Why I'd rather die than visit Dubai

[NGONGE]

From The TimesDecember 2, 2008

 

 

Sathnam Sanghera

 

 

There are certain places that I would like to visit before I die, Tokyo, Mumbai and Havana among them. But, like grilled cheese sandwiches, I don't travel very well and there are many more places that I would rather die than visit. And, for many years, the city that has topped this list has been Dubai.

 

I know it is popular - it has set itself the target of achieving 15 million tourists by 2015. But whenever residents and tourists start banging on about the great shopping it offers, I can't help thinking that you can also shop very well in Birmingham; when they rave about the climate, I can't help thinking that 48C is too hot; and when they gush about all the plush restaurants to dine out at, I can't help thinking that London has quite a few of those, too.

 

Given that its one remaining attraction - beach life - holds little appeal to a man who can't swim and doesn't need to work on his tan, I would rather go on a cycling tour of Sunderland than spend a week in Dubai. And I was saying just that to a friend last week after a conversation about the Gulf city's property boom - which has fuelled double-digit growth for five years, but is now showing signs of turning to bust - when I was accused, not for the first time, of ignorance and prejudice.

 

So last week I spent an entire day reading newspaper articles and travel guides about Dubai and am now much better informed. And whereas before I would have suggested that people who went there on holiday had absolutely no imagination, and Britons who emigrated there did so because they had essentially failed in their home country, I would now say that British tourists and emigrants to Dubai also:

 

1. Have no taste. The briefest of flicks through any tourist guide to the city reveals that the £1.5billion Atlantis, The Palm resort, the launch of which was recently marked with a £13 million party, and the owners of which reportedly hauled 24 live dolphins 30 hours by air from the Solomon Islands to entertain guests in the new water park (despite protestations from environmental groups), is actually an establishment of considerable sobriety and dignity compared with many other attractions in the city. These include: Dubailand, a £13 billion theme park and entertainment complex three times the size of Manhattan; “The Mall of Emirates”, which, despite the desert climate, has a ski slope attached to it, is kept chilled to minus 2C at night and minus 8C when the snow is being manufactured; and the QE2, which is to be permanently moored on Palm Island to serve as an hotel and events centre, having gone through the kind of makeover that MTV's Pimp My Ride normally reserves for VW Golfs. Frankly, Dubai makes Blackpool look classy.

 

2. Are deeply uncultured. It seems to me that the purpose of the city's many shopping malls, resorts and skyscrapers is to distract visitors from the fact that there is actually little to do or see there. The desert, most travel writers concede, is featureless, the Gulf waters simply do not compare with the Mediterranean or the Red Sea, and the city lacks the historical intrigue of such destinations as Egypt, Italy and Greece. Essentially it is Las Vegas without the sex and the gambling, which is Las Vegas without a point.

 

3. Are unethical. Fans of Dubai often witter on about the lack of crime and the affordable luxury but this comes at a heavy price. The economy - which may turn out to have been literally and metaphorically built on sand - has been propped up by imported labourers who work six or six and a half days a week on 12-hour shifts, toiling in the desert sun for a daily wage that often amounts to no more than the cost of a pint of beer. The city also has no elections and no political parties. And in the UAE it is quite acceptable for employers to specify the preferred nationality or gender of applicants in job advertisements and for Europeans to be paid more than Filipinos or Indians who are doing the same work. All this should leave the piña coladas sipped by the tourists on the balconies of seven-star luxury hotels with a rather bitter aftertaste.

 

4. Are deluding themselves about the city's tolerance. Dubai is often held up as an example of how modern it is possible for Islamic society to be. But case history suggests that it has some way to go before it is challenging Amsterdam for liberalness. The British couple recently convicted of having sex on a beach in Dubai may have been freed and deported to the UK after their three-month prison sentence was suspended, but others haven't been so lucky. According to the Lonely Planet guide to the city, one British tourist was arrested at Dubai airport and sentenced to four years in prison after 0.03g of cannabis - an amount “smaller than a grain of sugar and invisible to the human eye” - was found on the stub of a cigarette stuck to the sole of his shoe. Meanwhile, a Swiss man was reportedly imprisoned after customs officers found three poppy seeds on his clothes (they had fallen off a bread roll he had eaten at Heathrow), and a British woman was held in custody for two months before customs officers conceded that the codeine that she was using for her back problems had been prescribed by a doctor.

 

Indeed, I couldn't help noticing in last week's coverage of the grand opening of the hideous Atlantis resort - which is built on a man-made island - that the singer Lily Allen, the model Agyness Deyn and her boyfriend, Albert Hammond Jr, were all subjected to a strip search on the way there. Deyn remarked afterwards, “It was really traumatic”, adding: “It wasn't the best experience in the world, but it is their culture and you just have to respect it.”

 

She's right - you have to respect it. If you go. But you don't have to go.

 

sathnam@thetimes.co.uk

 

 

Source

[Ibtisam]

LOL where is north

[NGONGE]

^^ He's probably giving lifts to half the neighbourhood now.

 

No driver's licence for 100 categories of UAE workers

By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter

Published: November 29, 2008, 23:31

 

 

Dubai: Authorities have decided to stop issuing driving licences to certain categories of residents to curb the sharp rise in the number of vehicles, Gulf News has learnt.

 

Residents belonging to up to 100 categories will not be given licences. These include nurses, cooks, carpenters, housemaids, watchmen, tailors, cafeteria waiters, unskilled labourers, gardeners and bakers.

 

People belonging to other categories, which do not require a university degree, will not be able to open a driving licence file at traffic police departments all over UAE.

 

A Sharjah Police official told Gulf News that the interior ministry has instructed traffic departments last week to stop opening driving licence files for people belonging to about 100 categories as mentioned in their residence visa.

 

Not a new legislation

 

 

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"The move is meant to reduce the huge number of vehicles by limiting the number of professionals allowed to obtain driving licences," the official said.

 

The official said the decision was implemented last week and many applications from these categories were turned down.

 

The police official said that this was not a new law as there used to be restrictions on issuing driving licences.

 

"The law was then relaxed by the ministry and everyone was allowed to obtain driving licences. But due to a massive increase in the number of vehicles, the ministry has decided to restrict issuing driving licences," he said.

 

The official said that those whose residence visa shows that they fall under these categories will not be able to open a driving licence file.

 

A driving school instructor said the school received the decision last week. She said this would affect the schools as many applications will be rejected.

 

Akmal, an Indian domestic helper who works for a family in Sharjah, said a driving school and the Sharjah traffic department turned down his application.

 

Akmal's sponsor told Gulf News that he tried to open a driving licence file for his domestic help, but it was rejected. "I was told that if the profession in the residence visa is driver and that he came to work as a driver then he can obtain a licence, otherwise there is no way for him," he said.

 

 

Source

[nuune]

Are you trying to disrupt our upcoming Dubai party with SOL elites, you party spoiler

[Jacaylbaro]

Residents belonging to up to 100 categories will not be given licences. These include nurses, cooks, carpenters, housemaids, watchmen, tailors, cafeteria waiters, unskilled labourers, gardeners and bakers.

I'm sure Norf is not included in these ,,,

[Ibtisam]

^^hence why he would be driving everyone around

[Ariadne]

" I'd rather die than visit Dubai" <----- you should get in touch with their tourism

commission... it has a ring to it ...seriuosly

 

i feel the same way about dubai..it is weird and i have nothing against frivolity and decadence....but there is a limit to when it is tastefull.. i think anways...hmmm...

 

"Dubai is like Saudi Arabia and Las Vegas had a baby. It is just weird and unexplanable" jon stewart

[N.O.R.F]

Ngonge, I'm dissappointed you posted this on your national day saxib.

 

Western media has had enough of good reports out of Dubai and the UAE it seems. Read the below piece by someone you know no doubt. I think he sums up the latest stabs at Dubai coming from western media.

 

‘Tournalists’ who catch the Dubai bashing syndrome

Sultan Al Qassemi

 

Last Updated: November 22. 2008 7:07PM UAE / November 22. 2008 3:07PM GMT Since Dubai has taken a front seat in the international limelight, we in the UAE have grown used to welcoming journalists from across the world. Recently, though, there has been a slew of reporters coming hoping to uncover a “dark side”. Thankfully, the UAE has largely ignored this negative campaign and has continued with its development, looking towards the future.

 

The truth is that so many visiting journalists have come looking for negative news that I have become apprehensive of their visits. In early November, the UAE won a great honour when Dubai hosted the World Economic Forum’s Summit on the Global Agenda, billed as an opportunity to gather 700 of the world’s most influential thinkers from academia, business, government and society to discuss and find solutions to “the most critical challenges facing humanity”.

 

Among the attendees were dozens of Nobel laureates and one of my own heroes from the financial world, Mohamed El-Erian the current CEO of Pimco, the world’s largest bond investor with $692 billion of assets under management as of 2007, who also used to manage Harvard University’s $35 billion endowment fund.

 

It was a gathering like no other. Naturally, a newspaper like the Los Angeles Times would want to cover the event and reflect on the discussions. That is what I initially thought when I started reading its report; but I was mistaken. Its reporter, Rosa Brooks, “spent a few days in Dubai” and came up with hurtful phrases like “for us normal human beings, it’s hard not to be revolted by Dubai”, and “Dubai is repulsive enough to make most ordinary mortals start rooting for the collapse of global capitalism”.

 

As a UAE national, the thing I found to be repulsive and revolting was her attitude. Did she bother writing about Dubai Cares? It only happens to be on an unprecedented billion-dollar, eight-week fundraising drive to help people around the world. Did she write that the UAE is one of the most generous countries in the world with regards to its aid as a ratio of GDP?

 

She is not the only one to act this way. There was a book published recently, The Vulnerability of Success – a title as ironic as, say, The Curse of the Multi-Millionaire – that was also full of errors. For instance, it has many references to a certain “Sultan Bin Sulayman”, who seems to be a juxtaposition of two respected but very different Dubai leaders, Dr Omar Bin Suleiman and Sultan Bin Sulayem.

 

As the book was being reviewed by the UAE’s National Media Council prior to its release, the author went public and accused the NMC of having a “kneejerk reaction” and banning it. In fact, the book was never banned but was simply being reviewed – in the same way that in the UK, the British Board of Film Classification reviews movies before screening them. Is that a kneejerk reaction? We in the UAE have our processes too.

 

There barely passes a week without another dying (circulation wise) newspaper from the West sending a reporter to the UAE to uncover our “dark side”. Sure, it’s not perfect here, but we’re trying our best. Do criticise us, but get your facts right.

 

When I spoke to a fellow Emirati columnist about the West’s Dubai bashing syndrome he told me: “It’s natural, they’re jealous.” He may be right. Stagnant economies (we’re still predicted to grow at 4.25 per cent in 2009 despite the economic crisis), ageing populations, weakening social welfare and scant natural resources aren’t really as exciting as reading about Princess Diana.

 

Part of this maybe because the UAE has suffered from a lack of representation not only in the international media but, unfortunately, locally too. Although the efforts of our expatriate journalists are admired and appreciated, it is important that the opinions of UAE and Gulf nationals appear in the local media. It is said that 98 per cent of journalists in the UAE hold a work visa, meaning that they are not citizens. Imagine if for three decades all you read in the British press had been written by Arabs or Americans: the news would not reflect local opinions. Sadly, this was the case here until The National arrived. It is an area in which our GCC neighbours are exceeding us. Even in the 1990s, it was not surprising to find reports and Op-Eds written by nationals in English language newspapers in Kuwait or Oman.

 

Yet few Emiratis have penned or translated their opinions into English. The rare cases include Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah, Mohammed Abdul Jalil al Fahim, and Essa Saleh al Gurg. These books give everyone a better picture of the people of this land. We need more of these enlightening windows into the culture and history of the UAE.

 

There have been other valuable contributions, such as My Vision – Challenges in the Race for Excellence by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, that won the Sheikh Khalifa Emirati Book Prize, when it was published in Arabic in 2007. When the English version becomes available it will be a welcome addition to the libraries of those who want to learn about Dubai from the inside rather than from the biased opinions of tourist-journalists – who would perhaps be better called “tournalists”.

 

I hope the UAE continues with its wise open-door policy regardless of the negativity of some of those who write about us. I also hope that more Emiratis are represented in the national media. These policies are the best way to combat the Dubai Bashing Syndrome.

 

Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is the founder of Barjeel Securities in Dubai

 

http://thenational.ae/article/20081123/OPINION/577 39765

[Salma]

Who said Dubai is God's Land for innocence & Purity? Why on earth ppl keep repeating the same borken record. Bcz ppl have nothing to say but criticizing, and not in a constructive way but in a very irrational way.

 

Besides, even if Dubai was not part of this earth, I am sure any country would be chosen to complain and whine about: probably India, oh no no , how about Cameroon, or maybe Australia. This world is certainly not the "Heaven", and as a result, humans' mistakes, erros and shortcomings are everywhere.

 

I remember when I went to Somalia in 2004, and someone told me "I hate those Arabs in white dresses and black-heads, god gave them oil and money, and all what they do is to keep building skycrappers, malls and hotels as shown on TV, if only we had oil in Somalia!!!!!!!, These Arabs are ******, with their money they can liberate Palestine and Iraq. I asked him "What if we had Oil in Somalia, what would you do???. He simply said: I am gonna build a home, buy this and that for my family and then fly to USA.

 

LOOOOOL the same expected answer, I thought he will liberate Palestine with his oil.

 

The best tip: Let's focus on cleaning our own doorsteps than focusing on others' doorsteps.

 

P.S.: Surely, ppl have the full freedom to avoid coming to Dubai, but they just cannot do that.....I say to Mr. Sathnam Sanghera "Go ahead, be my guest and do die".

[Blessed]

^ . How have you been?

 

There's some truth to what he wrote, in fact I was hoping some one would tell the "Euro- trash" (to borrow from Marx) that UAEs’ idea of 'modern' does not mean that it’s okay to run around half naked, drunk and have a bonk on the beach, the effing nerve!!

 

He's also right about the evil Atlantis, though I don’t give a toss about how they treat wannabe celebs, I’m really annoyed with their disrespect for Marin life! I say this in reference to the poor whales they've captured and imprisoned in their silly Aquarium. :mad:

 

Anyway, considering the whole article is based on what's been written about Dubai, rather than his personal experience, I'm not surprised that it's paints a very tainted picture of the city.

 

The bit about the desert being featureless got me. If you’ve never been, I suppose. That's one of the great things about the UAE along with the local culture and heritage sites). I believe this place has more going for it than plastic malls and OTT hotels, though the hype only focuses on that aspect of Dubai.

 

p.s I'd rather be here than the cold, dingy and depressing English tuulo he’s writing from. :cool: