2 December 2009

38

To the country thats built miracles out of the emptiness of the desert, thats caught the eyes of the world, the country that has achieved what they said was impossible, a country that makes us proud to stand up & say I'M ARAB. Happy National Day UAE!



Just a few short words to mark the 38th national day of the United Arab Emirates. Given I've lived a good 5 years there, went to college, took my first job, setting up an office there now, and much more.. It's still one amazing place.

Whether its the astounding world class developments of Dubai, or the serenity of a walk across the Buhairah in Sharjah, the magnificent achievements of Abu Dhabi, or any of the other states. You are truly an inspiration.

Some may try to stain the name, especially with the financial problems of last week; but again, that is the state of the whole world. Sooner rather than later will the UAE be back and bringing glory once again to its people and to all Arabs.

Happy 38th, UAE.




Sent via BlackBerry® from Batelco

9 comments:

Heba AlSamt said...

Thank you so much for the kind words and wishing us a happy national day .. Thank you again and happy national day for you in advance

Rez said...

This is the country that built concrete jungles off the bloods of slaves who are working 12 hours a day on wages as low as 50BD AND caught the eyes of quick buck inventors like a casino in Vegas, This is a country that was a bare desert ruled by 5 major bedouin families and only united into one because the British made them to get their wealth. This is a country with a emirate in very deep state of debt that has to default all its payments in a very long time. This is a country with the laziest ever local workforce in the region (if not the world) and relied on foreign tradesmen.this is to the each of the emirate's 250,000 locals responsible for 400,000 USD in foreign debt. This is to the country with one of the most ludacris judiciary system in the reigon. This is a country that is willing to put reporters behind bars for telling the unplugged truth of the financial.

Oh and you know what they are not innovators, they're IMITATORS

Anonymous said...

What glory?
- The exploitation of migrant workers? Not paying their wages? Putting them in labor camps which resemble the Jewish ghettos of Hitler's time?
- The lack of transparency when it comes to financial regulations and laws?
- Laws that put people in jail if they don't pay their debts?
- Lack of democracy?
- Racism?
- Building an economy based on the advertising and marketing of properties?
- Money laundering?
- Inflating property prices in the Gulf region?
- Lack of naturalization laws for expatriates?
- A country where its nationals are only 20% of the population with the rest of the population having no loyalty to the UAE whatsoever?
- Building Vegas like developments instead of investing in education, research and development, and manufacturing - the real backbones of a developed economy?

What is there to like about Dubai? I am happy with what happened.

Anonymous said...

I completely agree with Rez and anonymous.

A country that makes you proud to be an Arab? Are you out of your mind!? There is no such thing.

Heba AlSamt said...

Rez & Anonymous: 1st of all we are proud bedouin families, history and our leaders and yes we are innovators .. Bring me a country with such achievements, accomplishments and pride .. Thanks for your words which gives us more reason to be strong! We Emiratis are PROUD and people like you give us strength!!!!!!!! {IMITATORS lol)
Dubai is a world center of culture, banking and trade. The genius and creativity behind these structures is truly amazing. This post is just to enjoy the architecture, and the view. What glory you say look around and open your eyes and you'll see unless your eye is blurred!

Dubai will survive and recover. Dubai is an inspiration and vision of a great leader and ruler HH Sheik Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Although Dubai will struggle to rebuild, this unfortunate moment will make the community and people stronger. For those who say the world lost confidence in Dubai, I want to say "get real, who has lost confidence in dubai? No one apart from the media of-course who only few years ago have been sucking up to Dubai."

To those who consider to be stronger economies than Dubai, why did bankruptcy and bailouts pop up in those economies in the recent past? If they had such good systems and strategies in place, why did they go through a phase which shook the whole world for reasons unknown to them?

We will never be put down by global media bashing, we will never surrender. We will grow stronger. The whole world will then witness the rise of a new city, a new society, a new economy, and a stronger country.

Gladiius said...

Rez, Anonymous and Evil:

There is no a single country that is totally perfect and even individuals are not infallible. Our leaders tried their best endeavor to make this country progressed the way it is today.

Regarding financial crisis, all people of the UAE, Emirati and Expats were suffering with no exception. Thankfully, that most of the problems and the underlying causes behind these problems are been taking into consideration. I am sorry that you have such views about our beloved country but we still believe in giving chances because there is always chance for improvements. The majority is working so hard in fixing, rebuilding and improving and it’s totally unfair to underestimate these efforts.

Adela said...

I was sorry to read these comments. It's a pity that people are so extreme in their views. True, Dubai is not perfect and mistakes have been made -as in all countries! Some of the things anonymous pointed out are true and should be addressed. But to express satisfaction at Dubai's troubles!?!? That's completely destructive and in complete misalignment with our brotherhood and membership in humanity!

We should not shy away from criticism. However, it should be constructive. If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem.

We should not forget the wonderful things that Dubai has achieved and continues to achieve.

I'm proud of Dubai, aware that there is room for improvement and striving to be part of that improvement and continued success.

Unknown said...

Though some angry words have been used, Im actually glad that all have been motivated to write. Instead of easily ignoring posts, you all cared enough to write something to the best of your knowledge. After all, if we dont communicate with each other, how can we seek practical, implemental solutions?

Labor law, human trafficking, and economic opportunity are all important topics that can only be best addressed when we agree to work together for the optimal solutions at each point in history. If we truly desire progress, first, we must admit that these issues are larger than any one of us. Second, even if it feels strange at first, we need to collaborate. Let's share ideas, have compassion, and think strategically.

I believe everyone on this thread is fundamentally good. Our differences of opinion come from having different exposure, experiences, and information. Perhaps the posts above were written to help more than hurt. But I think we can do better than this. I am your neighbour, sister, colleague, classmate, and family. By helping each other, we help ourselves.

Let's speak specifically about the segment recruited from India for construction labor.

Basically we have a system in place that needs improvement. Which organizations can influence this system?

1. Government of India
2. Government of the UAE
3. Labor recruiting agencies (middle men)
4. Laborers who have returned to India
5. Current laborers
6. Families of laborers
7. General public in India
8. General public in the UAE
9. International watchdog agencies
10. Others.

Each of these groups can and wants to undertake specific responsibilities to improve the current system. Also, each group needs to buttress and coordinate efforts by others. So far, I know that Groups 1 & 2 above have collaborated a lot in the past two years for legal requirements of living standards and health care for laborers. And I was extremely upset to learn that perhaps the biggest weaknesses (criminal activity) in the process occurred with Group 3.

Like Adela says above, I'm proud of Dubai.

We're stronger and smarter when we work together. Don't give up, and this is only the beginning.

Rez said...

ĄηğэĻĭšTїÇ and all you fairy god mothers I appreciate your naive views but your comment does not prove anything new. Saying that you are proud bedouins only enforces my point as being lazy bums willing to play with people's lives as if they were animals (hint Shaikh hamad bin zayed and the Afghan businessman)If we give you strength that must mean you do not know where to feed your self-absorbing ego.

there are loads of nations that built themselves and in timely order such as the united kingdom, united states, germany, france, hell even China India and Brazil qualify but to say the UAE is the innovators is like saying cows can fly.

you are right no economy is immune against the financial crisis but then again most of these countries that were hit the hardest have a strong industry backbone to keep the money flowing.

Look anyone can build huge towers but the main challenge is filling them up and getting a return on investment. Creating false demand only increases inflation unless you really don't give a shit about your arab neighbors who actually HAVE a majority hard-working local populous contribution to the economy.

Now please get off your sick horses and accept the fact that you are not the light at the end of the tunnel. You are like a Ponzi scheme gone wrong. A trading port city with the mentality of Lindsay Lohan. Oh and if the Sunday Times actually creates a funny cartoon of sheikh mohamed don't take it too seriously and ban the goddamn newspaper lol.