Insight from Buj
Over at UAE community blog, Buj has some very insightful comments on the churning of the UAE immigrant population:
An anonymous commenter gives the opposing point of view:
Imagine having 50% of the country's population replaced every 6 yrs? That's madness. You bring in new diseases, you bring in totally new people with possibly worse driving etiquette than the status quo, you erode the already eroding Arabic language, etc, etc.
Why not work on who we have and try to KEEP them here. I want to keep every steel-fixer, hod-carrier, plumber, taxi driver, company director, etc.
Let's educate them. Let's teach the principle of lane discipline. Let's teach the principle that bad driving can be lethal. Let's teach them to live with each other rather than in parallel but separate worlds. The list goes on.
To conclude I think our problems in the UAE are because of the volatile situation of people migration. If we cool it down and encourage the right people to stay (rather than the wrong people to leave) then we'd be going forward :)
An anonymous commenter gives the opposing point of view:
Here is the problem, the more u stay for a long time here and then u demand more rights.
Labels: demographic imbalance, labor market
posted by John B. Chilton at 10/08/2007 08:17:00 AM
3 Comments:
Well, of course I would demand more rights. I have come to Dubai and worked at several firms before deciding to start my own company.
I employ 16 people in our Dubai office -- all of whom are bachelor degree holders at the very least (ie. this is not a low-level type of business).
I would like to think that I am contributing to the economy of the UAE. My presence, my ideas and innovation are enriching the economy of the UAE.
So, why wouldn't I demand more rights?
Let me put it differently -- as a result of this type of attitude towards immigration, I have already started executing my exit strategy. I lost the interest in being a part of this, when they don't want me to be.
Makes no sense.
Agree with all of BuJ's views - he's hit the nail on it's sweetest spot!
As someone who was born/raised in a single nation for the first 25 years of his life (am 31 today), it almost incomprehensible, not having the option to call this place as a *home* in it's truest sense. I cannot express how unsettling it's to grow up thinking this way.
All my growing up, teenage and most adult memoirs are held in this tiny nation. My parents have been in the UAE since 1969, they are both retired, and continue to live in UAE. Today, I live in Manhattan - but UAE is my home, hometown, whatever you chose to call it. There is not a single day, I don't think, debate or check upon UAE. It's a part of me that I can't get rid off, even if I wanted to (believe me, I've tried : )
Personally, I couldn't care less of rights/benefits enjoyed by citizenry. The only right I seek is the right/option to live, work and make a home in a place where I was born and raised. Don't care for naturalization - a resident process is most preferred, so I can switch or ditch a job without the fear of "visa cancellation".
Beyond all the glam sham in Dubai, UAE is a beautiful country with a simple, honest and giving soul. I connect with it, like no other.
Whilst "rights" is not defined by the annonymous commentator, it is disappointing to see that he/she feels it is appropriate deny rights to some members of the community. Perhaps it is the "the right to be paid for work done" or "the right to live in a villa regardless of bachelor status"...I could go on?
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