be accepted by the so called "PR-generals" of the City state!
The article and its follow-up comments are perhaps some of the never-ending Dubai-bashing exercise some of us have been mutely observing / reading for quite a few years now! Strangely, I find that whether it was the boom time or the current bust time that Dubai is experiencing, some of the commonly accepted ills are refused to be accepted by the so called "PR-generals" of the City state!
Here are just 2 of the truncated comments posted against the main article:
A couple of months ago my husband was made redundant in Dubai. He owed his company a portion of his housing loan, but his company owed him far more in unpaid salary/redundancy/ contract etc... They refused to hand this over until he paid up. We went to the Labour Tribunal twice (holding of passports is illegal in U.A.E law), Court, Police, Human rights... At the British Embassy we were told to pay up and keep quiet... if there was a family emergency in the U.K. my husband would not be able to leave the country. ...Perhaps Dubai jails would have more people in them if Emiratis were punished properly for the crimes they commit against expats. I could mention the case of the woman wilfully run over twice by an unnamed Emirati driving a Hummer who only received 10 years, reduced to 7 on appeal for premeditated murder... ..."
I lived in Dubai for many years... The bubble has certainly burst... Dubai was once a quiet, soulful town full of culture, opportunity and promise. In its' speed for greed and wealth it has now become the most artificial and superficial place on the planet... a haven for prostitution, slavery and vulgar displays of wealth. It makes 'sun city' look real! Prostitution is so rife, in this so called 'Muslim' country.... The Emiratis and their fellow GCC comrades seem to think any semi-attractive western woman under 40 in Dubai is on the game...
Slavery is rife and the conditions for construction workers are appalling. When you drive past the construction sites they look like the walking dead...- dubainow
I feel there's a lot of truth in the above comments, since I myself faced the similar situations of dubainow, 7 years ago, which made me more cautious! Recently I visited Sonapur - which has now turned notorious after BBC documentary / report - and was shocked even by the overall state of things! You don't have to even go inside each labour compound - the mere location of the camps (adjacent to a massive graveyard), the dusty and muddy state of roads /approach and even the treatment given by RTA to these hapless laborers (e.g. the twin sheltered bus-stand nearer to emirates Road didn't have ACs) were signals enough for anyn new person to understand the contrasts one is encountering here!
Having lived in this country for so long, and to a large extent indebted to the growth I experienced, I fail to understand why these problems are dealt with a superficial attitude! Isn't it this lackadaisical attitude and the failure to attack these problems giving enough chances to the buzz creators to talk negative again and again?
No matter whatsoever way a community, city or a nation progresses, if the leadership is unable to uplift the bottom-most section of society, there will be increasing chances that sooner or later the economy is going to crumble! It's not only true for Dubai, but also true for all the developing as well as developed world! Similarly, if the people responsible to take control of the "cultural law and order" are not doing enough, soon the sense of security and peace - the two most prized possessions of UAE - will crumble!
Since this is a recession time, activities would far lower due to slower economic growth. Therefore it's the most opportune moment / time to sit back, listen carefully and start finding permanent solutions and acting on them with an iron hand! Go ahead! Stop losing out!
Having lived in this country for so long, and to a large extent indebted to the growth I experienced, I fail to understand why these problems are dealt with a superficial attitude! Isn't it this lackadaisical attitude and the failure to attack these problems giving enough chances to the buzz creators to talk negative again and again?
No matter whatsoever way a community, city or a nation progresses, if the leadership is unable to uplift the bottom-most section of society, there will be increasing chances that sooner or later the economy is going to crumble! It's not only true for Dubai, but also true for all the developing as well as developed world! Similarly, if the people responsible to take control of the "cultural law and order" are not doing enough, soon the sense of security and peace - the two most prized possessions of UAE - will crumble!
Since this is a recession time, activities would far lower due to slower economic growth. Therefore it's the most opportune moment / time to sit back, listen carefully and start finding permanent solutions and acting on them with an iron hand! Go ahead! Stop losing out!
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